Oregon Public Broadcasting history

KOAC Radio won OPB's first Peabody Award when it was recognized for Outstanding Public Service by a Local Station for a 1942 program called Our Hidden Enemy, Venereal Disease.

KOAC-TV in Corvallis began operations on October 7, 1957.

KTVR-TV in La Grande began broadcasting on December 6, 1964, as a commercial television station that affiliated primarily with NBC and also carried select ABC network programs.

The creation of Southern Oregon Public Television was a joint effort of many community partners.In 1965, Oregon Educational Broadcasting (OEB), forerunner of Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), persuaded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reassign channel 8 from Brookings to Medford.

However, by 1967, the La Grande studio and office had been closed and KTVR became a full-fledged satellite of KTVB. KTVR was unique in the Pacific Time Zone, because as a repeater of a Mountain Time Zone station, its "prime-time" schedule was broadcast from 6 to 9 p.m.

PBS is a private, nonprofit corporation, founded in 1969, whose members are America’s public TV stations -- noncommercial, educational licensees that operate more than 330 PBS member stations and serve all 50 states, Puerto Rico, United States Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa.

KOAB-TV in Bend began broadcasting on February 24, 1970, as KVDO-TV, a commercial independent station licensed to Salem.

Originally known as Oregon Educational Broadcasting, it became the Oregon Educational and Public Broadcasting Service (OEPBS) in 1971.

KOAC won a 1972 Peabody Award for a program called Conversations with Will Shakespeare and Certain of His Friends.

With the FCC permit about to run out, KSYS went on the air on January 17, 1977 with the strongest signal of any station in the region, at 191,000 watts.

KTVR returned to the air on January 1, 1978, carrying OEPBS programming for the first time.

OEPBS consistently eyed moving the station elsewhere to reduce duplication, which became more acute when budget cuts prompted KVDO-TV to drop its separate programs in 1981.

KEPB-TV in Eugene began operation on February 27, 1990, as Eugene's first public television station, bringing most of Eugene a clear signal for PBS programming from the first time ever.

In 1993, OPB severed its last direct ties to the state government and became a community-licensed organization supported by the state of Oregon.

On December 4, 2007, OPB launched OPBmusic, a 24-hour online radio channel spotlighting Pacific Northwest musicians.

In March 2009, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting chose OPB to manage the pilot version of American Archive, CPB's initiative to digitally preserve content created by public broadcasters.