By: Coleman H.R. No. 648 73R8946 KMP-D R E S O L U T I O N 1-1 WHEREAS, Houston public television station KUHT will 1-2 commemorate its 40th anniversary on May 25, 1993, and this 1-3 momentous event will mark a significant milestone in the history of 1-4 American broadcasting; and 1-5 WHEREAS, The world's first educational television station, 1-6 KUHT signed on the air at 5 p.m. on May 25, 1953, introducing the 1-7 citizens of Houston to the limitless potential of the television 1-8 medium to educate, inform, and instruct viewers and to stimulate 1-9 discussion of important local, regional, and national issues; and 1-10 WHEREAS, Under the auspices of the University of Houston, 1-11 today the station's sole licensee, KUHT quickly became a local 1-12 institution; live telecasts of college courses over its airwaves 1-13 enabled students to earn credit at night and, at the same time, 1-14 alleviated overcrowding in university classrooms; and 1-15 WHEREAS, Live programming in the early days was both 1-16 innovative and popular and included newscasts, talk magazine shows, 1-17 and live presentations of student sports, music, and drama events; 1-18 the broadcasts of local school board meetings were especially 1-19 successful, attaining more than 100,000 viewers and fostering 1-20 unprecedented participation in local educational and political 1-21 issues; and 1-22 WHEREAS, American public television's strong legacy of 1-23 documentary filmmaking can be traced to the early efforts of KUHT, 1-24 which by 1954 was winning nationwide acclaim for its films on Texas 2-1 history, traditions, and institutions; and 2-2 WHEREAS, During the 1960s, the station boosted its signal 2-3 range to become a major force in the Houston-Galveston media market 2-4 and acquired advanced broadcasting technology; moreover, the 2-5 visionary producers at KUHT pioneered many of the formats that 2-6 today dominate public and cable television airwaves, including the 2-7 medical news update, the "live town hall meeting," and the local 2-8 political forum; and 2-9 WHEREAS, This innovative station again took the lead when, in 2-10 1969, the newly created Corporation for Public Broadcasting began 2-11 to distribute both programming and funding to local public 2-12 television stations throughout the United States; the high cost of 2-13 airing these new national programs prompted KUHT to establish the 2-14 Association for Community Television, a board of Houstonians who 2-15 organized tele-auctions, membership drives, and other fund-raising 2-16 activities; and 2-17 WHEREAS, By 1978 the station was reaching nearly 300,000 2-18 households and ranked 14th in the nation among 270 public 2-19 television stations, and during the next decade it instituted a 2-20 wide range of programs and broadcast services for its expanding 2-21 viewership; KUHT produced more local cultural and public affairs 2-22 programs and documentaries than ever before, expanded its signal 2-23 range with a new 2,000-foot tower, introduced descriptive video 2-24 services for the visually impaired, and was the first Houston 2-25 station to broadcast in high fidelity stereo; and 2-26 WHEREAS, Poised to enter another 40 years of community 2-27 partnership, KUHT has embarked on a campaign to raise $12 million 3-1 for a new state-of-the-art broadcast facility; the station is 3-2 already looking forward to the needs of Southeast Texas during the 3-3 21st century and plans to introduce new educational and information 3-4 services that use fiber optics, telephone lines, cable outlets, and 3-5 high-definition technology; and 3-6 WHEREAS, A pioneer in the broadcasting field for four 3-7 decades, KUHT has fulfilled the promise of public television by 3-8 entertaining, enlightening, and informing its viewers, and its many 3-9 exceptional accomplishments are indeed worthy of special 3-10 legislative recognition; now, therefore, be it 3-11 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 73rd Texas 3-12 Legislature hereby congratulate Houston public television station 3-13 KUHT on the occasion of its 40th anniversary and commend its 3-14 employees and volunteers for their outstanding contributions to the 3-15 community of Houston and the State of Texas; and, be it further 3-16 RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be 3-17 prepared for the staff of television station KUHT as an expression 3-18 of highest esteem by the Texas House of Representatives.