The University of Kentucky in Lexington is a land grant institution founded in 1865. The University evolved through three stages before becoming the University of Kentucky in 1916: the Agriculture and Mechanical College of Kentucky University, 1865-78, a private, denominational institution in Lexington created by an act of the legislature on February 22, 1865; the Agriculture and Mechanical College of Kentucky, 1878-1908; and State University, Lexington, 1908-1916. A statute in 1916 changed the name to University of Kentucky. The new president took up the investigating committee's recommendation to write a constitution, which provided for a faculty-administration university senate. New departments and new faculty were added. A graduate school was established in 1924. Among the new buildings was a central library. Enrollment doubled the first year after World War I and doubled again in the 1920s, totaling 4,992 in 1932, when the impact of the Depression was greatest. Emphasis upon nonstate funding continued. In 1988-89 $60 million in research grants and contracts and $22 million in developmental gifts were awarded.

WBKY established itself at 91.3 in the new FM band in 1947 making it the first FM college radio station in the United States. The broadcast facilities and transmitter were located in McVey Hall on the University of Kentucky's main campus. The station was on the air nightly for three hours, every evening, five nights each week. In 1971, WBKY became a charter member of National Public Radio. On October 1, 1989, WBKY became WUKY and in January of 1990 and the transmitting wattage was increased to 100,000 watts.