Pol position:KOCE unifies county and provides sense of community

Many people are surprised when I tell them KOCE-TV, Orange County’s PBS station, has grown so much it is now the sixth most-watched PBS station in America. That’s a fun statistic to share, but not an especially important one.

A local public television station’s value does not end nor even begin with its popular, highly-viewed PBS programs such as NOVA, Antiques Roadshow or Sesame Street. We are more than just a giant VCR that records and plays back spectacular national shows. Our true value is being a gathering place where local people can appear in front of lights and cameras and discuss local issues.

We are also a local educational institution providing on-air and online instructional video content for K-12 students. And most importantly, we are the local entity with the greatest potential for unifying our disparate Orange County into a cohesive, functional community.

Despite our Orange County obsession, KOCE-TV actually broadcasts throughout Southern California, from Riverside to Ventura Counties and all through Los Angeles — 60% of our viewers, in fact, are outside of Orange County. But our location in Huntington Beach gives us the unique perspective of Orange County, and its here that we focus our local programming efforts.

When I arrived here after years of working in the Salt Lake City market, I could see immediately that the far-flung, 3-million-person community that is Orange County needed a unifying catalyst. KOCE’s first catalytic effort began exactly 10 years ago with the launch of Real Orange, the only nightly news program about Orange County. It is viewed by 120,000 people in Orange County on any given day — enough people to fill Angel Stadium nearly three times over.

A few weeks ago, Real Orange viewers saw a special KOCE-TV production with live studio audience about the future plans for the perpetually congested 91 Freeway — a major concern for Orange and Riverside County commuters and businesses.

Just last week, a special edition of Real Orange examined the growing number of people in Orange County who find themselves walking the financial tightrope — that imaginary line separating comfort zone from crisis mode.

The program highlighted the needs of the working poor in O.C. and helped them connect to services that can lead to financial independence. These specials are perfect examples of the kind of programming only KOCE-TV offers to local viewers — and the kind of programming we intend to expand now that our highly publicized fight to save KOCE is behind us.

In fact, Real Orange’s community unification contribution is only a beginning. With the lawsuits behind us, KOCE-TV is finally in a position to reach its full potential as an essential community institution.

In a county with no central downtown, a robust and well-resourced KOCE-TV can become our virtual downtown. In a community of communities whose citizens face an identity crisis every time they watch L.A.-produced local news, KOCE-TV can help brand our county and give those of us who live here a sense of what it means to be a part of this exceptional place. In a world where education is expensive, KOCE-TV can efficiently reach hundreds of thousands of students with state standard-approved curriculum support video content.

In a population deprived of truly local news, KOCE-TV can provide a 24-hour Orange County Channel (In partnership with Chapman University, KOCE-TV will begin fulfilling this promise late this September).

KOCE-TV now enters its 35th year of existence, secure in the knowledge it will go forward under the ownership of the KOCE-TV Foundation, which holds KOCE’s broadcast license on behalf of the people of Orange County. We move into the future with three channels of television being transmitted throughout Southern California including a spectacular 24/7 HDTV channel.

As is the case in most communities, O.C. public TV is a rare, locally-owned television station. Our commitment to Orange County’s future is absolute.

We believe O.C. has the potential to become the most outstanding community in the United States and one of the most influential economic centers in the world.

And we are unashamed in saying we think those goals are only achievable with a local communications tool that can unify us, give us pride of place, help us understand one another, and enable us to work better together.

We are determined to enable most O.C. residents to view their issues and events and each other in their family rooms each evening. We are ready to step into our full potential to be a true community catalyst.