A Puzzle For Today

What do Beattyville, Ky. and October 17, 1940 have to do with what you're listening to today?

(And I do hope you are listening--as well as reading this blog and this website.)

Little known fact: WUKY-FM began its life in Beattyville on this date, October 17, 1940, as WBKY radio...Beattyville, KY..WBKY, get it?

It was a 100 watt station, owned by UK and the Lee County Board of Education; an experiment in bringing non commercial radio to a rural area, and the first of its kind in the country. As with many pioneers, there were many problems, and the station lasted less than a year, signing off in the summer of 1941. (To read more about this station's challenging start, Google WBKY, click on the Beattyville entry....because the call letters were reassigned by the FCC later to a station in Wisconsin.)

And that's because in 1941, UK moved the station to the Lexington campus, changed the call letters in 1989, and voila!...the station you are listening to today.

As a non-commercial, education station, WUKY-FM serves a different function than the commercial stations on Lexington's dial. That's good; there's room for all and for all different types on programming. There are strengths to commercial radio (and downsides, too!--and I got my start there) as there are to non-commercial stations such as WUKY. I'm glad they're both around, we need them both.

Glad you're broadcasting WUKY---and Happy Birthday!