WKAR-FM (90.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) is a

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 47,741. The city is located immediate ...

. It is owned by

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

, along with

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

s WKAR (870 AM) and

WKAR-TV WKAR-TV (channel 23) is a PBS member television station licensed to East Lansing, Michigan, United States, serving central southern Michigan. The station is owned by Michigan State University (MSU) and operated as part of WKAR Public Media, alo ...

(channel 23). They are owned by

, with

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s in the Communication Arts and Sciences Building, at Wilson and Red Cedar Roads on the MSU campus. WKAR-FM 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 ha ...

(ERP) of 85,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, grandfathered as a "Superpower" FM station. It can be heard as far east as

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

and the

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

suburbs, and as far west as

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

and

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

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

is off Dobie Road in Okemos, near the Red Cedar River.

Programming

On weekdays, WKAR-FM airs

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

in middays and evenings, with news and talk shows heard at other times, including

National Public Radio 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 ...

programs ''

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'' and ''

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosl ...

''. On weekends, classical music is heard in middays and overnight, with

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

in the evening. Weekend NPR shows include '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me,

This American Life ''This American Life'' is a weekly hour-long American radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internationally, and is ...

Code Switch ''Code Switch'' is a podcast from National Public Radio ( NPR), and an online outlet covering race and culture. Code Switch began in 2013 as a blog, and a series of stories contributed to NPR radio programs. The ''Code Switch'' podcast launch ...

'' and ''

Hidden Brain ''Hidden Brain'' is a science podcast hosted by Shankar Vedantam. Background The show originally began as a segment of '' NPRs ''Morning Edition''. The first episode of the podcast focused on a concept called "switchtracking". Vedantam fou ...

''. Overnight, WKAR-FM carries Classical 24. Michigan news updates and NPR News are heard at the beginning of most hours. While WKAR-FM concentrates on classical music, WKAR AM has an all news and talk schedule. ''Morning Edition'' and ''All Things Considered'' are heard on both stations. WKAR AM programming is also carried on WKAR-FM's

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

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

. WKAR-FM is the primary

Emergency Alert System The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a Emergency population warning, national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via Cable television, cable ...

(EAS) station for the state of Michigan, relaying emergency messages from the

Michigan State Police The Michigan State Police (MSP) is the State police (United States), state police agency for the U.S. state of Michigan. The MSP is a full-service law enforcement agency, with its sworn members having full police powers statewide. The department ...

to all media outlets in Michigan. It hosts statewide tests twice a year. WKAR-FM is also the secondary EAS station for Lansing and the South Central Michigan region (

WFMK WFMK (99.1 FM) is an adult contemporary radio station licensed to East Lansing, Michigan and serving the Lansing radio market. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and broadcasts in HD radio. WFMK is one of the oldest adult contemporary s ...

is the primary station for the region).

History

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, what was then Michigan State College decided to add an FM station to supplement WKAR (870 AM). WKAR-FM

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on October 4, 1948. It was the Lansing area's first FM station, although few people owned radios that could receive FM signals then. Like most FM stations of the time, it

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

its AM sister during its sunrise to sunset broadcast hours. When the AM station had to sign off at sunset to protect WWL in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, WKAR-FM would then carry its own signature programming which included classical music and other arts-related programs. The two stations split their broadcasting schedules on March 1, 1965. The FM station primarily aired fine arts programming, while the AM station concentrated on news and information. The WKAR stations became charter members of NPR in 1971, and were among the 90 stations carrying the inaugural broadcast of ''All Things Considered.'' WKAR-FM is a "Superpower Grandfathered" Class B FM station, providing a signal 7.6 dB stronger than would be granted today under current U.S.

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) rules. While most stations in this section of Michigan are limited to 50,000 watts, WKAR-FM is powered at 85,000 watts. WKAR-FM went on the air before the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

rules on maximum power were established. In January 2013, WKAR-AM-FM launched the daily news/arts radio magazine ''Current State'', an hour-long program of interviews and produced reports devoted to Mid-Michigan and statewide politics, government, business, education, environment, science, technology, health, medicine and the arts. The program was broadcast Monday through Friday at 9 am and 6 pm on 90.5 FM and weekdays at noon on AM 870. It was discontinued several years later.

HD programming

WKAR-FM is licensed by the FCC to broadcast using

(hybrid) technology. Until 2017, its HD signal broadcast on three streams. HD1 is a simulcast of the analog FM signal's classical music and NPR format. HD2 is a simulcast of WKAR (870 AM), continuing from local sunset to sunrise when the AM station is not broadcasting. It is also simulcast on a low-powered translator at 102.3 FM giving most of the Lansing area access to a locally focused NPR news and talk station. It originally was a simulcast of the '' Classical 24'' music channel. That service airs on the main signal from 7 pm to 5 am. HD3 was a simulcast of WKAR AM; it was also simulcast on a low-powered translator at 105.1 FM. On June 30, 2017, WKAR-FM ended its HD3 subchannel. The Classical 24 stream is available on the WKAR website, along with streams of the Lansing area's

radio reading service A radio reading service or reading service for the blind is a public service of many universities, community groups and public radio stations, where a narrator reads books, newspapers and magazines aloud for the benefit of the blind and vision-imp ...

as well as a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

channel. Currently, the HD2 subchannel simulcasts WKAR 870 AM.

Sources

External links

* {{Michigan State University NPR member stations Michigan State University Classical music radio stations in the United States KAR-FM Radio stations established in 1948 KAR-FM 1948 establishments in Michigan