The station signed on the air on October 30, 1970,[2] with only 4+1⁄2 hours of programming Monday through Friday, of which they would later expand throughout its 50-year history, including producing local shows and various projects. Original materials from PBS Guam have been contributed to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.[3]
The station was in financial trouble in 1975, facing problems in raising the percentage of its government funding required by law.[4]
Last KGTF channel 12 logo, before adopting PBS Guam branding.
As of 1993, KGTF produced 30 percent of the output it aired. Such content at the time included a Filipino current affairs program, a competition program for high school students, meetings of the Guam Legislature, public service announcements and conventional educational programs. Nearly all of the 22 staff employed by the station were Guamanians. The station used a 6-kilowatt transmitter to deliver its terrestrial signal as well as being relayed on cable television, whereas two repeaters had been purchased at the time to boost its coverage towards the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands to the north.[5]
KGTF shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 12, on January 23, 2009,[6] approximately five months before the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 5, using virtual channel 12.[7]
KGTF is a partner of the Pacific Community's television newsmagazine The Pacific Way.[8]
PBS Guam received PBS' overhaul branding in late-November 2019.[citation needed]
