PBS SoCal KOCE is in the process of moving the last piece of its operations out of Golden West College, where it aired its first broadcast in 1972, as part of a plan to transfer its technical equipment to Los Angeles.
But don’t expect a wholesale move out of Orange County, even though the station now serves as the Southern California flagship of the Public Broadcasting Service. Its coverage area takes in six counties from the San Diego County line to Santa Barbara and from L.A. through the Inland Empire to the desert cities.
KOCE took on the flagship role in 2011 in an unprecedented switch after Burbank-based KCET ended a 41-year run as a PBS affiliate to go independent. A switchover like that had never happened before in the national PBS system.
It presented KOCE with the chance to shift to a regional operating model, adding the PBS SoCal brand and opening two offices in L.A.—one in the Century City district on the Westside, the other downtown.
The station’s headquarters and main studio remain in Costa Mesa, though, where Andy Russell arrived as chief operating officer in 2013. He went on to take over the chief executive’s post last year from long-serving Mel Rogers.
PBS SoCal is the third most-watched PBS station in the U.S. behind New York and Chicago, according to 2014 Nielsen ratings.
It’s added programing and significantly boosted membership in the past few years. The station draws significant support from individual viewers, and benefactors from the corporate world, foundations and the public sector also have been a key ingredient in a record 2016 fiscal year, when it raised $22 million, topping the previous mark of $16.8 million set the year before, according to Russell.
Local companies that support it include Snell & Wilmer, Healthy Smiles for Kids of OC, California State University-Fullerton, the University of California-Irvine and the Orange County Transportation Authority. The station also joins with organizations that include the Pacific Symphony and Bowers Museum in trade or media partnerships or a combination of the two, Russell said.
There’s no minimum requirement to become an individual member. The average member contribution is $110 a year, according to Vice President of Marketing and Communications Jennifer Vides.
The station has 82,000 active members, including individuals who’ve contributed some money in the past 15 months; there’s a three-month renewal process for annual memberships.
Two-thirds of active members live in Los Angeles County, according to Marketing Manager Stacy Shaffer. That appears to be part of a general lift in memberships since the station got flagship status—they’re up more than 300% over June 2010, the year before it took on the lead role in the region.
Member contributions almost doubled from $4.5 million to $8.9 million over the same period. Major and planned giving increased from $670,000 to $1.6 million, and underwriting jumped from $650,000 to $1.9 million.
Mission
Russell said a major KOCE mission upon the 2011 switchover was to build a strong foundation, including expanding PBS programming options and educational services. It also made an effort to increase membership, starting a membership program for those who want to contribute monthly, and tried to make online giving easier by simplifying the process.
The station increased communication with members through regular emails about events and upcoming programs. And it made an effort to boost its online audience. It didn’t have a significant web presence when it became PBS SoCal, and built a new website after the switch to serve Southern California. Its web traffic has continued to grow, Russell said.
It launched a “major” update to the website this month, he said, and the number of new visitors grew after one week by more than 50%, the number of page views by more than 120%.
Program Shifts
KOCE had a hyper-local schedule when it was the secondary public station in the region, carrying only 25% of PBS programs as part of the national system.
“So the change to PBS SoCal was dramatic,” Russell said.Â
The station added channels PBS SoCal 2 and PBS SoCal World to expand viewing options. The original station, now called PBS 1, shows premieres and programs that are promoted nationally.
PBS SoCal 2 rebroadcasts shows that premiere on PBS 1 and airs local shows and programs that PBS 1 doesn’t have airtime for, such as “This Old House.” The local shows include “SciTech Now,” “LAaRT” and “Studio SoCal,” a news and public affairs show. There’s also “Inside OC,” an independent production in partnership with Orange County Business Journal Editor at Large Rick Reiff, who also co-hosts “Studio SoCal.”
LAaRT and Studio SoCal were designed to cover stories across the Southern California region, reflecting the station’s flagship status. Shows such as “Inside OC” retain a bit of the hyper-local focus for the original chunk of KOCE’s territory.
Segerstrom Documentary
PBS SoCal World focuses on public affairs and documentaries with a contemporary-subject focus.
The station also produces the occasional documentary, the most recent one focusing on the late philanthropist, entrepreneur and arts patron Henry Segerstrom, who founded South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa and was founding chairman of the nearby Orange County Performing Arts Center, which is now known as the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
“Henry T. Segerstrom: Imagining the Future” is by executive producer Maria Hall-Brown, who also hosts LAaRT. The documentary is viewed as a crossover feature, sure to attract plenty of interest in Orange County but focused on a figure of renown in the larger realm of retail innovation and the arts.
“That got good attention and told an important story,” Russell said, “certainly grounded in OC and of interest to the whole region and the country and maybe beyond, because he was such an influential arts patron.”
All of the effort paid off through viewership growing “significantly,” Russell said. “In the past year, PBS SoCal’s overall viewership is 60% higher for PBS programs than it was when KCET was the primary PBS station.”
Humble History
KOCE started in 1972 as a community college TV station on the campus of Golden West College, which sold its broadcasting license in 2004 to the KOCE-TV Foundation.
The station opened a Costa Mesa office on Jan. 1, 2011, the same day PBS SoCal launched as the primary PBS station for Southern California. The Costa Mesa studio opened for production at the end of that year.
It chose the location before KOCE knew it would become the primary PBS station, Russell said.Â
“KOCE had a long history and commitment to serving the Orange County community,” he said, adding that the site was attractive because of its proximity to the area arts district and its generally central location.
Moving the broadcast operations to Los Angeles is intended to save money by partnering with an existing TV station in a hub of fiber connectivity instead of continuing to own and operate technical equipment, according to Russell.
The station partnered with KSCI in L.A.’s Sawtelle neighborhood, where there’s space for KOCE’s satellite and microwave dishes, as well as backup power generators and other equipment. It will be a few more months before KOCE completely moves out of Golden West.
Russell said he’s committed to PBS SoCal keeping its presence in Costa Mesa because its business office and studio are there and because it’s the “most mature” of the three offices. It recently expanded the Costa Mesa office by more than 3,000 square feet to increase office space and enhance the lobby, and renovated the makeup and green rooms next to the studio to create more separation between the two.
“As we’ve grown, so has the number of people coming into our studio,” Russell said.
Look Ahead
PBS SoCal executives are polishing a blueprint to build on the station’s recent growth.
They plan to release a new community impact plan in about a month that lays out a vision for creating and presenting high-quality content; increasing community engagement through initiatives and special events; and cultivating long-term partnerships.
Expect the station to continue to roll out new features, too. It’s been offering free streaming video for more than a decade, and as part of its 45th anniversary this year added a streaming option called PBS SoCal Passport, which provides members with a deeper archive of shows and a longer time window to watch them. The minimum contribution to access Passport is $5 per month or $60 per year.
“It was designed with streaming in mind so people can watch our programs in more ways, on [a] computer, tablet or phone,” Russell said.
Its new logo, meanwhile, more prominently features “SoCal” to signify the station’s long-term commitment to the community, Russell said.
PBS SoCal is planning more celebrations and programming to commemorate its history, including a blog that it wants former employees and PBS members to contribute to.
Vides said, “It will tell interesting stories and how we link to the SoCal community.”
