WYPR

WYPR
Broadcast area Baltimore, Maryland
Branding 88.1 WYPR
Slogan Your NPR News Station
Frequency 88.1 MHz (also on HD Radio)
Repeater(s) WYPF 88.1, Frederick
WYPO 106.9, Ocean City
First air date 1979 (originally carrier current 1945–1979) (as WJHU)
Format Public radio (News/Talk/Jazz)
HD2: BBC World Service
HD3: Classical
ERP 15,500 watts
HAAT 129.6 meters
Class B1
Facility ID 65753
Callsign meaning We're Your Public Radio
Former callsigns WJHU (1979–2002)
Owner Your Public Radio Corp
Webcast WYPR Webstream
WYPR-HD2 Webstream
WYPR-HD3 Webstream
Website wypr.org

WYPR is a public radio station serving the Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan area. The station broadcasts on 88.1 MHz on the FM band. Its studio is in the Charles Village neighborhood of northern Baltimore, while its transmitter is westward in Park Heights. The station is simulcast in the Frederick and Hagerstown area on WYPF (88.1 FM) and in the Ocean City area on WYPO (106.9 FM). Surprisingly, the two stations on 88.1 are not synchronized. WYPF's sound is about 1/2 second behind WYPR, rendering WYPR almost unlistenable in some portions of Howard and Carroll counties.

WYPR is Baltimore's flagship National Public Radio member station, carrying content from NPR, American Public Media (the distribution arm of Minnesota Public Radio), Public Radio International and the BBC World Service (on HD2). WYPR also provides a 24-hour classical music format on its HD3 subchannel. In addition, WYPR produces several of its own shows, including the public affairs-focused programs Midday and On The Record, the award-winning, sonic-storytelling series Out of the Blocks as well as local news coverage and special newsroom series.

Starting in 2015, the Baltimore Magazine Reader's Poll has named WYPR the Best Radio Station in Baltimore three years in a row. The station also won Best Radio Show Host, and Best News Website in 2017.

History

The station signed on in 1979 as WJHU, a 10-watt student-run station owned by Johns Hopkins University. It took over from a carrier current station that had operated under the same calls on AM 830 since 1945. Originally a typical freeform college radio station, it boosted its power to 25,000 watts in 1985, allowing it at least secondary coverage of the entire Baltimore/Washington corridor. Soon after the power increase, Johns Hopkins converted the station into a full-time professional operation, allowing it to become Baltimore's NPR member station.[1] It originally aired a mix of classical music and NPR programming, but on June 23, 1995, switched to a primarily news/talk format.

Johns Hopkins put the station up for sale in 2000 due to the expense of maintaining it, as well as a change in focus that no longer included radio.[1][2] In 2002, Your Public Radio Corp., a community group, bought the station and changed its calls to WYPR. In 2004 Your Public Radio Corp. bought religious broadcaster WJTM in Frederick, which became a relay of WYPR with the call letters of WYPF. WYPF's signal also covers Hagerstown. On July 30, 2007, Your Public Radio Corp. bought Ocean City, Maryland alternative rock station 106.9 WRXS, which began simulcasting WYPR starting September 10, 2007. That station was renamed WYPO on October 3, 2007. The three stations provide at least grade B coverage to almost two-thirds of Maryland.

For much of the time from the late 1990s to 2008, it operated at only 10,000 watts. While this provided a decent signal to Baltimore itself and most of its close-in suburbs, many of Baltimore's outer suburbs, including Annapolis, only got a grade B signal. In 2008, it increased its power to 15,500 watts, giving it a coverage area roughly comparable to the other major Baltimore stations. However, since its transmitter is located in northwestern Baltimore, some areas of Harford County get only a grade B signal. Furthermore, its signal is not as strong in the southern part of the metro area because it must conform its signal to protect Washington's WAMU, at nearby 88.5. While the University of Maryland student station, WMUC, broadcasts on the same frequency as WYPR, WMUC is designated as a class D station and thus its signal is not protected, rendering both stations practically unlistenable in parts of Prince George's County, Montgomery County and Northeastern DC due to WYPR's interference with WMUC.

Programs

Newsroom Series

Events

WYPR is a media sponsor of the local Patterson Park Concert Series throughout the summer months. [4] In addition, the radio station is also a media partner of Stevenson University's Baltimore Speakers Series at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore.[5]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 "On the Air Again: Radio station WJHU is reborn as a student-run Internet radio offering," by Greg Rienzi, The Gazette, Vol. 32, No. 33, 5 May 2003
  2. ↑ "Steiner group moves closer to owning WJHU," by David Folkenflik, Baltimore Sun, 14 July 2001
  3. ↑ "Programs". wypr.org. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  4. ↑ "Concerts in Patterson Park". wypr.org. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  5. ↑ "Home". Baltimore Speakers Series. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  6. ↑ capba.org (PDF). Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association http://capba.org/assets/Chesapeake.Winners_List_With_Judges_Comments.pdf. Retrieved 14 July 2017. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ "RTDNA - Radio Television Digital News Association". www.rtdna.org. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  8. ↑ magazine, Baltimore (3 August 2017). "Best of Baltimore Readers' Poll Results 2017". Baltimore magazine. Retrieved 3 August 2017.

Coordinates: 39°19′53″N 76°39′28″W / 39.33139°N 76.65778°W / 39.33139; -76.65778

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