KOCE-TV first signed on the air on November 20, 1972, as the first television station licensed to Orange County, initially airing four hours of programming per day. It broadcast its first telecourse in 1973. It was originally owned by the Coast Community College District. The station was originally based from studios at Golden West College in Huntington Beach. For most of its history, KOCE-TV was a "beta" or secondary PBS station, airing only 25 percent of the national PBS schedule.
1996-1998[]
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1998-2007[]
2007–2011[]
2011–2016[]
KOCE became the Los Angeles market's primary PBS station on New Year's Day 2011, when the area's longtime original primary member station of the network, KCET (channel 28), ended its association with PBS after 40 years due to an increase in costs to carry PBS programming—leading to its switch to an independent public television station.
2016–2021[]
On April 25, 2018, KCETLink Media Group (KCET's owners) and the KOCE-TV Foundation announced that they would merge, effective by the end of the first half of 2018. KOCE remains Los Angeles' primary PBS station but relocated its operations to KCET's facility in Burbank (maintaining its Costa Mesa location as a secondary facility). The two stations continue to carry their existing programming, but KCET returned to PBS.
On February 6, 2024, the color of the "SoCal" text changed from orange to magenta, coinciding with the consolidation of KCET under the PBS SoCal brand the same day.