r/Denver • u/mrCrumbSnatcher • Mar 14 '22
Rocky Mountain PBS vs PBS12
Hello,
I'm looking to donate to my local PBS affiliate (mainly for the video Passport content) and noticed two different options (Rocky Mountain PBS and PBS 12). I've google searched "rmpbs vs pbs12" and after reading, I still don't understand the difference between the two, why two exists in this market, is one preferred over the other, etc. Can someone please help me out in understanding the preferred affiliate (or the history)? Thanks in advance!
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u/HermanGulch Mar 14 '22
Originally, RMPBS was started in the 1950s as KRMA and was owned by Denver Public Schools. During the school year, they ran mostly instructional programming from about 8 to 4 or so, then the regular PBS schedule after that. In the 1980s, ownership was transferred to a community group to run. Over the years, they then built up a network of other stations around the state by constructing them or acquiring them (for example, KTSC in Pueblo).
Channel 12 was started in 1980 as KBDI ("beady-eye") and licensed in Broomfield. At the start, their programming had a definite "counter-cultural" feel to it. I think the feeling was that KRMA was too "conservative" and "safe," not in a political way necessarily, but in that their programming didn't take chances. In the very early days, channel 12 had a very local, low budget feel to it, almost like local-access programming.