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Kentucky Educational Television (also known as KET: The Kentucky Network) is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. It's Owned and operated by the Kentucky Authority for Educational Television, which holds the licenses for almost all of the PBS member stations licensed in the state with the exception of WKYU-TV (channel 24) in Bowling Green. KET is the largest PBS state network in the United States; the broadcast signals of its sixteen stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The network's offices and studio facilities are located in Lexington on Cooper Drive as adjacent to the campus of the University of Kentucky (however, Kentucky Educational Television has no direct affiliation with the university). KET carries national programming from PBS along with a wide range of local programming, basic skills and workplace education.〔 ==History== KET was founded by O. Leonard Press, a member of the University of Kentucky faculty, who was a pioneer in educational broadcasting. Before coming to the university, Press had developed the weekly broadcast from the National Press Club, which has aired for over half a century. In the mid-1950s, he taped a popular anthropology course, and the response to the telecourses was positive enough for Press and two of his colleagues to consider founding an educational television station at the University of Kentucky. This was a natural choice given UK's history in educational broadcasting. UK had been involved in broadcasting in one form or another since 1921, and operated WBKY (now WUKY), the nation's oldest educational radio station on the FM dial. This drive failed, but Press and his colleagues decided to set their sights higher and make a bid for a statewide educational television network along the lines of Alabama Educational Television (now Alabama Public Television). At the time, the only educational station in Kentucky was WFPK-TV (channel 15, now KET outlet WKPC-TV) in Louisville, which signed on the air on September 8, 1958. Before KET signed on, the only areas of Kentucky that received a clear signal from an educational television station were Northern Kentucky (from WCET in Cincinnati), the Jackson Purchase (from WSIU-TV in Carbondale, Illinois), and certain areas of South Central Kentucky near the Tennessee state line (from WDCN (now WNPT) in Nashville, Tennessee). The idea gained little momentum until 1959, when Press addressed the local Rotary Club in the state capital of Frankfort and a story about it appeared in ''The Courier-Journal'' newspaper. After landing support from UK officials, what was supposed to be a short meeting with Governor Bert T. Combs turned into a proposal to start the state network. The Kentucky Authority for Educational Television was created in 1962 with Press serving as its executive director. The project made little progress until 1965 when Ashland Oil founder Paul G. Blazer personally acquired the first thirteen transmitter sites and then gifted the sites to the authority. Ownership of the sites led to KET's expanded inclusion in the state budget and eligibility for United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare and Appalachian Regional Commission grants. KET finally took to the air on September 23, 1968 with programming relayed on 10 stations. KET was a member of National Educational Television for its first two years of operation, before joining PBS in 1970. The first instructional television (ITV) program produced by KET was ''Kentucky is My Land'', which premiered in late 1968.〔(KET Milestones (1962-1970) ). Archived from the (original ) with Wayback Machine on May 6, 2001. Retrieved June 9, 2015.〕 Originally operating only during school hours, within a year it had acquired enough support to begin broadcasting its programming during the evening as well.〔 By 1975, it was showing programming seven days a week.〔"(KET Milestones 1971-1977 )". Archived from the (original ) May 6, 2001. Retrieved June 9, 2015.〕 The KET Fund for Excellence, one of the network's sources of funding is established in 1981. One year later in 1982, KET Enterprises is created as a syndication arm of KET to develop, acquire and distribute educational programs nationally to and from other PBS affiliated networks.〔"(KET Milestones 1978-1983 )". Archived from the (original ) May 6, 2001. Retrieved June 9, 2015.〕 From 1989 through the 1990s and early 2000s, KET's Star Channels satellite network brought hundreds of hours worth of instructional programming and professional development seminars to schools all over Kentucky. KET Star Channels 703 and 704 were also available on C-band free-to-air satellite television users.〔(About KET ). Archived from the (original ) May 1, 2001. Retrieved June 9, 2015.〕 In 1998, KET merged with WKPC, allowing it to start a second service on the Louisville station it already owned, WKMJ-TV (channel 68). WKPC-TV's digital signal, WKPC-DT, was the first KET affiliate to broadcast in digital, and Kentucky's first digital television station. On August 19, 1999, that station's digital signal was turned on by then-Kentucky governor Paul E. Patton as part of the opening day festivities of the Kentucky State Fair.〔(KET Milestones (1999-2000) ). Archived from the (original ) May 6, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2015.〕〔(Experience the Future with KET ). Archived from the (original ) May 1, 2001. Retrieved June 9, 2015.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kentucky Educational Television」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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