Kentucky Educational Television
Type | Non-commercial Broadcast television network |
---|---|
Branding |
KET (general) KET: The Kentucky Network (secondary) |
Country | United States |
First air date | September 23, 1968 |
Availability |
Kentucky (statewide) southern Illinois southern Indiana southeast Missouri southwest Ohio northern middle and northwest Tennessee far western Virginia western West Virginia |
Slogan | Explore Kentucky, Explore the World. |
TV transmitters | 16 |
Headquarters | Lexington, Kentucky, United States |
Owner | Kentucky Authority for Educational Television |
Parent | Commonwealth of Kentucky |
Established | 1962 |
Launch date | 23 September 1968 |
Picture format |
480i (SDTV) (1968-2008) 720p (HDTV) (2008-present) |
Affiliation | PBS |
Affiliates | see article |
Former affiliations | NET (1968–1970) |
Official website |
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Kentucky Educational Television (also known as KET: The Kentucky Network, or simply KET) is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is owned and operated by the Kentucky Authority for Educational Television, which holds the licenses for almost all of the PBS member stations licensed in the state with the exception of WKYU-TV (channel 24) in Bowling Green. KET is the largest PBS state network in the United States;[1] the broadcast signals of its sixteen stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
The network's offices, network center and primary studio facilities are located at the O. Leonard Press Telecommunications Center on Cooper Drive in Lexington, adjacent to the campus of the University of Kentucky. (It should be noted that KET has no other direct affiliation with the university.) KET also has production centers in Louisville as well as at the Kentucky State Capitol Annex in Frankfort. KET carries national programming from PBS and American Public Television along with a wide range of local programming, basic skills and workplace education.[1]
History
KET was founded by O. Leonard Press, a member of the University of Kentucky faculty, who was a pioneer in educational broadcasting. Before coming to the university, Press had developed the weekly broadcast from the National Press Club, which has aired for over half a century. In the mid-1950s, he taped a popular anthropology course, and the response to the telecourses was positive enough for Press and two of his colleagues to consider founding an educational television station at the University of Kentucky. This was a natural choice given UK's history in educational broadcasting. UK had been involved in broadcasting in one form or another since 1921, and operated WBKY (now WUKY), the nation's oldest educational radio station on the FM dial.
This drive failed, but Press and his colleagues decided to set their sights higher and make a bid for a statewide educational television network along the lines of Alabama Educational Television (now Alabama Public Television). At the time, the only educational station in Kentucky was WFPK-TV (channel 15, now KET outlet WKPC-TV) in Louisville, which signed on the air on September 8, 1958. Before KET signed on, the only areas of Kentucky that received a clear signal from an educational television station were Northern Kentucky (from WCET in Cincinnati), the Jackson Purchase (from WSIU-TV in Carbondale, Illinois), and certain areas of South Central Kentucky near the Tennessee state line (from WDCN (now WNPT) in Nashville, Tennessee).
The idea gained little momentum until 1959, when Press addressed the local Rotary Club in the state capital of Frankfort and a story about it appeared in The Courier-Journal newspaper. After landing support from UK officials, what was supposed to be a short meeting with Governor Bert T. Combs turned into a proposal to start the state network. The Kentucky Authority for Educational Television was created in 1962 with Press serving as its executive director.[2]
The project made little progress until 1965 when Ashland Oil founder Paul G. Blazer personally acquired the first thirteen transmitter sites and then gifted the sites to the authority. Ownership of the sites led to KET's expanded inclusion in the state budget and eligibility for United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare and Appalachian Regional Commission grants.[3] KET finally took to the air on September 23, 1968 with programming relayed on 10 stations. KET was a member of National Educational Television for its first two years of operation, before joining PBS in 1970.
The first instructional television (ITV) program produced by KET was Kentucky is My Land, which premiered in late 1968.[4]
Originally operating only during school hours, within a year it had acquired enough support to begin broadcasting its programming during the evening as well.[2] By 1975, it was showing programming seven days a week.[5]
The KET Fund for Excellence, one of the network's sources of funding is established in 1981. One year later in 1982, KET Enterprises is created as a syndication arm of KET to develop, acquire and distribute educational programs nationally to and from other PBS affiliated networks.[6]
From 1989 through the 1990s and early 2000s, KET's Star Channels satellite network brought hundreds of hours worth of instructional programming and professional development seminars to schools all over Kentucky. KET Star Channels 703 and 704 were also available on C-band free-to-air satellite television users.[7]
In 1998, KET merged with WKPC, allowing it to start a second service on the Louisville station it already owned, WKMJ-TV (channel 68).
WKPC-TV's digital signal, WKPC-DT, was the first KET affiliate to broadcast in digital, and Kentucky's first digital television station. On August 19, 1999, that station's digital signal was turned on by then-Kentucky governor Paul E. Patton as part of the opening day festivities of the Kentucky State Fair.[8][9]
Programming
Current programming
- Comment on Kentucky, KET's longest-running public affairs program.[10] It has been in existence since 1974. Series creator and original host, Al Smith, retired from the series in November 2007. It has since been hosted by Ferrell Wellman and Bill Bryant.
- Kentucky Afield is a magazine, radio show and television program, and is the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. The magazine is a quarterly periodical while the television and radio programs are a 30-minute broadcast, all of which is devoted to the fish and wildlife resources of Kentucky and covers a broad range of outdoor topics, including angling, hunting, conservation and land management.
- Kentucky Collectibles, a series where participants have their possessions assessed by an appraiser, with hosts Dave Shuffett and Amy Hess discuss with the guests about the valuables.[11]
- Kentucky Life features profiles of people, places an ideas of Kentucky. It is the most popular show on KET.[12]
- Louisville Life features events, people, and culture of Louisville.[13]
Former programming
In 1987, KET along with ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV, produced Learn to Read, an adult educational program that teaches reading skills and it was hosted by entrepreneur and literacy advocate Wally Amos.
Prior to 2002, KET went off the air every night at midnight E.T. (11 p.m. CT). The network used to sign off with the playing of "My Old Kentucky Home", which is the official state song of Kentucky. The film featured scenes from all areas of Kentucky, including Fort Boonesborough, the Jefferson Davis Monument, the Lincoln Birthplace, Kentucky Horse Park, and more.[14]
Stations
KET
KET, available to all cable subscribers in Kentucky,[15] broadcasts locally produced cultural and public information programs about the state, programs produced by independent Kentucky filmmakers, prime-time programming from PBS, PBS Kids series, and GED, how-to and adult education programs.[16]
As it is one of a few PBS member state networks[1] encompassing two time zones, KET's programming operates on an Eastern Time Zone schedule; in promos, online guides on the network's website and print advertisements, airtimes within the Central Time Zone (which covers the western part of the state) are identified secondarily, in the manner of the "Eastern/Central" scheduling references used by many national broadcast and cable networks. Most of the KET stations have callsigns beginning with "WK", with the exception of Covington-licensed WCVN-TV.
Stations | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Station | City of license | Channels TV / RF |
First air date | Call letters' meaning |
ERP | HAAT | Facility ID | Transmitter Coordinates |
WKAS | Ashland (Charleston/Huntington, West Virginia) |
25 (PSIP) 26 (UHF) |
September 23, 1968 | Kentucky AShland |
61.3 kW | 137 m | 34171 | 38°27′43.7″N 82°37′11.8″W / 38.462139°N 82.619944°W |
WKGB-TV | Bowling Green (Glasgow) | 53 (PSIP) 48 (UHF) |
September 23, 1968 | Kentucky Green Bowling |
54.8 kW | 234 m | 34177 | 37°5′22.7″N 86°38′5″W / 37.089639°N 86.63472°W |
WCVN-TV | Covington (Cincinnati, Ohio) | 54 (PSIP) 24 (UHF) |
September 8, 1969 | CoVingtoN | 53.5 kW | 117 m | 34204 | 39°1′50.6″N 84°30′23″W / 39.030722°N 84.50639°W |
WKZT-TV | Elizabethtown (Fort Knox) | 23 (PSIP) 43 (UHF) |
September 23, 1968 | Kentucky EliZabethTown |
61 kW | 178 m | 34181 | 37°40′55.2″N 85°50′31.2″W / 37.682000°N 85.842000°W |
WKHA | Hazard | 35 (PSIP) 16 (UHF) |
September 23, 1968 | Kentucky HAzard |
53.2 kW | 369 m | 34196 | 37°11′34.2″N 83°11′17.4″W / 37.192833°N 83.188167°W |
WKLE | Lexington (Frankfort) | 46 (PSIP) 42 (UHF) |
September 23, 1968 | Kentucky LExington |
45.8 kW | 257.6 m | 34207 | 37°52′45″N 84°19′32.8″W / 37.87917°N 84.325778°W |
WKPC-TV1 | Louisville (New Albany-Jeffersonville, Indiana) | 15 (PSIP) 17 (UHF) |
September 8, 1958 | Kentucky Park Central (for Central Park) -or- Kentucky Public Communications |
60.3 kW | 237 m | 21432 | 38°22′1.6″N 85°49′53.8″W / 38.367111°N 85.831611°W |
WKMA-TV | Madisonville | 35 (PSIP) 42 (UHF) |
September 23, 1968 | Kentucky MAdisonville |
55.1 kW | 298 m | 34212 | 37°11′21.3″N 87°30′49″W / 37.189250°N 87.51361°W |
WKMR | Morehead | 38 (PSIP) 15 (UHF) |
September 23, 1968 | Kentucky MoRehead |
51.4 kW | 289 m | 34202 | 38°10′38.3″N 83°24′17.2″W / 38.177306°N 83.404778°W |
WKMU | Murray (Mayfield) | 21 (PSIP) 36 (UHF) |
October 9, 1968 | Kentucky MUrray |
56.9 kW | 187 m | 34174 | 36°41′34.2″N 88°32′10.6″W / 36.692833°N 88.536278°W |
WKOH | Owensboro (Henderson/Evansville, Indiana) | 31 (PSIP) 30 (UHF) |
December 31, 1979 | Kentucky OHio Valley -or- Kentucky Owensboro Henderson |
63.3 kW | 124 m | 34205 | 37°51′7″N 87°19′44″W / 37.85194°N 87.32889°W |
WKON | Owenton | 52 (PSIP) 44 (UHF) |
September 23, 1968 | Kentucky OweNton |
49.7 kW | 214 m | 34211 | 38°31′31.5″N 84°48′39.4″W / 38.525417°N 84.810944°W |
WKPD2 | Paducah | 29 (PSIP) 41 (UHF) |
May 31, 1971 | Kentucky PaDucah |
55.7 kW | 143 m | 65758 | 37°5′39.7″N 88°40′20″W / 37.094361°N 88.67222°W |
WKPI-TV | Pikeville | 22 (PSIP) 24 (UHF) [17] |
September 23, 1968 | Kentucky PIkeville |
50.4 kW | 423 m | 34200 | 37°17′6.3″N 82°31′28.3″W / 37.285083°N 82.524528°W |
WKSO-TV | Somerset | 29 (PSIP) 14 (UHF) |
September 23, 1968 | Kentucky SOmerset |
53.3 kW | 429 m | 34222 | 37°10′2.6″N 84°49′29.8″W / 37.167389°N 84.824944°W |
Notes:
|
Coverage areas
Station | Signal reach |
---|---|
WKAS | northeastern Kentucky (Ashland); Huntington, West Virginia area; Portsmouth, Ohio area [18] |
WKGB-TV | South-central Kentucky (Bowling Green, Glasgow. Cave City, Mammoth Cave area), far north-central segment of the Nashville, Tennessee media market (including Cross Plains, Portland, and Lafayette (via Cable)); also covers the Central City and Beaver Dam areas [19][20] |
WCVN-TV | most of the Cincinnati, Ohio market (including northern Kentucky, southeast Indiana, southwest Ohio) [21] |
WKZT-TV | southern portions of the Louisville market (excluding Adair County); also covers Hart County and northeastern Edmonson County.[22][23] |
WKHA | southeastern Kentucky (Hazard, areas between London and Pikeville); Lee and Wise Counties in Virginia [24] |
WKLE | Central Kentucky (Lexington, Frankfort, Winchester, and Richmond, Danville) [24] |
WKPC and WKMJ | Louisville Metro and surrounding areas (Shelbyville); south-central Indiana (New Albany, Jeffersonville, Salem) [23][25][26] |
WKMA | Pennyrile region of western Kentucky, including Madisonville, Hopkinsville, Central City, Princeton Cadiz, Eddyville; north side of Clarksville, Tennessee [27][28] |
WKMR-TV | mainly northeastern Kentucky, including Morehead, grade B coverage available in Ashland and Maysville[24][29] |
WKMU | Western Kentucky's Jackson Purchase region (Murray, Mayfield, Benton); northwestern Tennessee (including Paris, Union City, Martin, rural western Stewart County)[30][31] |
WKOH | Owensboro and Henderson; southwest Indiana (including the Evansville area) [28][32] |
WKON | Owenton, Warsaw, Sparta, areas between Frankfort and Covington, northern suburbs of Lexington, and the Madison, Indiana area [33] |
WKPD-TV | Paducah area, Jackson Purchase region of western Kentucky; southern Illinois (including Metropolis and Cairo. Covers some of the same areas as WKMU-TV Murray.[31][30] |
WKPI-TV | southernmost areas of the Huntington/Charleston, West Virginia market including the Pikeville and Paintsville area; southwestern West Virginia; parts of southwestern Virginia [34] |
WKSO | southeast central Kentucky (Somerset, Danville, Campbellsville, Columbia, Corbin, London); Pickett, Scott and Fentress Counties in Tennessee (including Byrdstown, Oneida, and Jamestown, respectively) [24][35] |
Louisville's WKPC and WKMJ are the only KET stations whose transmitters are located outside of Kentucky – both stations' transmitters are located at the Kentuckiana Tower Farm in rural Floyd County, Indiana (north of Floyds Knobs and New Albany). Because of its location and signal strength (according to FCC data), WKPC and WKMJ cover more of the Indiana side of the Louisville market than the Kentucky side. In addition to the reach of WKPC and WKMJ, several of KET's other stations are viewed in significant portions of Kentucky's neighboring states as well.
Translators
KET also operates three translator stations:[36]
Station | City of license | Channels TV / RF |
First air date | ERP | HAAT | Facility ID | Transmitter Coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
W20CT-D | Augusta | 38 (PSIP) 20 (UHF) |
October 11, 2007 | 61.3 kW | 137 m | 167571 | 38°46′4″N 84°0′35″W / 38.76778°N 84.00972°W |
W23DM-D | Falmouth | 52 (PSIP) 23 (UHF) |
January 12, 2007 | 0.8 kW | 86 m | 167570 | 38°40′9″N 84°19′35″W / 38.66917°N 84.32639°W |
W28DD-D | Louisa | 25 (PSIP) 28 (UHF) |
January 12, 2007 | 0.11 kW | 72 m | 167569 | 38°6′36″N 82°36′35″W / 38.11000°N 82.60972°W |
Former translators
KET also previously utilized analog transmitters that were shut down before the digital TV translation. They were:
- W09AX Collins Creek[37]
- W10AR Louisa [38][39]
- W55AL Tompkinsville[38]
- W56AT Augusta [39]
- W64BR Hopkinsville
- W66AH Whitesburg
- W67AN Letcher[40]
In Augusta, W20CT-D was launched in October 2007 as the companion for W56AT. W28DD-D was the digital companion for W10AR in Louisa. Falmouth's W23DM-D was the digital companion for W56AM.[39]
KET2
KET2, based on KET's original Louisville station, WKMJ-TV, airs the national PBS schedule, local programming including shows focused on the Louisville area, children's programs, how-to series, documentaries and public affairs programs.[1] Outside of Louisville, KET2 can be seen on several cable systems across Kentucky as well as on KET's digital signals. It is broadcast in standard definition and is available to 62% of Kentucky's cable subscribers.[15] Originally, WKMJ-TV was the KET translator serving the Louisville market alongside of the independent WKPC-TV; it carried the same programs as in the rest of the state.
Station | City of license | Channels TV / RF |
First air date | Call letters' meaning |
ERP | HAAT | Facility ID | Transmitter Coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WKMJ-TV | Louisville | 68 (PSIP) 38 (UHF) |
September 2, 1970 | Kentucky Media and Journalism |
61.6 kW | 218 m | 34195 | 38°22′1.6″N 85°49′53.8″W / 38.367111°N 85.831611°W |
KET KY
KET KY, formerly branded as KET3, which is carried as the third digital subchannel on 15 of the KET stations and as the second subchannel of WKMJ, formerly broadcast all of the state network's educational programming throughout its broadcast day. In January 2008, KET3 was relaunched as KET KY, broadcasts Kentucky-based issues, heritage, history and culture.[1] KET KY also broadcasts coverage of the Kentucky General Assembly while it is in session, combining the services previously offered on KET5 and KET6. KET KY broadcasts 24 hours a day in standard definition.[15]
KET World
KET World features programs about world history, featuring programming content sourced from the World network; it is currently available only on the third digital subchannel of KET's secondary Louisville station WKMJ-TV.
Discontinued services
KET ED
Since the fall of 2009, KET ED provides a feed of K-12 educational programming on KET KY from 1:00 to 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time.[15] KET ED (formerly branded as "KET4"), formerly offered KET's digital service during primetime hours and programming from the Annenberg Channel at other times. At one time, this service was carried on the fourth digital subchannel of KET's station. In Louisville, this service was also available 24 hours a day on WKMJ's digital signal, but has since been discontinued, due to an increase of fees for the usage of the national PBSHD channel by PBS. Instead, KET reinvested the money to acquire new digital equipment, including upgrades to allow the transmission of locally produced and tape delayed programming in high definition. This increase of PBSHD fees has also led to KET scheduling HD programming themselves, rather than merely carrying the national feed.[41] Today, KET ED features a mix of educational programming from ITV and Annenberg, as well as KET's own professional development series and PBS' educational content, all of which was previously seen on either KET3 or KET4.[42]
The KET ED programming block on KET KY was ultimately discontinued in the early 2010s, but KET ED remains available as an on-demand video service.
KET5 and KET6
KET5 and KET6 featured live coverage of the Kentucky House of Representatives and Senate respectively on the services, while the state General Assembly was in session. These channels were discontinued in January 2008, when KET realigned its digital programming (see KET KY and KET ED above). As mentioned above, coverage of the General Assembly, while reduced significantly, is still carried on KET KY. In the state capital of Frankfort, however, both the Kentucky House and Senate are seen when in session on local cable provider Frankfort Plant Board, overlapping the slots of C-SPAN3 and NASA TV.
Transmitter map
WCVN W23DM-D WKON WKAS WKPC/WKMJ WKMR W28DD-D WKLE WKOH WKZT WKPI WKHA WKMA WKSO WKPD WKGB WKMU Digital televisionDigital channelsThe digital channels of most of KET's stations are multiplexed:
WKMJ's digital channel uses a different multiplexed lineup from the other fifteen KET stations:
Analog-to-digital conversionAlthough the DTV Delay Act extended the mandatory deadline from February 17 to June 12, 2009, KET shut down the analog signals of all 16 Stations on April 16, 2009.[59][60][61] Each stations' post-transition digital allocations are as follows:
KET began broadcasting in high definition from its new high definition production facility in Lexington on October 1, 2009.[61]
Distance learningKET, among its many educational programs, runs a Distance Learning program. The program features Latin, Humanities, Physics and German language course offerings and offers leveled courses ranging from introductory to advanced placement classes. It's offered primarily for Kentucky high school students for whom it's offered tuition-free. However, out-of-state schools may enroll students in the course for a small tuition fee. The aim of the program is to provide a full course in the aforementioned subjects for schools who don't offer a particular class. Often schools seek distance learning as a temporary solution in cases of funding cuts, which lead to dismissal of teachers or discontinuation of the teaching of certain subjects altogether. The program also is popular with parents of home-schooled children. The program was established in 1989; the direct-to-school model became possible after a substantial expansion of the state network's headquarters (now dubbed "The O. Leonard Press Telecommunications Center") and legislative funding to provide a satellite receiver for every school and public library in the state. The course was originally administered and taught via live satellite broadcasts directly into classrooms with two-way keypads for real-time student-teacher interaction. Homework, tests, quizzes and other material were distributed by modem and mail. Since the mid-1990s, KET's Distance Learning program has migrated from broadcast lessons to instruction via KET's website and multimedia lessons on videotape, CD and DVD. KET slogans
BibliographyBooks
References
External links
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