WHUR-FM
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| WHUR-FM | |
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| City of license | Washington, D.C. |
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| Broadcast area | Washington, D.C. |
| Branding | "96.3 WHUR" |
| Slogan | Sounds Like Washington |
| Frequency | 96.3 MHz (Also on HD Radio) 96.3 HD-2 for WHUR World |
| First air date | 1940s |
| Format | Urban Adult Contemporary |
| ERP | 16,500 watts |
| HAAT | 244 meters |
| Class | B (Non-commercial) |
| Facility ID | 65707 |
| Callsign meaning | We're Howard University Radio |
| Owner | Howard University |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.whur.com/ |
"96.3 WHUR" is an Urban Adult Contemporary radio station that serves the Washington D.C. area. WHUR is licensed to Washington, D.C. and is owned by Howard University. Also, the staff of the station mentors the students of the university's school of communications. WHUR is also the home of the original "Quiet Storm", which loyal D.C. listeners have rated number one in the evening since 1976. Jeff Brown hosts the The Quiet Storm program weeknights beginning at 7:30 PM. In 2005, it also began broadcasting in IBOC digital radio, using the HD Radio system from iBiquity.
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[edit] History
96.3 FM began back in the 1940s as Rockville Md. based WINX, as an FM simulcast of WINX 1600AM. It had the slogan, "Sounds like Washington", to reflect the station's local ownership. WINX was originally owned by the Washington Post during the 1940s and early 1950s. United Broadcasting Corporation bought the station in the 1950s and moved the station from Washington to Rockville. During the 1950s the station played a wide variety of music and was known as the "Rockville Music Library". In the early 1960s, with the popularity of the FM band still fifteen years in the future, the AM station switched to top 40 format and took the FM along in the simulcast was one of Washington's most popular stations. Station owners The Washington Post Company later moved WINX-FM to Washington DC and paired it with their established WTOP-AM and the calls were changed to WTOP-FM. For a while the station broadcast CBS Radio's early seventies "Young Sound" programming.
The Washington Post Company later donated radio station WTOP-FM to Howard University "to stimulate the intellectual and cultural life of the whole community and to train more people for the communications industry." On December 6, 1971, with the new call letters WHUR-FM, the station became the first under black management to broadcast in the Washington metropolitan area. WHUR became a jazz-formatted radio station which it remained until the 1990s when it switched to an Urban Adult Contemporary format.
By 1995, WHUR became the one of the highest rated radio stations in the market, right behind WPGC-FM. Also that year, WHUR became the Washington radio and flagship affiliate of the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show (TJMS). However, in 1999, WHUR decided to produce its own locally-based morning drive show. The station did not renew its syndication contract with the TJMS, thus ending a four-year relationship with the show. This however, has somewhat affected the station's dominance over rival WMMJ, which picked up the syndication rights to TJMS, it remains in the top 5 rated stations but currently as the #2 rated station in the market behind WPGC-FM.
The Quiet Storm format of mellow, rhythm and blues/soul music, smooth jazz and love songs often played at night on many radio stations started at WHUR. The format originated when then intern Melvin Lindsey played a soothing string of songs during a particularly bad storm in the mid-1970s, even as power was cut to most of the other radio stations in the Washington, DC area. Today, the station owns the rights to the name "Quiet Storm," and any radio station wishing to use the term must pay WHUR a royalty.
[edit] Current line-up
- The Steve Harvey Morning Show with Shirley Strawberry, Carla Ferrell, Nephew Tommy (Thomas Miles) and Ann Tripp 6-10AM
- Cafe' 96 with Triscina Grey 10AM-3PM
- Love, Lust, & Lies with Michael Baisden 3-7PM
- The Quiet Storm with Jeff Brown 7PM-Midnight
- The Nightlife with Phil Nelson Midnight-6AM
Saturdays
- Audrey Chapman (relationship talk)
- The Time Tunnel with Mr. "C" (oldies)
Sundays
- The Caribbean Experience with John Blake (Reggae, Calypso, Soca) Midnight-6AM
- Sunday Gospel with Patrick Ellis and Jacquie Gales-Webb 6AM- 2PM
- D.C. Inspirations with Lorna Newton 2-7PM
- The Weekend Quiet Storm with Kevin James 7PM-Midnight
[edit] Station management
- General Manager Jim Watkins
- Gen. Sales Manager Jeanette Tyce
- Program Director Dave Dickinson
- Music Director Traci LaTrelle
[edit] External links
- WHUR Website
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WHUR
- Radio Locator information on WHUR
- Query Arbitron's FM station database for WHUR
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