WMNF is a non-commercial, 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 radi ...

operating in the city of Tampa in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

that broadcasts at the FM frequency of 88.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

and streaming live. The station has been on the air since September 14, 1979, and has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...

of 6,650

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 ...

s from antenna 1,539 feet

height above average terrain Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site is above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it i ...

. The radio station is listener sponsored, relying on supporters for about 70% majority of required funding, which is raised in three semiannual

pledge drive A pledge drive is an extended period of fundraising activities, generally used by public broadcasting stations to increase contributions. The term "pledge" originates from the promise that a contributor makes to send in funding at regular interval ...

s. The station has paid operations staff, but the daily programmers and pledge drive workers are volunteers. The station is licensed to the Nathan B. Stubblefield Foundation, a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organization established solely for this purpose. The Board of Directors comprises programmers, volunteers, staff, and community members. WMNF hosts many concerts, speeches, films, and festivals, most notably the annual Tropical Heatwave Festival. The last Heatwave occurred in 2016.

Facilities

In 2005, WMNF moved into a new state of the art broadcast facility. The facility is located adjacent to the old studio which was demolished and now serves as a parking lot. The new facility is over with three broadcast studios, two production studios and a live performance studio named in memory of Mike Eisenstadt, longtime host of the ''Sunday Simcha'', a

Jewish music Jewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish people. There exist both traditions of religious music, as sung at the synagogue and domestic prayers, and of secular music, such as klezmer. While some elements of Jewish music may originate ...

and public affairs show that still airs on Sundays at 2pm. The music library is capable of storing approximately 100,000

CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

, and has about 8,000 record albums. The landscape is made up of native Florida plants. In 2007, WMNF moved to a higher antenna tower and started to broadcast a Hybrid Digital signal.

Programs and personnel

WMNF has from the beginning aired a wide variety of programming, including special interest music shows including bluegrass, polka,

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

, Celtic,

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...

. The major music styles on WMNF are

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

and blues, considered Triple A radio. WMNF also features several hip hop shows, including one of the longest running hip hop shows in Florida, The Saturday Night Shutdown. WMNF also holds their "Flashback Friday" every Friday, where they go and broadcast hit music from the past day. It runs from 10pm to 12am. WMNF's progressive news and public affairs programs have steadily increased since the nineties. While the schedule has constantly changed (there is a review of the schedule every 2 years and there may be major or minor changes made through that process), the station has a number of long-running programs including the ''Sixties Show, the Morning Show, Caribbean Cruise, The Soul Party, Saturday Asylum'' and public affairs programs such as ''RadioActivity'' and ''From a Woman's Point of View'' (formerly ''The Women's Show)'', a show touching on feminist issues that first started running in the 1980s, ''Art in Your Ear, Talking Animals'', and ''True Talk,'' which focuses on the Middle East and the global issues Muslims face. In February 2013 WMNF also introduced to Tampa-area listeners the weekly music, arts and culture program "Life Elsewhere" hosted by veteran radio personality Norman B. (Batley), a venerable brand that dates back to the 1970s in the Pacific Northwest.

HD channels

WMNF broadcasts four HD Radio channels: * HD-1 simulcasts the main WMNF signal. * HD-2 new Indie music and music shows featuring new releases. * HD-3 The Source, which airs news, public affairs, and arts programming. * HD-4 Soul School featuring classic soul, R&B, blues, reggae and rap.

Controversies

While providing extensive public affairs programming to the greater Tampa Bay area, and perhaps because of it, WMNF has at times become the focus of controversy. In 1997, Florida state Senator John Grant zeroed out $104,000 in state funding from the annual budget, citing his displeasure at the lyrics of a song he had heard broadcast (

Iris DeMent Iris Luella DeMent (born January 5, 1961) is an American two-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and musician . DeMent's musical style includes elements of folk, country and gospel. Early life DeMent was born in Paragould, Arkansas, the 14 ...

's "Wasteland of the Free"). In response to the shortfall, the station staged an emergency fund-raiser that took in $122,000 in a day and a half. Then Programming Director, Randy Wynne indicated his belief that such difficulties arose after WMNF aired several criticisms against State Senator Grant's opposition to Olympic

gold medalist A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

diver, and outspoken

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

activist

Greg Louganis Gregory Efthimios Louganis (; born January 29, 1960) is an American Olympic diver, LGBT activist, and author who won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics on the springboard and platform. He is the only man and the second diver in Ol ...

attending a speaking engagement at the University of South Florida.

References

External links