Celebrating 50 Years


Then ... and Now

Then...
it was one low-power signal broadcasting in black and white.

Now...
KNME programs six broadcast streams, including high definition, seen throughout Northern New Mexico--all in living color. KNME was the first New Mexico broadcast on the air with a digital signal.

Then...

KNME broadcast only a few hours a day.

Now...
the station broadcasts 24/7.

In the early days...
programs were distributed as kinescopes--motion pictures shot from a television monitor--by delivery service trucks.

Now...
programs go around the world via satellite at the speed of light.

May 1, 1958. That was the day KNME broadcast its first program from a converted sorority house on the University of New Mexico campus. The set for that black and white broadcast was just a blackboard in front of a curtain. The broadcast was live because there was no recording equipment.



Joyce Marron’s TV KINDERGARTEN

Success came quickly. By the 1960s, KNME was distributing and winning national awards for science programs with Dr. George Fischbeck and other educational programs such as Joyce Marron’s TV KINDERGARTEN.


Through the years, KNME and PBS have brought New Mexicans exceptional television programs--MASTERPIECE THEATRE, MYSTERY, NOVA, THE CIVIL WAR, NATURE, BILL MOYERS JOURNAL, FRONTLINE, SESAME STREET, and MR. ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD.




KNME TV Channel 5

KNME’s also has a long list of impressive local productions such as ALBUQUERQUE NOW, ILLUSTRATED DAILY, ON ASSIGNMENT, AT WEEK’S END, THE LINE, and NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS .KNME also developed programs about the arts, culture and history of New Mexico, with the long-running cultural affairs series COLORES!, and the Peabody Award-winning SURVIVING COLUMBUS.


And what about the future? STAY TUNED!



 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks for supporting KNME
for the past 50 years.


 
 

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© 2008 KNME Public Media

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