WLJT-DT (channel 11), branded on-air as West TN PBS, is a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

member

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

licensed to

Lexington, Tennessee Lexington is a city in Henderson County, Tennessee, United States. Lexington is midway between Memphis and Nashville, lying south of Interstate 40, which connects the two cities. The population was 7,956 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat ...

, United States, serving

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and northwestern Tennessee. The station is owned by the West Tennessee Public Television Council, and maintains studios in

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

on rented space at the

University of Tennessee at Martin The University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin or UTM) is a public university in Martin, Tennessee. It is one of the five campuses of the University of Tennessee system. UTM is the only public university in West Tennessee outside of Memphis ...

; its transmitter is located on U.S. Route 412 midway between

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

and Lexington.

History

WLJT began operations on February 13, 1968. It was originally operated by the

Tennessee Department of Education The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) is the state education agency of Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-larges ...

as a service to the schools of western Tennessee. At the time, this region was considered too thinly populated and too rural to support a full-fledged traditional educational station. As such, for its first 13 years of broadcasting, it repeated the signal of

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

station WKNO (channel 10), via contract, since WKNO was not, unlike WLJT, operated by the state. In the early 1980s, a state report had recommended that WKNO take over WLJT outright. However, the Memphis station had no interest, and in 1981, the Tennessee state government passed the Educational Television Act of 1981, which committed the state to spinning off its four noncommercial television stations. At the same time, the West Tennessee Public Television Council was formed, and WLJT began local programming from studios at UT–Martin. In April 1984, the spin-off was completed. In 1981, the station inaugurated a separate schedule, including programs of local interest. A few years later, the state education board relinquished the license to a local community board, the West Tennessee Public Television Council. Until 1993, administrative offices were located in Martin, while the technical staff worked in Lexington, some away; microwave links to the transmitter enabled WLJT to consolidate its entire operation in Martin afterward. WLJT especially emphasizes programs of community interest, in large part because commercial broadcasters in Memphis and

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missour ...

devote little attention to rural western Tennessee in newscasts and other local programming. The only commercial news operation in the market explicitly devoted to the area is Jackson

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affiliate

WBBJ-TV WBBJ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Jackson, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC and CBS. Owned by Bahakel Communications, the station maintains studios on Muse Street in Jackson, and its transmitter is located on Potts Chape ...

(channel 7). After the digital transition on February 17, 2009, WLJT discontinued transmitting on its analog signal, continuing to operate on digital channel 47. However, digital tuners with PSIP display its virtual channel as "11". WLJT-DT moved to digital channel 27 effective August 10, 2018.

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

References

External links

Official website
{{PBS Tennessee LJT-DT PBS member stations Television channels and stations established in 1968 1968 establishments in Tennessee Henderson County, Tennessee