WKYU-TV
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Bowling Green, Kentucky United States |
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| Branding | WKU PBS |
| Slogan | Western's Public Broadcasting |
| Channels |
Digital: 18 (UHF) Virtual: 24 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations |
PBS ASN (secondary) |
| Owner | Western Kentucky University |
| First air date | January 15, 1989 |
| Call letters' meaning |
Western KentuckY University |
| Sister station(s) | WKYU-FM, WWHR |
| Former channel number(s) | 24 (UHF analog, 1989–2009) |
| Transmitter power | 61 kW |
| Height | 176.9 m |
| Facility ID | 71861 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 37°3′49″N 86°26′7″W / 37.06361°N 86.43528°W |
| Website | www.wkyupbs.org/ |
WKYU-TV is a PBS member station licensed to and serving Bowling Green, Kentucky. It is owned and operated by Western Kentucky University, and is an arm of WKU's Information Technology department. Its transmitter is located 6 miles (10 km) north of Bowling Green along KY 185, sharing the tower with ABC affiliate WBKO. Its studio and broadcasting facility is located at 1906 College Heights Boulevard on the WKU campus alongside sister National Public Radio network, WKU Public Radio and flagship station WKYU-FM.
WKYU-TV signed on for the first time on January 15, 1989. It was the second PBS member in Kentucky that was not aligned with the PBS-member statewide network Kentucky Educational Television (which has operated a repeater in Bowling Green, WKGB-TV channel 53 (digital channel 48), since 1968); the first was Louisville's WKPC-TV. KET acquired WKPC in 1998. It is one of the smallest standalone stations in the PBS system. After KET's 1998 acquisition of WKPC, WKYU became the only PBS station in Kentucky not affiliated with KET, and WKYU competes with KET-owned WKGB-TV for viewing allegiances.
WKYU-TV shut down its analog signal on February 17, 2009 as part of the FCC-mandated nationwide digital transition, even though the DTV transition deadline was moved to June 12 of that year. The digital signal, which began operation in 2003, continued to be broadcast on its pre-transition channel 18, but through the use of PSIP, viewers see it displayed as virtual channel 24, the station's former analog channel number.
In 2010, WKYU-TV began airing the Create TV channel that is syndicated by American Public Television on their second digital-subchannel, replacing the audio-only simulcast of WKYU-FM, WKU Public Radio. Around the same time, WKYU-DT3 began featuring the National Weather Service Fort Campbell weather radar on the screen, and simulcasting NOAA Weather Radio station KIH-45, which operates on 162.400 MHz on the weather band radio dial. It was also previously simulcast on a fourth digital sub-channel before the fourth subchannel was discontinued in late 2010. After years of branding as "WKYU-TV" or "WKYU-PBS" for most of its history, it rebranded as "WKU-PBS" in 2013, using the university's logo along with the PBS icon.
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