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WHYY-FM

Coordinates: 40°2′30.4″N 75°14′22.6″W / 40.041778°N 75.239611°W / 40.041778; -75.239611 (WHYY-FM)
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WHYY-FM
Broadcast areaDelaware Valley
Frequency90.9 MHz (HD Radio)
BrandingWHYY NPR
Programming
FormatPublic radio
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerWHYY, Inc.
WHYY-TV
History
First air date
December 14, 1954; 69 years ago (1954-12-14)
Former call signs
  • WUHY-FM (1963–1976)
  • WUHY (1976–1983)
Call sign meaning
"Wider Horizons for You and Yours"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID72336
ClassB
ERP13,500 watts
HAAT280 meters (920 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
40°2′30.4″N 75°14′22.6″W / 40.041778°N 75.239611°W / 40.041778; -75.239611 (WHYY-FM)
Repeater(s)See § New Jersey expansion and controversy
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitewhyy.org/radio-podcasts/

WHYY-FM (90.9 MHz, "91 FM") is a public radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its broadcast tower is located in the city's Roxborough section of the city at (40°2′30.9″N 75°14′21.9″W / 40.041917°N 75.239417°W / 40.041917; -75.239417)[2] while its studios and offices are located on Independence Mall in Center City Philadelphia. The station, owned by WHYY, Inc., is a charter member of NPR and contributes several programs to the national network.

History

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WHYY signed on the air on December 14, 1954, owned by the Metropolitan Philadelphia Educational Radio and Television Corporation.[3] It was the first educational station in Philadelphia. The transmitter, originally located at 17th and Sansom Streets in Philadelphia, was donated by Westinghouse Broadcasting.[4] In 1957, it added a sister television station, WHYY-TV on channel 35.

In 1963, WHYY-TV moved from channel 35 in Philadelphia to the stronger channel 12 in Wilmington, Delaware. At the time, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations did not allow co-owned stations in different broadcast services to share the same base callsign if they did not have the same or adjoining city of license. As a result, the radio station was forced to change its call sign and became WUHY-FM to match the renamed WUHY-TV on channel 35. The FCC removed this restriction in 1983 and the radio station was allowed to reclaim the WHYY-FM calls.[5]

When NPR was formed in 1970, the station became a charter member and was one of the 90 stations that carried the initial broadcast of All Things Considered.

Programs produced

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The WHYY Headquarters on 6th Street, across from Independence Mall and the National Constitution Center, in Philadelphia

Format change

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Until 1990, WHYY served the region as a non-commercial station with a format that featured mostly classical music with some jazz and folk music. The management decision to establish a news/talk radio format was a departure from the classical music that most public radio stations were programming. The format switch left the privately owned WFLN as the only Philadelphia classical station and resulted in protests from many of the station's listening audience who were among WHYY's major contributors. After WFLN's new owners also abandoned the classical format in the late 1990s, Temple University's WRTI (90.1 FM) began programming classical music during the day to serve the displaced listeners.

New Jersey expansion and controversy

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Dorrance Hamilton Media Commons, part of the WHYY building near Franklin Square

On June 6, 2011, the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority agreed to sell five FM stations in Southern New Jersey to WHYY. The purchase was made through an anonymous one-million dollar grant and a non-cash agreement that included scholarships for students and teachers. The five stations were previously the southern portion of the New Jersey Network's statewide radio service.[9]

The transaction was announced by Governor Chris Christie, as part of his long-term goal to end state-subsidized public broadcasting. The governor's critics maintained that scrapping New Jersey Network effectively ended all non-commercial statewide news coverage. It was also noted that the sale eliminated a source of legislative oversight frequently critical of the Christie administration.[10]

WHYY assumed control of the stations through a management agreement on July 1, 2011, pending FCC approval for the acquisition. At that point, the stations began to simulcast WHYY-FM programming.[11] The five stations are:

Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) HAAT Class Transmitter coordinates FCC info
WNJB-FM[a] 89.3 FM Bridgeton, New Jersey 48934 2,500 vert
1 horiz		 67 m (220 ft) A 39°27′35.4″N 75°9′26.7″W / 39.459833°N 75.157417°W / 39.459833; -75.157417 (WNJB-FM) LMS
WNJM 89.9 FM Manahawkin, New Jersey 48460 250 vert
1 horiz		 69.5 m (228 ft) A 39°41′53.4″N 74°14′4.5″W / 39.698167°N 74.234583°W / 39.698167; -74.234583 (WNJM) LMS
WNJN-FM 89.7 FM Atlantic City, New Jersey 48483 6,000 vert
25 horiz		 84 m (276 ft) A 39°27′40.4″N 74°41′4.5″W / 39.461222°N 74.684583°W / 39.461222; -74.684583 (WNJN-FM) LMS
WNJS-FM[b] 88.1 FM Berlin, New Jersey 48486 80 vert
1 horiz		 287 m (942 ft) A 39°43′41.4″N 74°50′37.6″W / 39.728167°N 74.843778°W / 39.728167; -74.843778 (WTHA) LMS
WNJZ 90.3 FM Cape May Court House, New Jersey 48464 6,000 72 m (236 ft) A 39°06′18.4″N 74°48′4.6″W / 39.105111°N 74.801278°W / 39.105111; -74.801278 (WNJZ) LMS
  1. ^ WNJB-FM was sold to The Bridge of Hope, Inc., a Delaware-based nonprofit Christian radio broadcaster, and now simulcasts WKNZ.[12]
  2. ^ WNJS-FM was sold to Bux-Mont Educational Radio Association, and now simulcasts WRDV.[13]
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The stations all operate at relatively low power due to the crowded state of the noncommercial end of the FM dial in the northeastern United States. They primarily serve areas of southern New Jersey not covered by the main WHYY-FM signal, which itself operates at a relatively modest 13,500 watts. However, their combined footprint extends WHYY-FM's coverage from Berks County to the Jersey Shore.[14]

In November 2022, WHYY began to reduce its New Jersey radio footprint by announcing that it would sell WNJB-FM to non-profit Christian Broadcast, The Bridge of Hope, Inc., which owns WKNZ in Harrington, Delaware.[12] The sale was approved by the FCC and was later completed in February 2023.[15]

In March 2023, WHYY also announced that it would sell WNJS-FM to the Bux-Mont Educational Radio Association which owns WRDV for $110,000. The sale of the station was consummated on June 15, 2023.[13]

Billy Penn

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In April 2019, WHYY acquired local news website Billy Penn.[16][17] At its 2014 founding, the site was conceived as a "mobile-first" site packaging local news for millennials.[16] The purchase was compared to New York public radio station WNYC buying the Gothamist in February 2018.[17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WHYY-FM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "FM Query Results for WHYY". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original on May 8, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  3. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1958 page A-357
  4. ^ "History". WHYY. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  5. ^ "In re Matter of: Revision of Section 73.3550 of the Commission's Rules with respect to the Assignment of New and Modified Call Letters to AM, FM and TV Broadcast Stations", MM Docket No. 83-373, Adopted: December 1, 1983.
  6. ^ "About 'Fresh Air'". npr.org. Archived from the original on May 5, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  7. ^ "Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane". WHYY. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  8. ^ "About The Pulse". WHYY. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  9. ^ "WHYY-FM TO EXPAND COVERAGE IN NEW JERSEY AS PART OF AGREEMENT TO TAKE OVER FIVE NJN STATIONS" (PDF) (Press release). WHYY, Inc. June 30, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  10. ^ Grigoriadis, Vanessa (January 14, 2014). "The Time Chris Christie Shut Down a Public Television Station That Did a Tough Story on Him". Intelligencer. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  11. ^ "WHYY Philadelphia Expands New Jersey Coverage, NJN Is Kaput". Atlantic City Central. July 1, 2011. Archived from the original on September 15, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
  12. ^ a b Simon, Perry Michael (November 22, 2022). "WHYY/Philadelphia Sells South Jersey Simulcast FM To Bridge Of Hope". AllAccess.com. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Michael Simon, Perry (March 12, 2023). "WHYY/Philadelphia Sells Off Another South Jersey FM". All Access.
  14. ^ "Coverage Area". whyy.org. Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  15. ^ New Jersey Expansion. The Bridge of Hope, Inc. November 23, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  16. ^ a b Wolfman-Arent, Avi (April 15, 2019). "WHYY acquires local news site Billy Penn". WHYY. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  17. ^ a b Fernandez, Bob (April 15, 2019). "Public radio's WHYY buys Billy Penn news site". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on December 4, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
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