On February 10th, 1964, a new era began in Bowling Green, Ohio. A new televisioin station with the call letters WBGU, and licensed to Bowling Green State University, began broadcasting that day from the university campus.
The station was launched through the efforts of Dr. Duane Tucker, then head of the university's Radio/Television/Film (RTVF) department. Also involved was Dr. Kenneth McFall, who was at the time a vice president at the university.
In the beginning, the station broadcast out of a studio in South Hall. Only a few hours of programming were aired each day, generally during the late afternoon and early evening hours. In the 70's the station moved into new space in West Hall also on campus, and later again into a new building at its current location south of campus on Troup St.
The building on Troup St. has been modified more than once to adjust to the stations' growing staff and equipment needs. A new section was also added for what is now called the Northwest Ohio Education Technology Foundation. The organization provides technology and curriculum resources for teachers and schools in the region, and was founded by Margaret Tucker (Duane's wife), who served as its Director for many years.
A major renovation to the facility was undertaken in 1994, with a 2nd floor added to part of the building to provide new office space for production staff, and new ground floor equipment and office space was built for the Television Learning Services department, which provides network-based video programming and other production services for campus.
Over the years WBGU-TV has produced a wide variety of original documentaries, including quite a few about the history and culture of Northwestern Ohio and Southern Michigan.
