BackTalk with Becca

KTEH and the Computer History Museum are throwing a virtual birthday party!

You are invited to add your internet story to our virtual time capsule and join our scavenger hunt for internet collectables.
Your finds will be displayed on our website and there will be weekly awards for the most significant treasures.

The most valuable finds may be put on display in the Computer History Museum. Imagine ­ your name in the Museum.

Join the party

KTEH signs on in 1964

On Monday, October, 19, 1964 at 9:27 am KTEH was born….27 minutes late.
Here’s how it happened, According the Superintendent of Schools Bulletin.

KTEH was licensed by the Santa Clara Office of Education. The visionary plan was to “beam” instructional television into 300 area schools beginning on October 19. On October 10th
things began to go wrong.

KTEH’s one-ton antenna was to be placed on a 50′ tower. The tower arrived on the 10th, 2 weeks late and only 9 days before the inaugural broadcast was scheduled.

It was barely off the truck before The Dept. of public Works pronounced the tower “structurally inadequate.” A special team of welders boarded a jet and flew to San Jose to modify the tower. They worked around the clock using spotlights to illuminate the tower after dark. Two days before the first broadcast, October 17th, the tower was up and the antenna was in position.

In the meantime, news that the new station’s videotape player was on backorder arrived. This was an especially unfortunate development since all the programming was on video tape. The salesman, who negotiated the contract, made some quick arrangements and a borrowed tape machine arrived at 4 p.m. Thursday the 15th.

On Friday the 16th the FCC called to say the station’s license to begin broadcasting on Monday had not been granted because the request to broadcast had not been received. A panicked call went out to the Assistant Superintendent of the Post Office in Washington, D.C.. Although the package was sent “Registered Air” and marked “Special Delivery, ” the Superintendent found no record of the package but offered to start a search for it. By 7 p.m. on Friday he had located the package.

As luck would have it, the FCC was in the same building as the Post Office. The Superintendent personally delivered the package to the Chief of Educational Broadcasting at 9 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, October 19. KTEH’s License was granted at 8:56 a.m. After a short program test, the first show to be broadcast from KTEH went on the air at 9:27 a.m.

As the 1964 Superintendent of Schools Bulletin noted, “this is what comes of positive thinking.”

Here’s an amazing story about the mounted troopers in the Army’s 9th Calvary. The troopers were all African American and they were some of the very first men assigned to protect the National Parks. They were known in American military history for their outstanding service and their dedication to duty and they were called the Buffalo Soldiers. The camped here in San Jose, where the fairgrounds are today, on their way to the Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.

This is just one story from our This is Us special featuring local people who have a connection to our national parks. You can see the whole show on KTEH 10/07/09 at 7pm or see it in HD on 10/04/09 on KQEDHD.

If you view KTEH digital over the air you will be effected by some Electrical Work that must be performed on Wednesday September 30, 2009. The KTEH transmitter will off approximately 9am to 2pm.

If you view KTEH via Comcast, you will not be effected.

This is the remarkable story of 96 year old Ernest Charles Prewett, a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps who helped build the Pinnacles National Monument back in 1933. Ernie was born and raised on the land just outside the Pinnacles and his family has been part of American History

This is just one story from our This is Us special featuring local people who have a connection to our national parks. You can see the whole show on KTEH 10/07/09 at 7pm or see it in HD on 10/04/09 on KQEDHD.

Doc Martin returns to KTEH

A year ago we told you about a brilliant surgeon who develops a phobia that causes him to be paralyzed by the sight of blood. The curmudgeonly Doc Martin then decides to retrain as a GP and sets up practice in Portwenn, the sleepy Cornish hamlet of his childhood. But he has no personal skills and his understanding of human nature is practically nonexistent. Encore presentations of the first three seasons of this hit British comedy begin airing Monday, September 28, at 8pm on KTEH. Season 4 debuts in early 2010. We’ll keep you posted.

We are just wrapping up a special episode of This is Us. This time we profiled 6 remarkable locals, all of whom have a connection to the National Parks. In this sneak peak, you’ll meet local doctor, Masako Miura, who provided medical care to the 10,000 Japanese-Americans interned at Manzanar. Rare, historic footage from Manzanar really illustrates the situation in “the camps.”
You can see the whole show on Sunday, September, 27 @6pm.

 KTEH viewers made this an event to remember. The AR crew reports that the San Jose taping attracted the largest crowds ever! 12,000 items were appraised.  Several folks had treasures that were appraised at the “6-figure” level - you know who you are!

If you want to get a look at those valuable finds and 6,000 of your friends an neighbors, be watching in May. 

The three episodes we taped in San Jose will air as follows:   

May 10, 2010:   San Jose, Show 1


May 17, 2010:   San Jose, Show 2


May 24, 2010:   San Jose, Show 3

Last night KTEH viewers from as far away as Watsonville drove to KTEH to join the studio audience for Facing The Mortgage Crisis. They gave up their comfy armchairs to get their mortgage questions answered, in person,  by a panel of experts.

The 6 panelists from non-profit  agencies  provided answers to a wide range of  mortgage modification, foreclosure prevention, predatory loans and housing rights questions.

24 additional experts answered questions from the home audience at our phone bank. The show went live at 6:00pm and our phones started ringing at 6:01. The TV audience kept our experts busy the entire hour and beyond.

If you have questions, you can still get a personal answer by posting on our blog - www.kteh.org/mortgage.

If you missed the show, you can a see re-broadcast  on KTEH at 10pm September, 3 And 1pm September 12.

KQED will re-broadcast the program on Aug. 31 at 1pm, September 9 at 11pm and September 12 at 6pm.