In 1960, San Diego State College (now San Diego State University) applied for a license from the Federal Communications Commission to operate a noncommercial educational television station to serve San Diego.
On January 1, 2011, when Los Angeles' longtime PBS station KCET dropped its membership with the network, KPBS began to be carried on cable providers in the Bakersfield market, alongside fellow PBS stations KVCR-DT in San Bernardino and KVPT in Fresno.