Press Room
7/14/2025
KBTC Receives King County Best Starts for Kids Grant
On July 8, 2025, King County Best Starts for Kids announced 34 Youth Development awardees, including KBTC.
"Young people thrive when they have access to safe, supportive environments, that provide a sense of belonging. Our Youth Development strategy resources programs that provide mentorship, leadership opportunities, connections to community and supports young people in learning about healthy relationships and positive identity development." - Best Starts
As a Youth Development grant recipient, KBTC's Education team will collaborate with neurodivergent youth and teens with disabilities in Federal Way Public Schools Employment Transition and Deaf and Hard of Hearing programs to co-create powerful, youth-led videos that build life skills, strengthen positive identity, and share authentic stories that reflect and uplift their lived experiences.
The work in the upcoming year will build upon the Best Starts for Kids funded Ability Awareness project, an ongoing partnership between KBTC and the Federal Way Public Schools Special Education and Employment Transition Program to support neurodivergent youth and youth with disabilities in creating short-form videos addressing life skills that all young people need for transitioning to the workplace and independent living.
2024 Ability Awareness VIP Screening and Awards Event (photo credit: Maria Niki)
About KBTC Education
KBTC Education is an educational program designed to empower educators, students, families, and the community, all while fostering cultural competency. As a public television station, KBTC is committed to removing barriers to education and building racial equity in historically marginalized communities. The Media Learning Center serves as a hub for resources, professional development, and engaging activities both in physical spaces and online. Through culturally responsive curriculum and tailored support, the program aims to create a nurturing environment for youth and foster stronger connections between educators, families, and children.
About Best Starts for Kids
Best Starts is a voter-approved initiative to support every baby born or child raised in King County, Washington to reach adulthood happy, healthy, safe, and thriving.
Building on the deep knowledge, connections, and skills within King County communities, and backed by what science and research tells us about human development, our community-based supports meets children and families with the right services at the right time. Learn more here.
Press Contact:
Adrienne Loska, Associate Director of Marketing and Digital Assets
253.680.7703, aloska@kbtc.org
7/11/2025
KBTC Public Television’s Northwest Now Public Affairs Program Wins Award at Industry Competition
TACOMA, WA – KBTC Public Television’s Northwest Now public affairs program won first place in the hard news feature category of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) annual Excellence in Journalism competition for region 10 spanning Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
The winning program, titled Saving the Source, focused on the upstream challenges facing the restoration of Puget Sound salmon populations. Saving the Source is part of a series of six half-hour programs called Saving the Salmon.
“Saving the Source was a program where we turned 180-degrees from Puget Sound and looked upstream,” said managing editor, program producer, and host Tom Layson. “Salmon recovery starts at the Cascade Crest, and all the water and land management issues between the state’s highest elevations and the Puget Sound basin have a direct effect on our ability to get salmon populations moving in the right direction.”
Layson was joined by freelance journalists Phillip Townsend and Steve Kiggins who shot stories for Saving the Source. Funding for the project was provided by the KBTC Association, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and KBTC donors and contributors.
Northwest Now has won eight SPJ’s first-place awards in the small station video category. Northwest Now can be seen Friday nights at 7:30 on KBTC Public Television.
About KBTC Public Television
KBTC is western Washington’s public broadcasting station. Operating out of Tacoma, Wash., KBTC is the only television broadcaster in Pierce County. KBTC is committed to telling local stories that aren’t being told anywhere else and connecting viewers with the people and ideas that shape western Washington. KBTC is available to 1.8 million TV households and 4.3 million viewers in western Washington, British Columbia and Oregon. KBTC, a PBS affiliate, is operated as a viewer-supported service of Bates Technical College.
Press Contact:
Adrienne Loska, Associate Director of Marketing and Digital Assets
253.680.7703, aloska@kbtc.org
5/14/2025
KBTC Public Television Launch KBTC-VC,
ATSC 3.0 Virtual Channel 28-11
Tacoma, WA — KBTC Public Television proudly announces the launch of KBTC-VC, a new virtual ATSC 3.0 channel, broadcasting on virtual channel 28-11. This innovative launch brings KBTC’s high-quality programming into the NEXTGEN television space, offering viewers a state-of-the-art experience, including enhanced picture quality with Advanced HDR by Technicolor.
The programming on KBTC-VC mirrors that of KBTC’s main channel 28-1, while providing enhanced accessibility for those with NEXTGEN-enabled televisions.
Virtual ATSC 3.0 channels provide electronic programming guide information over-the-air to NEXTGEN Smart TVs using the host broadcaster's data channel capacity. NEXTGEN viewers can select KBTC-VC in their programming guide and access the channel seamlessly over their internet connected TV.
ATSC 3.0, also known as NEXTGEN TV, combines over-the-air broadcasting with internet technology to deliver:
- Higher-quality video with Advanced HDR by Technicolor
- Immersive audio for a cinematic experience
- Improved accessibility through closed captions and interactive program guides
- Future-ready technology enabling personalized viewing experiences
Viewers may need to rescan their TVs to access the new channel and begin watching KBTC-VC. To do this, viewers should look for a “Channel Scan” or “Auto-Tune” function in their settings menu.
KBTC Public Television now joins a growing number of stations nationwide adopting the NEXTGEN Broadcast Service to enhance local and national programming. By launching KBTC-VC, the station remains at the forefront of public broadcasting’s digital transformation, demonstrating a commitment to leveraging technology for the benefit of viewers.
DeAnne Hamilton, Executive Director and General Manager of KBTC Public Television said, “We are excited to make NEXTGEN TV available in our region. This launch deepens KBTC’s commitment to innovation and accessibility by reducing barriers to high-quality broadcast media and by supporting digital services that our viewers in western Washington rely on every day.”
Kate Riley, President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), said, “We congratulate KBTC Public Television on its new virtual ATSC 3.0 channel. With this new virtual channel, the NEXTGEN Broadcast Service will be delivered to more public television viewers and enhance the local public television services that the Tacoma and western Washington community depends on every day.”
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About KBTC Public Television
KBTC is western Washington’s public broadcasting station. Operating out of Tacoma, Wash., KBTC is the only television broadcaster in Pierce County. KBTC is committed to telling local stories that aren’t being told anywhere else and connecting viewers with the people and ideas that shape western Washington. KBTC is available to 1.8 million TV households and 4.3 million viewers in western Washington, British Columbia and Oregon. KBTC, a PBS affiliate, is operated as a viewer-supported service of Bates Technical College.
About America’s Public Television Stations
America's Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization ensuring a strong and financially sound public television system and helping member stations provide essential public services in public safety, education, and community connections to their local areas and the American people. For more information, visit www.apts.org.