Why KCET never became a major player in the PBS network

Next week, in addition to being without an NFL franchise, Los Angeles will lose another hallmark asset that major cities typically claim — a flagship PBS affiliate.

Why couldn't the nation's second-largest media market sustain a thriving PBS affiliate that operated a top national player? If New York, Boston and Washington (DC) can do it, why couldn't Los Angeles? While KCET officials contend they were marginalized by an institutional bias within PBS toward an elite group of East Coast stations, critics are adamant, at times withering, in their view that the local station squandered its potential, surrendered its ambition of becoming a national player and never truly connected with its viewing public - who after all were counted on to largely fund the endeavor. One need look no further than the amount of prime-time programming hours produced for the national PBS audience last year, say critics. While WNET in New York (125 hours), WGBH in Boston (135 hours) and WETA in Washington, D.C. (337 hours), combined for 597 hours, KCET contributed just 10. KCET officials, proud of their programming that included local hits like "California's Gold" and nationally distributed ones like "Tavis Smiley," maintained they were unfairly blocked from competing nationally. The PBS network greatly favored the "big three" — WETA, WGBH and WNET — which effectively formed an oligarchy that prevented not only KCET but medium and smaller PBS affiliates from grabbing prime programming hours.