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WKU Public Television April 29, 2003 On Thursday, May 1, WKYU-DT will sign on at noon CDT. Beginning May 2, WKYU-DT will sign on at 8 a.m. daily. The program schedule will duplicate the WKYU-PBS analog service that has been on since Jan. 17, 1989. WKYU-DT enables Western Kentucky University to expand the educational and informational resources of southcentral Kentucky. WKYU-PBS (Channel 24/Insight 11) is available over-the-air and on cable systems in a 22-county area of southcentral Kentucky serving 250,000 people. WKYU-DT (Channel 18) will be available over-the-air to an 11-county area surrounding Warren County serving about 100,000 people. This is the first step of a phased build-up to a full-power, multicasting digital TV station. WKYU-PBS and WKYU-DT are the only public television stations owned and operated by a Kentucky university. In 1997, the Federal Communications Commission ordered all public TV stations to build digital television stations by May 1, 2003. On Feb. 8, 2001, WKU received approval to construct WKYU-DT. On April 17, 2003, WKYU-DT received Special Temporary Authority from the FCC to operate the new digital service at a power level of 25 kW. The design of the transmission system enables WKYU to meet the FCC-mandate in the most affordable manner possible. As of March 31, WKYU-DT Phase 1 expenses totaled $492,767. The project is funded by a Digital Distribution Fund grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and administered by PBS. Western Kentucky University's matching portion of the grant is $157,057 (32 percent). For more information, visit www.wkyupbs.org, or contact Linda Gerofsky, 1-800-599-2424, or e-mail linda.gerofsky@wku.edu.
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