With an increased interest in home and consumer horticulture, WUKY (91.3 FM), the University of Kentucky’s public radio station, approached the Agricultural Communications Department in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.   The station wanted a gardening program to broadcast on Sunday mornings.  Jeff Franklin, Agriculture Communications specialist reached out to Horticulture Extension Agents within central Kentucky to assist with this request.   

A partnership was developed between horticulture agents and WUKY to offer the gardening program and has been in effect now for five years.  WUKY newscasts and feature programs have approximately 3,000 listeners each day, with an estimated 5,000 listeners on Sunday mornings; attracting high school and college students, adults, and seniors.  The gardening program, “From the Ground Up” which airs at 8:30 on Sunday mornings from April through October is a 5-minute segment where horticulture agents provide relevant and timely information.  A different horticulture agent covers each month.   The agent chooses the topics to discuss for the month and comes to campus to record their month of shows in one sitting.  Each show is then aired weekly.

Over the past year, the agents presented 7 programs related to horticulture.  The Mercer County Horticulture Agent participated in the program during the month of July.  Topics for July included Protecting Pollinators, Japanese Beetle Control, Invasive Plants, and Starting a Fall Garden.

In addition to reaching the WUKY listeners, the segments were posted on the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment social media page and the college news page.

The program is not only a useful service and educational opportunity for listeners, but it is also an excellent platform to help spread the news of the services provided through the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.