WOSU-TV (channel 34) is a PBS member television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Owned by Ohio State University as part of WOSU Public Media, it is sister to public radio stations WOSU-FM (89.7) and WOSA (101.1 FM). The three stations share studios on North Pearl Street near the OSU campus; WOSU-TV's transmitter is located on Highland Lakes Avenue in Westerville, Ohio.

WOSU-TV began broadcasting on February 20, 1956, though Ohio State University had pushed to start an educational television station as early as 1951. It initially engaged in the broadcast of programs for schools and college students as well as programming from National Educational Television—the forerunner to PBS. As the first UHF station in the market, many households could not receive channel 34 when it launched. A major step forward for the station was its 1968 telecast of a highly anticipated football game between Ohio State and Michigan, as many went out to buy all-channel television sets or converters. Channel 34 continued to telecast live football games on a viewer-supported basis through 1971, after which the NCAA prevented the station from continuing with the practice.

In the early 1970s, WOSU-TV moved from its original studios into the Fawcett Center for Tomorrow on the OSU campus, from its original tower to its present site in Westerville, and into Portsmouth with the launch of rebroadcaster WPBO (channel 42), which broadcast from 1973 to 2017. In the 1980s, Ohio State's public broadcasting operation was the subject of internal and external reviews that found deficiencies in management, ethics, and television programming; the university placed the WOSU stations under academic supervision, where they remained through the 1990s and were frequently subject to budget cuts.

WOSU was Central Ohio's first TV station to use a digital signal to broadcast multiple channels of programming. In 2006, it opened a second studio inside the COSI museum in downtown Columbus. This closed in 2021 when the university opened a new headquarters for the WOSU Public Media stations adjacent to the OSU campus. WOSU produces programs covering Central Ohio politics, arts and culture, and communities.

The Ohio State University (OSU) had expressed interest in educational television as early as 1951. That year, it petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move very high frequency (VHF) channel 12 to Columbus so that it could use it as an educational channel. The FCC denied the proposal because it would have had to delete channels from three other cities, including Indianapolis and Huntington, West Virginia; this left OSU to use the previously assigned channel 34 in the new ultra high frequency (UHF) band. In spite of being forced to UHF, the university chose to press forward with its plans for educational TV, requiring it to start over with its preparation of engineering data for the application. The application was nearly ready by January 1953, the university having waited so that it did not buy equipment that immediately became obsolete with advancements in UHF technology. OSU had identified a location on its farm, on the west side of the Olentangy River, for a studio site. It was formally filed on February 18, 1953, and approved by the FCC on April 22.

While Keith Tyler, a WOSU leader, expected the university to move quickly on establishing the station, administration took a slower tack; this frustrated Tyler, who saw the university slipping behind Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin in setting up educational television. OSU approved a contract for tower construction on the corner of Star Road and Lane Avenue in February 1954, and the television studio on the site broke ground that December. In September 1955, channel 34 broadcast its first test pattern, which soon expanded to include the occasional broadcast of programs. The station officially began broadcasting on February 20, 1956, becoming the 19th noncommercial educational TV station on air. Its first day on air included a film program showing scenes of the OSU campus and a performance by its symphonic choir.

By 1958, WOSU-TV operated for about 30 hours a week; nearly half of that output consisted of live programs from the studio or remote locations. A local children's show, Five and Ten, was among channel 34's early successes; another offering, the German Hour, was a carry-over from a popular WOSU radio program. Its educational offerings ranged from remedial college-level math to driver's education courses. The general audience was limited by the fact that most sets of the time did not come equipped to tune the UHF band; the university estimated only about 2,000 Columbus-area homes could watch. When it signed on for the first time, one potential viewer called to say it was impossible that WOSU-TV was broadcasting on channel 34 when their TV dial stopped at 13; station management treasured comments from viewers, since they proved that there were viewers beyond students in classrooms. In 1959, the station acquired the first video tape recorder in Columbus; its studios grew cramped, with the men's restroom doubling as an office and a small house being built nearby to alleviate the crowded conditions. Its educational programs supported not only the university but public schools and the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction.

From before channel 34 signed on, officials anticipated using it as a telecasting outlet for the popular Ohio State Buckeyes football team. In 1955, George E. Condon of the Cleveland Plain Dealer asked what might motivate households to notice channel 34 and convert their VHF-only sets to receive the area's first UHF station. He remarked, "Down deep, most people here feel Big Ten football will be the big answer." In the late 1950s, the station began taping football games with a tape recorder installed in a converted passenger bus, known by staff as "The Wire" and as an unreliable setup.