WHYY-FM

WHYY-FM

City	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area	Delaware Valley
Branding	WHYY 91 FM or 91 FM
Slogan	"Radio That's Worth Your Time"
Frequency	90.9 MHz (also on HD Radio)
Repeater(s)	see below
First air date	December 14, 1954 (1954-12-14)
Format	Public affairs/News/Talk HD2: Arts & Info Service
ERP	13,500 watts
HAAT	280 meters
Class	B
Facility ID	72336
Transmitter coordinates	40°2′30″N 75°14′24″W / 40.04167°N 75.24000°W / 40.04167; -75.24000 (WHYY-FM) (NAD27)
Callsign meaning	Wider Horizons for You and Yours
Former callsigns	WUHY (1963–1983)
Affiliations	NPR Public Radio International American Public Media
Owner	WHYY, Inc.
Sister stations	WHYY-TV
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	whyy.org/91FM

WHYY-FM (90.9 FM; "91 FM") is the flagship National Public Radio station serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley. Its broadcast tower is located in the city's Roxborough neighborhood at (40°02′30.9″N 75°14′21.9″W / 40.041917°N 75.239417°W / 40.041917; -75.239417),^[1] while its studios are located on Independence Mall in Center City, Philadelphia.

History

WHYY signed on for the first time on December 14, 1954. It was the first station in Philadelphia devoted solely to education. After sister television station WHYY-TV moved to the Channel 12 license from Wilmington, Delaware in 1963, FCC regulations forced the radio station to change its calls to WUHY. It regained its original calls in 1983.

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

Programs produced

Entrance to the WHYY building on 6th Street, across from Independence Mall and the National Constitution Center

• NPR: Fresh Air with Terry Gross, a Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Nearly 4.5 million people listen to the broadcast on more than 450 National Public Radio stations across the country, as well as in Europe on the World Radio Network.^[2] The program originated in 1975 as a local show before going national in 1987.
• NewsWorks Tonight, a weekday daily program highlighting important news, events, and stories from WHYY's coverage area of Southeastern PA, Delaware, and Southern NJ.
• Radio Times With Marty Moss-Coane, a daily two-hour program that tackles wide range of issues.
• You Bet Your Garden, an organic gardening talk show hosted by Mike McGrath.
• Voices in the Family Dr. Dan Gottlieb, psychologist and family therapist, along with guest experts, opens the line to callers to discuss issues that affect individuals and society, with special focus on family issues. The show airs weekly on Monday mornings. Its executive producer is Maiken Scott, WHYY’s Behavioral Health Reporter.
• The Pulse a show that focuses on stories at the heart of health, science and innovation in the Philadelphia region. The show is hosted by WHYY's Behavioral Health Reporter Maiken Scott.

Format change

Until a 1990 format change, WHYY served the region as a non-commercial station with a format that featured jazz, folk, and classical music, with the latter predominating. The management decision to establish a talk-radio format departed from the pattern established by most public radio affiliates nationwide. Its implementation resulted in sustained protests from the station's traditional listening audience who were formerly WHYY's major contributors.

CEO controversy

Controversy erupted in the summer of 2007 when station CEO Bill Marrazzo was cited by the watchdog group Charity Navigator as the highest paid CEO in all of public broadcasting.

Popular Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Karen Heller called for a boycott of WHYY in an August 2007 column and in September 2007 an anonymous group of WHYY employees sent an open letter to Marrazzo, the Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia magazine, accusing him of "a serious lack of understanding when it comes to creating ... a healthy workplace" and assailing his salary as "excessive and inappropriate." The five-page letter concluded with a call for Marrazzo to resign.^[3][4]

New Jersey expansion and controversy

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 New Jersey Network's statewide radio service.^[5]

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.

WHYY assumed control of the stations through a management agreement on July 1, 2011, pending Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval for the acquisition. At that point, the stations began to simulcast WHYY-FM programming.^[6] The five stations are:

The stations all operate at relatively modest power due to the crowded state of the FM dial in the northeastern United States. However, their combined footprint gives WHYY-FM listeners coverage from Berks County to the Jersey Shore.^[7]

See also

• WHYY-TV

References

External links

• Official website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WHYY
• Radio-Locator information on WHYY
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WHYY