WBKY/WUKY Radio
Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
WBKY/WUKY. UK initiated radio broadcasting in 1929 in cooperation with WHAS radio in Louisville. Each weekday, live musical and educational programs were broadcast from the campus studios over WHAS. Later, WHAS and UK started radio "listening centers" in eastern Ky. Battery-powered radios gave residents public access to educational programs. Class of 1995. (Reverse) WBKY/WUKY - In 1941, UK initiated radio broadcasting in Beattyville, Ky. WBKY broadcast educational programming for local residents. In 1944 UK established a radio station on the campus and WBKY began broadcasting from McVey Hall. Station call letters were changed from WBKY to WUKY in 1989. WBKY/WUKY is the oldest university-owned FM station in U.S. and Ky.'s first public radio station. Class of 1995.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
The University of Kentucky began radio broadcasting in 1929 in cooperation with Louisville's WHAS, airing live musical and educational programs from campus studios, and the two later set up battery-powered "listening centers" that brought educational programming to eastern Kentucky. UK launched WBKY in Beattyville in 1941 and moved the station to campus in McVey Hall in 1944; the call letters changed to WUKY in 1989. WBKY/WUKY is the oldest university-owned FM station in the United States and Kentucky's first public radio station.
Why it matters
The station pioneered educational broadcasting and rural media access, marking an early chapter in the public and university radio that shaped American communications.
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