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).

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.

[6] As a result of the city's refusal to grant money, in May 1953, the Memphis Community Television Foundation was chartered to serve as a non-profit organization to build and run channel 10.

By this time, the station had received more donations and the support of seven local colleges and universities[10] A fund drive formally launched in May 1954.

[11] Activities to raise money included street puppet shows[12] and a football game between Tennessee State and Lincoln universities, both historically Black institutions.

[16] The Memphis Board of Education provided office space to the foundation as the station undertook program planning.

[21][22] The state legislature appropriated $50,000 for the project, with Memphis serving as the pilot city for educational television in Tennessee as its [23] A formal construction permit was granted by the FCC on November 23, 1955.

[28] The relocation coincided with an increase in channel 10's educational output; from one instructional series in 1959, WKNO was airing fifteen such shows by 1966, of which six were weekly live productions.

[44] In 1993, the station began airing a block of children's shows interspersed with segments titled #10 Friends Circle, intended to fill a void in programming for preschool-age students.

The segments were hosted by Charles "Chuck" Scruggs, a station volunteer who had previously been the first Black general manager of WDIA radio.

[50] Local public affairs program Informed Sources and a documentary on the Memphis Belle were also part of the station's output at this time.

The switch was earlier than the June 12 deadline for full-service stations because the foundation wished to save money and stop paying for the electricity necessary to broadcast in analog and digital simultaneously.