WORT

WORT
City Madison, Wisconsin
Branding Community Radio
Frequency 89.9 MHz FM Radio (also on HD Radio)
First air date December 1, 1975[1]
Format Community Radio (news/talk/variety)
ERP 2,000 watts
HAAT 286 meters
Class B1
Facility ID 3596
Transmitter coordinates 43° 03' 3.00 " N
89° 29' 13.00" W
Callsign meaning World's Oldest Radio Transmitter
Affiliations Pacifica Radio
BBC World Service
Owner Back Porch Radio Broadcasting, Inc.
Webcast Live Stream
Archives
Website wortfm.org

WORT (89.9 FM) is a listener-sponsored community radio station, broadcasting from 118 S. Bedford St. in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. WORT offers a range of programming.

WORT's FM signal reaches a roughly 50-mile radius around Madison. In early 2006, the station began webcasting all of its programming in both high quality (96K) and low quality (32K) streams. WORT also maintains an archive of recent news and public affairs programs available for podcast, download, or stream.

Programming

The exterior of the WORT studio building.
John Kraniak at the controls during his show, "Entertainment", in WORT's main studio.

WORT broadcasts a mix of music and talk programming. All of WORT's music programs are produced by local DJs. WORT airs 33 hours of news and public affairs programming per week, 21.5 of which are locally produced. All of the programmers at the station are volunteers from the community, including DJs, hosts, producers, reporters, and engineers.

Music programming

The weekday music schedule includes:

The weekend music lineup includes a range of genres. Saturday's programming is divided into two-hour shows, beginning with traditional Mexican music at 6am. At 8:00, WORT airs classic R&B, then vintage jazz and swing, reggae, music from all around Africa, salsa and Latin jazz, rock 'n' roll oldies, blues, and finally hip-hop all night.

Sunday's music has more variety, including medieval and renaissance music in the morning, womyn's music in the early afternoon, followed by show tunes, world music in late afternoon, kids' music at 6:30, then gospel, electronic, experimental, and avant garde music through the night.

News and public affairs programming

Organizational structure

The organizational structure of WORT reflects the station's principles of democratic decision making; the paid and unpaid workers (the volunteers) at the station elect the Board of Directors; the Board sets policy and hires full-time and part-time paid staff. The full-time staff is organized as a collective that operates within sound management practices and written policies established by the Board. The staff collective oversees the day-to-day operations of the station.

Volunteers provide most of the on-air programming. In addition, many volunteers contribute to off-air operations.

History

WORT went on the air in 1975.

Radio host Michael Feldman became a volunteer in 1977, broadcasting "The Breakfast Special" from a diner on Madison's east side every morning for several years before joining Wisconsin Public Radio.[2]

Affiliations

WORT is a member of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters and the Grassroots Radio Coalition. The station hosted the GRC-5 Conference in 2000 and GRC-11 in 2006.

WORT is an affiliate of the Pacifica network, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), and the Public Radio Satellite System, which is how it broadcasts programs like the BBC, supplied in the U.S. by Public Radio International. The station is also a member of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.

WORT also has a standing rebroadcast agreement with Madison Indymedia.

Awards

WORT has been voted "Madison's Favorite Radio Station" in the Isthmus Annual Manual (readers' poll) sixteen times.[3] Several of its programs have made the top three list of favorite radio shows, including Mel & Floyd (multiple years), Back to the Country, and Pan-Africa.

WORT received two Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Merit Awards for its 2006 documentary on Uganda's "invisible children" and its 2005 documentary on the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. It won best documentary in 2005 from Public Radio News Directors Incorporated for its investigation of pollution at the Madison Kipp factory. It also received a WBA Merit Award for its 2005 election lead-up coverage.

References

  1. ↑ "WORT's History". Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Michael Feldman | Whad'ya Know?". Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Madison, Wisconsin: Isthmus Annual Manual : Madison City Guide". thedailypage. Retrieved January 23, 2014.

Coordinates: 43°03′04″N 89°29′13″W / 43.051°N 89.487°W / 43.051; -89.487

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