WKNO (TV)
PBS member station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States
WKNO (channel 10) is a PBS member television station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The station is owned by the Mid-South Public Communications Foundation, a non-profit organization governed by a board of trustees composed of volunteers, and is operated alongside NPR member WKNO-FM (91.1). The two stations share studios on Cherry Farms Road with the TV station's transmitter on Raleigh LaGrange Road, both in Cordova.
WKNO began broadcasting in June 1956 as the first educational television station in Tennessee. It was owned by a community licensee from the beginning and was initially financed by the city's commercial TV stations and later by grants from local and state educational authorities. From 1961 to 2009, the station operated from several locations on the campus of Memphis State University, renamed in 1994 to the University of Memphis, though the university never owned the station. In 2009, WKNO moved to its present facility in Cordova. WKNO airs national PBS programs and produces local programs covering issues relevant to the Memphis area.
History
Early years
Channel 10 was allocated to Memphis for educational use when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) assigned television channels and lifted its multi-year freeze on new TV assignments in April 1952. Initially, leaders at the University of Tennessee envisioned a four-station network, including one outlet in Memphis, to use the newly allotted channels; however, city officials rejected setting aside funds to aid the establishment of such a station in Memphis.
“WKNO (TV)” enters the record as pBS member station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what WKNO, member and station can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“WKNO (TV)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, WKNO, member and station provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7951809. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1956, 1961, 2009 and 1994.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “WKNO (TV)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.