KCSM-TV first signed on the air on October 12, 1964; the station was founded by Dr. Jacob H. Wiens, chair of the electronics department at the College of San Mateo. It was originally a member station of National Educational Television until 1970, when that service was succeeded by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). During its early years, broadcasting on channel 14, it operated on campus from black and white studios with 13,800 watts of power from a transmitter at the college, comparable to today's low-power stations. In 1979, KCSM reached a deal with Spanish International Network station KDTV to begin operating from its full-power color facilities and moved to channel 60 atop San Bruno Mountain's Radio Peak on March 5, 1979, KDTV subsequently moved to UHF channel 14.