Ice and wind have snapped a transmitter antenna on Green Mountain. KNME is working to restore service to N.E. NM by 1/7/09.
Celebrating 50 Years
1971
MASTERIECE THEATRE debuts with "The First Churchills."
BILL MOYERS' JOURNAL premieres.
1972
KNME-TV presents live coverage of the governor's inauguration (Bruce King) and the state of the state
address.
Live legislative reports are broadcast in color.
MASTERPIECE THEATRE PRESENTS "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" and "Elizabeth R".
1973
PBS broadcasts the controversial series AN AMERICAN FAMILY.
Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer are teamed for the first time to present live coverage of the Senate Watergate
Hearings.
1974
MASTERPIECE THEATRE"Upstairs.
Downstairs"
"Upstairs. Downstairs" premieres on MASTERPIECE THEATRE.
1976
Premiere of the ADAMS CHRONICLES.
The MacNeil/Lehrer Report with co-anchors Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer is distributed nationally for the first
time.
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS premieres with a concert by Asleep at the Wheel and Bob Wills' Original Texas Playboys.
KNME-TV publishes its first program guide with a press run of 300 copies.
1977
MASTERPIECE THEATRE presents "Poldark," "I, Claudius," and "Anna Karenina."
1978
KNME-TV constructs its satellite ground station as the Public Broadcasting Service pioneers the satellite
distribution of programs. Until now, television programs were distributed by courier or by telephone lines.
KNME-TV presents its first on-air fund raiser--a 27 hour marathon.
KNME-TV produces COWBOY HEAVEN, a look at modern-day working cowboys on New Mexico's Bell Ranch.
Rev. Harry Summers and Rev. Harvey Porter are featured in the KNME-TV series YESTERDAY IS ALIVE, looking at the
history of the Middle East.
Among KNME-TV's local specials are LAS GOLONDRINAS, GREATER SOUTHWESTERN MEDICINE SHOW and the Emmy-Award
winning ESTAMPA FLAMENCA, featuring dancer Maria Benitez.
KNME-TV presents the performance series SANDIA SOUNDS with the Watermelon Mountain Jug Band.
1979
1979 On-Air Fundraiser
KNME-TV's award-winning documentary DOING TIME reports on conditions at the New Mexico State Penitentiary
in Santa Fe. Three months after the broadcast, the problems reported in the documentary led to the bloodiest prison
riot in American history.
THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS, a six-year PBS/BBC project bringing to television new productions of all 37 of the bard's
plays, debuts with "Julius Caesar."
KNME-TV presents John Millington Synge's play DEIRDRE OF THE SORROWS, featuring the Taos Repertory Company
Hal Rhodes of ALBUQUERQUE NOW and
Tom Rutherford
KNME-TV simulcasts with KHFM-Radio for the first time. The program is the San Francisco Opera's Production
of La GIOCONDA.
CONNECTIONS, James Burke's 10-part series tracing the roots of modern technological marvels, debuts.
The Rio Grande Valley Bank becomes KNME-TV's first local corporate underwriter with an acquisition grant
for WASHINGTON WEEK IN REVIEW.
UNM political science professor Hal Rhodes hosts the weekly public affairs series ALBUQUERQUE NOW.
Dr. George Fischbeck
Dr. George Fischbeck returns to KNME to host the six-part THE ENERGY STORE for national distribution.
The premiere of the four-part THE SCARLET LETTER with Meg Foster as Hester Prynne.
For the first time, KNME-TV’s program guide is called TAKE FIVE. The press run is 7,000.
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Through the Decades
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1958
On May 1, KNME-TV signs on with a broadcast of UNM professor Edith Buchanan’s freshman English class. The station operates from a converted sorority house that later becomes the home of UNM’s Speech and Communications Department.
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1962
Joyce Marron, host of KNME-TV’s TV KINDERGARTEN, is awarded McCall Magazine’s Golden Mike Award for Outstanding Achievement by a woman broadcaster.
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1976
The MacNeil/Lehrer Report with co-anchors Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer is distributed nationally for the first time.
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1983
READING RAINBOW premieres with host LeVar Burton.
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1992
SURVIVING COLUMBUS, the story of the Pueblo people’s 450-year struggle for survival, is broadcast nationally on PBS on Columbus Day.
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2000
Gwen Ifill took over as moderator of Washington week, and the name was shortened to Washington week.
