Growth and financial crises
For much of its 41-year history under a community licensee, the station had to navigate persistent low rates of public support, accentuated by its location in a border city. Elaine Rosen, who chaired the El Paso Public Television Foundation board for KCOS's first nine years in operation, recalled that "El Paso is cheap" and that some in town objected to a public station with perceived "liberal" content. KCOS, as with other community-owned public stations, also was barred under Texas law from being supported by the state; this was in contrast to KRWG-TV in neighboring Las Cruces, New Mexico, whose budget is subsidized by its owner, New Mexico State University.[32]
As a result, the station suffered occasional financial crises. In 1981, the station faced a $25,000 budget deficit, and the chairman of the foundation asked general manager John Siqueiros to produce a five-year plan for KCOS.[33] Siqueiros resigned in 1983 as he was facing possible dismissal over poor job performance.[34] He was replaced by John Kasdan, who came from WVPT in Virginia.[35] Finances improved, but a decision in the late 1980s to expand the station's local program production doubled the annual budget and ultimately led to a financial crisis in 1992, when Kasdan departed KCOS. From 1990 to 1992, memberships declined by 25 percent, while support from businesses and the federal government also diminished.[36][37] The El Paso Public Television Foundation analyzed merging KCOS with KRWG-TV, El Paso Community College, and two public stations in Texas, but no agreement emerged. A former board member, who resigned in lieu of being removed from the board, accused station management of attempting to hide the depth of KCOS's financial issues.[38]
The new general manager, Robert Muñoz, sought to steady the station's finances. In response to the fact that Hispanics were severely underrepresented as donors to KCOS, the station launched a membership drive focusing on the Hispanic community, known as Algo Más ("Something Else").[39] KCOS was also one of the first 11 stations to participate in the pilot for PBS's Ready-to-Learn initiative, devoting its daytime schedule to children's programs aimed at preschoolers, in 1994.[40] During Muñoz's tenure, KCOS also produced and distributed the docudrama Held in Trust: The Story of Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper, a first in station history.[41]
Muñoz left in 1998[42] and was replaced by Craig Brush.[43] Early in his time running the station, KCOS dealt with being off air for non-cable viewers for three weeks in early 2000 when the antenna partially failed. Only one channel could be broadcast, and KVIA-TV had priority; it also needed the remaining transmission capacity in order to broadcast Super Bowl XXXIV.[44][45][46]
In 2003, UTEP informed KCOS that it needed the space the station occupied in the university's Education Building and would not renew its lease for 11000 ft2 in the Education Building. KCOS had few options and needed to find space in an existing building that could provide services such as security and cleaning.[47] In July 2006, KCOS relocated to a building at the headquarters of El Paso Community College, sharing space with the college's communications system.[48]
KCOS was financially battered by the Great Recession in the late 2000s. From a high of 6,000 members, KCOS counted 3,500 members by November 2008; membership provided 63 percent of the station's revenue, with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) providing the remainder.[49] The station's budget declined from $1.8 million in 2008 to $1.4 million in 2013.[50] After Brush resigned in 2010, the station had two interim leaders.[51]
