KERA-TV (channel 13) is a PBS member television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.

The VHF channel 13 allocation in the Dallas–Fort Worth market—which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reserved for non-commercial educational use in its list of frequencies assigned for broadcast television transmissions—was originally applied for use by Southern Methodist University in the late 1950s; however, the university had trouble raising enough funds for its planned educational station's start-up, programming and operational costs.

In 1958, the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) partnered with local nonprofit corporation Area Education Television Foundation, Inc. (which later evolved into North Texas Public Broadcasting) to apply for the allocation.

[3] The original license application filed by the organization-school district partnership had obtained permission from the FCC to operate the station from broadcast facilities located in Fair Park (on land donated to the Area Educational Television Foundation and the DISD by the Dallas city government).

A. H. Belo Corporation was in the process of building new studio facilities at Young and Houston Streets to accommodate the operations of local newspaper The Dallas Morning News, WFAA television, and its companion radio stations (570 AM, now KLIF and 97.9 FM, now KBFB; the latter of which ironically once held the KERA-FM call letters now used by KERA-TV's sister radio station on 90.1 FM).

KERA-TV (the call letters are said to represent a "new era in broadcasting") signed on the air on September 11, 1960, originally serving as a member station of National Educational Television (NET).

That same year, KERA became a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which was launched as an independent entity to supersede NET and took over many of the functions of its predecessor network.

After making the decision to divest the secondary outlet on the basis that its funding was no longer sufficient to continue operating two television stations in the Metroplex, North Texas Public Broadcasting sold KDTN to religious broadcaster Daystar—which bought the station in a $20 million deal in order to get a better signal in the market to replace its original flagship, KMPX (channel 29, now an Estrella TV affiliate), which it sold in turn—on August 12, 2003; the acquisition was finalized on January 13, 2004.

Wichita Falls Educational Translator, Inc., a group headed by longtime State Representative Ray Farabee, launched KIDZ-TV on UHF channel 24 on November 13, 1973;[19] the station maintained a full-power license, but operated at an effective radiated power of only 2.82 kilowatts, producing a signal that had limited coverage propagation from the transmitter equivalent to that of many low-power stations.

KIDZ-TV shared tower space with KAUZ-TV, with the transmitter rebroadcasting KERA-TV's programming during the hours that KAUZ when was broadcasting, roughly between 6 a.m. and midnight.

This meant that some specials that KERA aired on weekend evenings were interrupted before their conclusion when the KAUZ engineers (who tended channel 24 as a public service) switched off the transmitters for the night and went home.

[21] In summer of 2018, the callsign changed to K26NK-D. On December 18, 2020, two transmission towers that housed the transmitter facilities of K26NK-D and Fox affiliate KJTL (channel 18) were vandalized when an unidentified suspect cut guy wires attached to both facilities; the tower belonging to K26NK-D as well as local NOAA Weather Radio station WXK31 later collapsed due to a lack of wire support to buffer it from winds gusting to 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) in the area.

The translator remained off the air until May 6, 2021, when KERA restored service to K26NK-D on a separate tower north of Seymour Highway (near the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail line) in southwestern Wichita Falls.

Tellyspotting is a blog operated by KERA that provides news about British television series (many of which – specifically those aired as part of the PBS wheel series Masterpiece, such as Victoria and Sherlock – are carried by KERA-TV, or its traditional block of Britcoms), detailing new and upcoming programs, and news and articles about British-originated programs aggregated from around the Internet.

program, in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Fort Worth and the Blue Zones Project, which was designed to inspire kids and educators to find opportunities to work more steps in their regular day while learning about math.