Winter Horton Jr. and the birth of KCET

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It’s fitting that Winter D. Horton Jr. was among the names listed in a story announcing the start of public television in Los Angeles.

Horton was a co-founder of KCET and later was appointed to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Board of Directors. He died Thursday at 80.

In a Sept. 20, 1964, story by The Times’ television critic Cecil Smith, Horton was named as an organizer of Community Television of Southern California. The community leaders would be honored for their work in getting KCET off the ground.

And what was the significance of the name KCET? According to Smith, C stood for culture, E for education, T for television and K for A-OK.

The first program would be a course in French for school use.

-- Keith Thursby