WLEX-TV (channel 18) is a television station in Lexington, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by the E.W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Russell Cave Road (KY 353) in Lexington, and its transmitter is located 6 mi east of downtown Lexington near Hamburg Pavilion.
WLEX-TV began broadcasting in March 1955 as the first television station in Lexington, primarily an NBC affiliate for its entire history. Its founding ownership retained ownership for 44 years until it sold to Cordillera Communications in 1999; Scripps acquired it in 2019. It has generally been competitive in news ratings throughout its history.
History
When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted its freeze on television channel applications in April 1952 and opened the ultra high frequency (UHF) band for television, two channels were allocated for Lexington: 27 and 33, both in the new band. Two Lexington radio stations, WLEX (1300 AM) and WVLK, applied for channel 33, only to see the commission adjust the proposed station to channel 64.[1] A total of four applicants sought the two channels, and in response to a petition from WVLK, channel 18 was added to Lexington from Gallipolis, Ohio