WLJT (channel 11), branded West TN PBS, is a PBS member television station licensed to Lexington, Tennessee, United States, serving western and northwestern Tennessee. The station is owned by the West Tennessee Public Television Council and maintains studios in Martin at the basement of Clement Hall on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Martin; its transmitter is located on US 412 midway between Jackson and Lexington.
WLJT began broadcasting in 1968. Built as one of four educational stations under the control of the Tennessee Department of Education, it almost exclusively rebroadcast WKNO in Memphis. In 1981, studios were established at UT–Martin, allowing for the station to begin local programming. That same year, the state began the process to spin WLJT out to community control. The station's local programming focuses on sports and community events in rural West Tennessee.
History
State ownership
In 1953, officials with the Tennessee Educational Television Commission requested the assignment of several channels across the state for noncommercial educational use, including channel 11 at Lexington, in addition to existing assignments for Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga.[1]