WHA (AM)

WHA
City of license Madison, Wisconsin
Broadcast area Madison metropolitan area
Branding Ideas Network
Frequency 970 kHz (also on HD Radio)
Repeaters W300BM 107.9 MHz
W215AQ 90.9
First air date January 13, 1922 (and as 9XM 1914–1922)
Format Public radio
Power 5,000 watts (daytime)
265 watts (30 minutes after sunset)
97 watts (60 minutes after sunset)
51 watts(nighttime)
500 watts (critical hours)
Class D
Facility ID 6139
Affiliations NPR
Owner University of Wisconsin–Extension
Webcast Listen Live
Website wpr.org

WHA (970 kHz) is a non-commercial AM radio station licensed to Madison, Wisconsin. It is owned by the University of Wisconsin and serves as the flagship of Wisconsin Public Radio's talk-based "Ideas Network."[1] The call letters are also used for WHA-TV channel 21 (20 digital), the flagship of the Wisconsin Public Television network.

A plaque at the University of Wisconsin–Madison calls it the "oldest station in the nation." [2] Though this claim was refuted by 1920s WHA-AM manager Earle M. Terry who considered KDKA in Pittsburgh to be the oldest.[3]

History

Experiments with spark gap transmitters stretch back to 1900. Professor Edward Bennett started using the call sign 9XM in 1914.[4] A year later, the call sign was transferred to the University of Wisconsin and used for many experiments in the Physics department. Professor Earle M. Terry managed many of these tests, and he eventually decided that the station should start making regular weather broadcasts. From December 4, 1916 onward, the station transmitted regular reports in Morse code.[4]

While most early radio stations in the United States were shut down when the country entered World War I, 9XM's early transmissions were considered important enough to continue, spending much of the war broadcasting weather information to ships sailing on the Great Lakes.[5]

Voice broadcasts took some time to work out, as there were some significant fidelity problems. Terry hosted a party at his home in 1917 to listen to the first scheduled audio broadcast, although few of the guests understood the implications of being able to listen to a piece of music that could just as easily be placed in a nearby record player.[6] The fidelity issues were worked out by February 1919 when a transmission was made for the U.S. Navy.

In 1918, 9XM relocated from the Science Hall to Sterling Hall where it remained until 1934.[4]

Regularly scheduled audio broadcasts began a year later in February 1920. A six-day-per-week schedule began on January 3, 1921, notable for the introduction of the first radio broadcast of a weather forecast. The station received its WHA call sign on January 13, 1922.[4] Wisconsin Public Radio still uses the former 9XM calls in a marketing sense, enshrining network donors who give more than $500 in a year into the 9XM Leadership Circle.[7]

In 1932, WHA-AM relocated it's transmitter facility to the site of the former site of WISJ-AM on Silver Spring Farm. The transmitter was still at that site as of 2016. The WISJ transmitter site had been owned by the Wisconsin State Journal and was abandoned in 1931 after merging with WIBA, then owned by The Capital Times.[4][8]

In 1934, WHA-AM moved from Sterling Hall to Radio Hall, which was converted to a radio facility from a 1880s vintage heating plant building. It remained there until 1972.[4] In 1936, WHA and UW installed a custom / home-built transmitter. WHA-AM did not have a commercially built transmitter until 1951.[4]

On March 29, 1941, as directed by the terms of the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement, WHA-AM moved to its present operating frequency, 970 kHz.[9]

In 1951, WHA-AM retired its custom-built transmitter and purchased a 5000 watt Westinghouse transmitter. The custom built transmitter had operated over 52,000 hours.[10][11]

The popular Canadian television series for children, The Friendly Giant, was created in 1953 on WHA. The show, starring Bob Homme, later moved to local sister station WHA-TV before making its way to Canadian television on the CBC Television network.[12] The long-running dramatic radio series Earplay was created by WHA in fall of 1971.[13]

In 1972, WHA studios moved from Radio Hall to Vilas Communication Hall, where it remains as of 2016.[4]

Translators

WHA must gradually power down to 51 watts at sunset in order to protect Class A radio station CBW in Winnipeg at adjacent 990 kHz, rendering WHA's signal all but unlistenable even in Madison. Prior to December 1987, WHA-AM was not licensed to transmit at all during the night, despite numerous attempts to obtain a clear channel.[14] WHA is relayed by a translator station within the city of Madison at 107.9 FM to serve downtown and eastern Madison, including the UW-Madison campus.[15][16] That translator had used the signal of Delafield-licensed WHAD for years (which targets Milwaukee), but in 2009 was transferred to the license of WHA. In early 2013, translator W215AQ 90.9 began translating WERN HD-3, which simulcasts WHA. The end result is WHA can be heard on both 107.9FM and 90.9FM in Madison.

Call sign Frequency
(MHz) 		City of license ERP
W 		Class FCC info
W300BM 107.9 Madison, Wisconsin 38 D FCC
W215AQ (via WERN HD-3) 90.9 Madison, Wisconsin 26 D (via WERN HD-3) FCC

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Wisconsin Public Radio – Ideas Network
  2. ↑ Plaque, Vilas Hall, University of Wisconsin–Madison (http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM39R9)
  3. ↑ Davidson 2007, p325.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Wisconsin Public Radio – A Tradition of Broadcast Innovation
  5. ↑ "9XM-WHA – Madison, WI" Waymark
  6. ↑ 9XM Talking: The Early History of WHA Radio
  7. ↑ 9XM Leadership Circle
  8. ↑ Davidson 2007, p115, p.117.
  9. ↑ Davidson 2007, p232.
  10. ↑ Davidson 2007, p170.
  11. ↑ WHA-AM was not licensed to broadcast at night.
  12. ↑ TV Acres: Children's Show Hosts > Bob Homme (The Friendly Giant)
  13. ↑ Davidson 2007, p187.
  14. ↑ Davidson, Randall (2007). 9XM Talking. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-299-21873-7. In December 1987, WHA-AM was finally granted authority to operate twenty-four hours a day, but at greatly reduced power.
  15. ↑ WPR – Station Coverage Maps, Technical Issues
  16. ↑ WPR – W300BM FM Coverage Map & Technical Information

External links

Coordinates: 43°02′30″N 89°24′31″W / 43.04167°N 89.40861°W / 43.04167; -89.40861

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