WDDE (91.1 FM) is an

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

-member radio station based out of

Dover, Delaware Dover ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and the List of municipalities in Delaware, second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, Delaware, Kent County and the princ ...

. It is owned and operated by Delaware First Media Corporation, and is the first and only full-fledged public radio station based in Delaware. WDDE's studios are located on the

Delaware State University Delaware State University (DSU or Del State) is a Statutory college#Outside New York State, privately governed, state-assisted Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Land-grant university, land-grant research universi ...

campus, and its transmitter is located in

Felton, Delaware Felton is a town in Kent County, Delaware, United States. It is part of the Dover metropolitan area, Dover metropolitan statistical area. The population was 1,568 in 2020. History Established in 1856 as a whistle stop along the Delaware Railroad ...

. WDDE broadcasts a variety of national and international programming from

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, and

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programmi ...

as well as local news created by WDDE's staff. WDDE's website features multimedia coverage of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

, including 24/7 live streaming audio coverage, archived stories from WDDE and its online predecessor, DFM News, and timely special events coverage from political debates to concerts.

WMPH WMPH (91.7 FM broadcasting, FM, "Super 91.7") is Delaware's first high school radio station, located in Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington. The Brandywine School District Board of Education owns the license granted by the Federal Communications C ...

91.7 and WMHS 88.1 in Wilmington simulcasts WDDE's programming on weekday mornings and afternoons. The station is working to build additional repeaters in the rest of the state. Although WDDE has a collaborative partnership with both Delaware State University and the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

, it is run independently from both institutions.

History

WDDE traces its roots to 2010, when several longtime Delaware journalists founded Delaware First Media and launched DFM News, an online news site focused on Delaware news. Many of them had worked at

WHYY-FM WHYY-FM (90.9 MHz, "91 FM") is a public radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its broadcast tower is located in the city's Roxborough section of the city at () while its studios and offices are located on Independence Ma ...

- TV in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and had been laid off when the stations scaled back coverage of Delaware events. The move particularly rankled Delaware residents and elected officials, since WHYY-TV is licensed to Wilmington. Indeed, Wilmington city officials went as far as to challenge the renewal of WHYY-TV's license in 2009. A year later, they learned that a construction permit for a noncommercial station in Dover was on the verge of expiring.

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Salisbury University Salisbury University is a public university in Salisbury, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1925, Salisbury University is a member of the University System of Maryland, with a fall 2022 enrollment of 7,123. Salisbury University offers unde ...

, owner of WSCL, the NPR member for the

Delmarva Peninsula The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Eastern Shore of Virginia. The peninsula is l ...

, had won the permit in 2007, but opted not to use it. With the support of former ''

Weekend Edition Sunday ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program ''Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday' ...

'' host

Liane Hansen Liane Hansen (; born September 29, 1951) is an American journalist and radio personality. She was the host of the National Public Radio (NPR) newsmagazine ''Weekend Edition Sunday'' from 1989 until her retirement in May 2011. Her experience in b ...

, who now lives in Bethany Beach, Delaware First Media secured the backing needed for a full-fledged NPR member station. In 2011, Delaware First Media briefly brought the station online in 2011 as a repeater of WSCL's sister station, WSDL in Ocean City, before taking it offline pending its full launch. WDDE began broadcasting on August 17, 2012 from its studio on the

campus in Dover. Philadelphia's two full NPR members, WHYY-FM and

WRTI WRTI (90.1 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is a service of Temple University, with the university's board of trustees holding the station's license. The studios are on Cecil B. Mo ...

, have long claimed much of Delaware as part of their primary coverage areas; the latter has long operated repeaters in Wilmington and Dover. However, until WDDE's launch, Delaware had been the only state without a full-fledged NPR station within its borders. The station's first president, Micheline Boudreau was formerly headed WHYY's Dover bureau and reported for ''Delaware Tonight,'' the long-running news program that was canceled in the 2009 cutback. Another WHYY alumnus, Tom Byrne is the station's news director. Jane Vincent is the current president of the station.

References

External links

WDDE's official website
{{NPR Delaware DDE NPR member stations 2012 establishments in Delaware Dover, Delaware Radio stations established in 2012

History

See also

References

External links