WKYU-TV

PBS member station in Bowling Green, Kentucky

WKYU TV (channel 24) is a secondary PBS member television station in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. Owned by Western Kentucky University as an arm of its Information Technology department, it is a sister station to NPR member network WKU Public Radio and its flagship station WKYU FM. The two outlets share studios on College Heights Boulevard on the WKU campus; WKYU TV's transmitter is located 6 mile (10 km) north of Bowling Green along KY 185, on a tower shared with ABC/Fox/CW+ affiliate WBKO (channel 13) and Telemundo affiliate WBGS LD (channel 34). WKYU TV is a member of PBS' Program Differentiation Plan (PDP), previously known as the "Beta" group; as the Bowling Green market's secondary PBS station, it only airs 25% of the network's schedule.

The Broadcasting and Mass Media Department of Western Kentucky University was granted a construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on February 28, 1986, to build a public television station under the chosen callsign WKYU TV to match that of its pre existing NPR member outlet WKYU FM. Plans for the opening of the television station dated back to about ten years prior. Under the director of Dr. Chuck Anderson, the station was established as an addition to the university's extensive broadcast program that already established a network of four NPR member stations in the state. Transmission equipment for the station was pre installed at ABC affiliate WBKO's tower site in 1988 to keep the start up costs to a minimum. WKYU TV would not only compete against locally based Kentucky Educational Television (KET) station WKGB TV (channel 53), but also be a source for locally produced public affairs programming focusing solely on the south central Kentucky area. The station signed on the air for the first time on January 17, 1989, at 3 p. m. Central standard time. After years of branding as "WKYU TV" or WKYU PBS for most of its history, the station rebranded as WKU PBS in 2013, using the university's logo along with the PBS icon.

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 WKU Public Radio. The Create TV channel features how to programs and some cooking and travel shows, as well as PBS NewsHour, which is broadcast on the DT2 subchannel in order to make room for local programming on the main channel. 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 subchannel before the fourth subchannel was discontinued in late 2010. In 2017, the radar display was upgraded to use GRLevel3 software, discontinuing use of the web image.

WKYU TV's program schedule consists mainly of a handful of PBS programs, including a few PBS Kids programs, as well as programs syndicated by American Public Television. Its program schedule for the day was previously posted on "Community Calendar" slides shown with audio of WKU Public Radio during that station's daily downtime from 3 to 7 a. m. CT (11 p. m. to 7 a. m. before 2012). This practice ended in 2016, when WKYU TV began to broadcast actual programming 24 hours a day.

Since 1990, WKYU TV occasionally airs Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football and men's and women's basketball games that do not appear on regional or national commercial sports networks; some game broadcasts were broadcast on a tape delayed basis in the station's early years. Since 2000, the games are broadcast under a banner called "Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network," for which WKYU TV is the flagship station. Select WKU men's basketball games on WKYU TV under that branding were previously simulcast on Fox College Sports, with the audio from the Hilltopper IMG Sports Network. As of 2018, these broadcasts were moved from Fox College Sports to Facebook Live (for exhibitions) and ESPN+. Some of WKU's games may be shown via Sinclair Broadcast Group operated Stadium's Conference USA syndication package beginning in fall 2014 (when Stadium was known as American Sports Network); hence, WKYU TV served as a part time affiliate of Stadium (since Bowling Green has no television station owned by Sinclair) until it was discontinued in 2023. This often takes the form of preempting regular programming to carry the Stadium linear signal for the duration of the event.

WKYU TV occasionally broadcasts replays of WKU student produced 6 p. m. newscasts originating from WKU Cable 12, named NewsChannel 12.

Channel Video Aspect Short name Programming 24.2 480i 4:3 WKYU DT Audio only simulcast of WKYU FM/WKU Public Radio (2008–2009) 24.3 24.4 Audio only simulcast of WKYU FM (2008–2009) Weather radar with NOAA Weather Radio station KIH45 audio (2009–2010)

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 addition to their over the air signal on UHF digital channel 18, WKYU TV can also be seen on Dish Network channel 24. In Bowling Green, it is also carried on Charter Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable) channels 11 in SD and 917 in HD. In Glasgow, it is also seen on South Central Rural Telephone Cooperative (SCRTC) cable channel 24 in Barren, Hart, and Metcalfe counties, as well as on Glasgow Electric Plant Board cable channels 24 (SD) and 540 (HD). WKYU DT2 is also available to cable subscribers in Bowling Green and Glasgow, as well as other areas served by the SCRTC. WKYU's main channel is also widely carried on Mediacom cable in several areas within and just outside the Bowling Green DMA. These include areas of Butler, Edmonson, Hart, and Metcalfe counties, as well as the northwest Barren County city of Park City. WKYU TV is also available on via channel 7 on WesternCable, WKU's cable system available to all classrooms and residence halls on campus.

In the neighboring Nashville DMA (home territory to fellow PBS member stations WNPT and Cookeville, Tennessee's WCTE), it is available to Mediacom customers in Clinton, Cumberland (including Burkesville), and Monroe counties, and for all SCRTC customers in the cooperative's service area regardless of location. WKYU is also available to Suddenlink Communications (now Optimum) cable customers in Logan County (including Russellville). Subscribers of North Central Telephone Cooperative Cable in Allen County and into Macon County, Tennessee, including Lafayette and Red Boiling Springs, are served by WKYU TV, as well as the respective subchannels of WNPT and KET affiliate WKGB TV. WKYU is also carried on cable systems in the far southern portions of the Louisville DMA, including parts of Grayson, Green, and Larue counties, along with southern portions of Hardin County, including Upton and Sonora. WKYU is also available on cable systems in Muhlenberg and Ohio counties in northwest Kentucky, in the Evansville, Indiana, DMA, home territory to fellow PBS member station WNIN), including Comcast Xfinity in the Greenville/Central City area, and on Spectrum systems in the Beaver Dam/Hartford area.