WFPL (89.3 MHz) is a 24-hour listener-supported,

noncommercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that does not, in some sense, involve commerce, at least relative to similar activities that do have a commercial objective or emphasis. For example, advertising-free community ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. The station focuses on news and information, and is the primary

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or ...

for the Louisville radio market. WFPL is now owned by Louisville Public Media and was originally owned by the

Louisville Free Public Library The Louisville Free Public Library (LFPL) is the public library system in Louisville, Kentucky, and the largest public library system in the U.S. state of Kentucky. History Formation The Louisville Free Public Library was created in 1902 by an ...

. When the station came on the air in 1950, it was the first library-owned radio station in the country. WFPL's

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

is off Moser Knob Road in

New Albany, Indiana New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The population was 37,841 as of the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Floyd County. It is bounded by I-265 ...

, amid the

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...

s for other Louisville-area FM and TV stations. The 21,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

signal covers parts of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

History

On February 20, 1950, WFPL first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A digi ...

the air. It began operating as a

public radio Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

station under the ownership of the

, giving the station the distinction of being the first library-owned radio station in the country. Founded years before the

Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 () issued the congressional corporate charter for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private nonprofit corporation funded by taxpayers to disburse grants to public broadcasters in the United St ...

and

's creation in 1970, the station was made possible by the donation of equipment by the Bingham family, who owned ''

The Courier-Journal ''The Courier-Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Net ...

'' and WHAS

840 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 840 kHz: WHAS in Louisville is the dominant Class A station on 840 AM, which is a United States clear channel frequency. In Argentina * General Belgrano in Buenos Aires * LT12 Gra ...

radio at the time. In 1993, the library joined with the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one ...

to form the Public Radio Partnership (now Louisville Public Media) to operate WFPL and the city's other public radio stations,

WFPK WFPK is a 24-hour listener-supported, noncommercial radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, broadcasting at 91.9 MHz FM with an adult album alternative format. The station plays national and local alternative music. It is owne ...

and WUOL-FM. Since then, WFPL has steered away from music to focus on broadcasting news and informational programming. Like its sister stations, WFPL broadcasts an

HD radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

signal.

Awards

In 1951 WFPL won a George Foster Peabody award for public service.

References

External links

WFPL web site
* FPL NPR member stations Radio stations established in 1950 1950 establishments in Kentucky {{Kentucky-radio-station-stub

History

Awards

See also

References

External links