WKAR-TV

WKAR-TV is a PBS-member station serving the Lansing, Michigan area. It is owned by Michigan State University. The station broadcasts on digital channel 40, which redirects to its former analog channel 23 via PSIP). Its studios are located on MSU's campus in East Lansing, its city of license. WKAR's transmitter is located on Kinawa Road in Meridian Township, Michigan between East Lansing and Williamston. WKAR transmits its signal from an antenna with a height of 969 feet.

WKAR-TV is part of the Broadcasting Services Division of MSU. WKAR-TV's studios and offices are located in the Communication Arts and Sciences Building, at the southeast corner of Wilson and Red Cedar Roads on the MSU campus.

WKAR's SD analog channel is available on Comcast's Flint system on channel 21, but for unknown reasons, none of its digital subchannels are available.

History

WKAR-TV went on the air in January 1954 broadcasting on channel 60. Its call letters are the same as WKAR Radio (which first went on the air in 1922 with the call letters being assigned randomly, and do not reflect the university's early agricultural roots). Both WKAR Radio and WKAR-TV are licensed to Michigan State University. It is the second-oldest educational television station in the United States, and the oldest east of the Mississippi River. It was the third station on the air, but the second, in Los Angeles, went dark not long after it went on. KUHT in Houston is the oldest.