HISTORICAL TIMELINE MEDIA CONTACT: Leslie Licano, (714) 573-0884

leslie@echomediapr.com

A NOSTALGIC LOOK AT THE MILESTONE EVENTS WHICH HAVE FORMED THE RICH HISTORY OF KOCE-TV

A Historical Timeline of 33 Years of Service in Orange County

November 20, 1972 – At 4:00 p.m. images were broadcast from UHF Channel 50 and KOCE-TV was born – Orange County’s first television station was on the air. The station begins its broadcast schedule with a modest 4 hours of on-air time per day.

1973 – “As Man Behaves,” KOCE-TV’s first telecourse production airs.

1978 – “The Growing Years” – KOCE-TV’s first major large scale telecourse production premiered. And so began KOCE-TV’s commitment to bringing quality classroom programming to our nation’s schools.

1979 – KOCE-TV wins its first Los Angeles Area Emmy Award. Over the years, the station has garnered an additional 24 Emmy’s, plus hundreds of other major national and local awards for television programs and community service.

1983 – KOCE-TV participates in “The Chemical People,” hosted by Nancy Reagan. This outreach project focused on school-age drug abuse and was the first of what is now an annual public television outreach alliance to create awareness about a major social issue.

1984 – KOCE-TV expands broadcast time to more than 16 hours per day with more than 50,000 hours of quality educational television for OC residents.

1989 – KOCE-TV commemorates Orange County’s 100^th Anniversary with the three-part “Story of Orange County” and the Emmy-winning “Centennial Snapshots.” KOCE-TV was the only Orange County-based television station to cover the historic Orange County centennial celebration.

April 21 - 22, 1990 – “KOCE-TV Great Big Garage Sale” coordinated by the Friends of KOCE collected more than $10, 000 for the sale of donated items, including office furniture, appliances and new merchandise from major OC retailers.

August 15, 1991– A new $1.2 million transmitter and antenna for KOCE-TV goes on the air with twice the signal strength as the station’s old transmitter, while consuming one-third less energy. The signal now reaches all of Orange County and Los Angeles, and parts of Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties.

January 29, 1992 – KOCE-TV extends a free, live, interactive national training teleconference to teach Orange County child care providers and preschool professionals to use the popular series, “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” creatively and interactively in pre-education. This program was soon adopted nationally.

September, 1992 – KOCE-TV presents “Why Bother Voting?” a special community outreach effort to educate and motivate young people to vote in the important 1992 presidential election. Due to its popularity and relevance similar specials would run prior to all subsequent national elections.

October 22, 1992 – KOCE-TV hosts the “Project Education” Teleconference, an event which brought together public TV stations from across the country with local educators in a teleconference designed to develop ways that local businesses, government and educators can work together as partners to meet national education goals for the year 2000.

May, 1994 – Master teachers shared their successful teaching techniques with their peers at the first annual National Teacher Training Institute (NTTI), now a mainstay of KOCE-TV’s outreach to teachers across the nation.

January, 1995 – The kick-off for the two-year “Act Against Violence” campaign. The campaign was designed to combat youth violence through monthly specials which addressed the issue and worked to find innovative solutions to benefit our communities.

1995 – “KOCE Backstage” premieres, hosting representatives from the child development community, health care field, and political arena, as well as educators and guests from non-profit organizations. This program has since been recognized nationally by both the Public Broadcasting Service and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as a model for community outreach to multicultural groups and businesses. KOCE-TV Backstage events have been held about four times annually since that time.

September, 1997- “Real Orange,” KOCE-TV’s live, daily half-hour magazine show premiers as the only regular news program for and about the people of Orange County.

1997- KOCE-TV launches a 24-hour reading service for the print impaired on KOCE-TV’s SAP channel, “Hear and Now.” “Hear and Now,” is an ongoing community service which provides the only free broadcast reading service in Orange County and Los Angeles County to an estimated 50,000. The service caters to OC and LA’s physically handicapped, elderly, visually impaired and non-English-speaking who are unable to see, hold or read books, newspaper or magazines.

1999 – “Orange Works” launched as a collaboration between KOCE-TV, OC businesses and OC community colleges providing on-air job opportunities as well as skilled training resources to qualify for jobs.

2000 – “Many Faces, Many Voices” diversity outreach campaign launches. This is one of many of KOCE-TV’s diversity-focused programs which throughout each year honoring community diversity.

January, 2000 – Ed Arnold joins Ann Pulice as co-anchor of “Real Orange.”

September, 2000 – New monthly forum called “Real Orange Issues & Analysis” introduced. This program invites discussion and debate on subjects of broad community interest, such as local politics and environmental issues.

February, 2001 – KOCE-TV joins with Toshiba America Electronic Components to honor and recognize Orange County’s outstanding teachers and administrators. This event was held annually for about ten years.

September 11, 2001 – KOCE-TV was the lone broadcast entity presenting comprehensive and local in-the-field coverage of the Twin Tower’s tragedy and it’s impact on Orange County.

March, 2002 –Spanish-language television program, “Europa Semanal,” premieres on KOCE-TV. Throughout the stations history, Spanish-language programs including “Plaza Sesano” (Sesame Street) and telecourses such as “Destinos” have also aired on the station.

September 2002 – “Mendez vs. Westminster,” a KOCE-TV’s Emmy-award winning production documents the local legal case that set precedent for one of the most important stories in the American Civil Rights Movement – Brown v. Board of Education – the historic case that ended legalized segregation.

February, 2003 – “Help Me Grow,” an unique instructional program in collaboration with the Prop 10 commission premieres on KOCE-TV targeting parents and childcare providers. “Help Me Grow” is a continuing series on KOCE-TV.

April 30, 2003 – KOCE-TV began broadcasting digital transmissions from a new facility atop Mount Wilson – a move that provided expanded education, information and entertainment to our communities.

May, 2003 – KOCE-TV and Freedom Orange County Information, publisher of the Orange County Register, began a multi-faceted agreement to share content, production, promotion and sales capabilities.

May, 2004 – Sandra Membrila-Robbie, KOCE-TV producer of “Mendez vs. Westminster,” travels throughout the country to promote the program and issues surrounding it, celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the end of legalized celebration. Ms. Robbie also met with President Bush at the White House, in Washington D.C.

October, 2004 – KOCE-TV became a major partner in the Butterfly Initiative, a multi-tiered community outreach project, promoting creativity in Orange County and creating the first endowment for the arts and science education in Orange County.

November 4, 2004 – KOCE-TV became a “Community Licensee,” when it was purchased for the people of Orange County by the KOCE-TV Foundation.

December, 2004 – KOCE-TV partnered in “Rock Our World” the first ever international Webcam teaching project where students in America, New Zealand, Peru, Belgium, Japan and Australia learned together via Webcam and Apple iSights.

June, 2005 – KOCE-TV has a historic pledge month, bringing in a record-breaking $1 million in donations.

August, 2005 – Board of Supervisors of Orange County names August 2005, “KOCE-TV Appreciation Month.”

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