Branding WCKN Television Founded 1970 | Affiliations Zilo Networks Call letters' meaning W ClarKsoN | |
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Channels Analog: Cable 30 (NTSC) Owner Clarkson University in conjunction with Charter Communications | ||
WCKN Television or WCKN-TV is Clarkson University's student-run Public, educational, and government access (PEG) cable TV station on Spectrum systems throughout the majority of St. Lawrence County, as well as portions of Franklin, Jefferson, and Lewis Counties in northern New York State.
WCKN was founded in 1970 as ICRN-TV, which stood for the "Inter-Collegiate Radio Network," an experimental television station that aired Clarkson hockey games and redistributed them to local cable systems in the Potsdam-Canton area. In the early 1980s, ICRN changed its name to WCKN when the call letters were assigned to the station by the Federal Communications Commission after an application was submitted to construct a low-power transmitter near the Clarkson University campus for over-the-air reception; the plan, however, never came to fruition and the transmitter was never constructed.
Today, programming on WCKN includes Clarkson men's and women's ECAC hockey games, a weekly local newscast, as well as several civic and community affairs shows. In addition, WCKN also airs syndicated programming from Zilo Networks, as well as the National Lampoon Network, and Army NewsWatch. WCKN can now be viewed on analog channel 30 in Spectrum's basic programming tier; the station still has yet to announce any plans for digital broadcasts.
Location
The WCKN studio is located in the lower level of Clarkson University's Student Center near the Forum. WCKN shares a lobby with Clarkson's radio station, WTSC