WSIU-TV (channel 8) is a PBS member television station in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. It is owned by Southern Illinois University (SIU) alongside NPR member WSIU (91.9 FM). The two stations share studios at the Communications Building on the university's campus on Lincoln Drive in Carbondale; WSIU-TV's transmitter is located along US 51 near Tamaroa, Illinois.
WSIU also operates full-time simulcast WUSI-TV (channel 16) in Olney, Illinois; from a transmitter on North Shipley Road (County Road 900 E) near Dundas, WUSI-TV serves the southeastern part of the state, including Olney and Effingham, and also covers Vincennes, Indiana. A digital replacement translator of WSIU-TV is located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on UHF channel 28. SIU also owns WSEC, based in Springfield, which leads a three-station network serving viewers in Springfield, Macomb, and Quincy.
History
SIU had been interested in educational television since 1950, but the educational television channel assigned to Carbondale—UHF channel 61—was deemed unsuitable as unable to cover a wide area. In 1958, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) assigned VHF channel 8 in its stead, and the university announced it would file to use it.[2]