KCET-TV, the Los Angeles station that left the PBS fold in January, is beginning to see a return of both viewers and donations, reports the Los Angeles Times‘ Scott Collins.

"We’re past PBS," KCET President and Chief Executive Al Jerome said, according to the piece. "We’re doing our own thing now. All we have to do is stay to our game plan, and we’re gonna do just fine."

The station’s May ratings jumped 22% from February’s numbers, the story says, although the average of 1.3 million total viewers per week in May represents a drop of 28% compared with a year earlier, the story notes.

PBS SoCal, the Orange County station that became the area’s leading PBS station after KCET left the system, averaged 1.2 million viewers during the period, representing a 23% increase from a year earlier. But neither station is near the 1.9 million viewers KCET was drawing in May 2010, which suggests "both stations have a lot of work to do in connecting with their audience base," the story reports.