Northern Public Radio is the

public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

service of

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

. It consists of two full-powered FM stations and three lower-powered satellites, all affiliated with

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 ...

. The group is headquartered at NIU's campus in

DeKalb, Illinois DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,290 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is named after decorated Franconian-French war hero Johann de Kalb, who died during the Ameri ...

, with additional studios in Rockford. Although DeKalb is part of the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

radio market, Northern Public Radio serves as the NPR member for the Rockford market.

Stations

WNIJ (89.5 FM) in DeKalb primarily airs news and talk programming from NPR, with '' World Cafe'', '' Echoes'' and locally produced

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

music programming at night and Saturday afternoons.

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 ...

airs overnight. The station's programming is also simulcast on repeaters WNIE in

Freeport Freeport, a variant of free port, may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Freeport, name of several space stations in the video game ''Freelancer'' (2003) * Freeport, a fictional town in the video game ''SiN'' (1998) * ''Freeport: The Cit ...

(89.1 FM), WNIQ in

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(91.5 FM) and WNIW in La Salle (91.3 FM). WNIU (90.5 FM) in Rockford 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 ...

24 hours a day using the syndicated classical music service

Classical 24 Classical 24 is a syndicated, satellite-delivered public radio service providing classical music to its carrying stations. It generally airs overnights on many non-commercial and a handful of commercial classical music stations. However, the s ...

, and operates a low-powered translator at 105.7 in Rockford (W289AB) to improve its coverage in the northern part of the city.

History

Northern Public Radio began in 1954, when WNIU signed on as a 10-watt station on 89.5 FM that barely covered the immediate area around the campus of what was then Northern Illinois State College (which became NIU in 1957). It aired classical music along with lectures and announcements of campus events. In 1964, it expanded its transmitter power to 2,500 watts, boosting its coverage area to all of

DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johann de Kalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama DeKalb County is a County (United States), county in the Northeast Alabama, northeastern part ...

. At the same time, it began emphasizing news programming. WNIU was a charter member of

in 1971, and was one of the 90 stations that carried the initial broadcast of ''

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 ...

''. In 1979, WNIU got permission to boost its power to 50,000 watts. This more than doubled the coverage area of the station, and brought its signal to Rockford for the first time, albeit with only grade B coverage. In 1988, WNIU moved its transmitter from De Kalb to Lindenwood, which gave it a city-grade signal to Rockford. Previously, Rockford had been the only major city in Illinois without city-grade coverage from an NPR station; the only sources of NPR programming in the area were grade B signals from WNIU and

Wisconsin Public Radio Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) is a network of 38 public radio radio station, stations in the state of Wisconsin. WPR's network is divided into two distinct services, the ''WPR News Network'' and the ''WPR Music Network''. History Wisconsin Publ ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

outlets. NIU had wanted a second frequency for some time, and finally got it in 1991 when WNIJ signed on at 90.5 FM in Rockford. WNIU became a full-time classical music station, while WNIJ was a more traditional full-service NPR station. In 1998, the two stations swapped frequencies, with WNIJ moving to the stronger 89.5 frequency while WNIU moved to 90.5. This move was made so more people could hear WNIJ's news and talk programming. WNIJ also scaled back its jazz programming to nights only. That same year, WNIW and WNIQ signed on. WNIE followed in 1999. Listeners in the latter three stations' coverage areas had only gotten spotty coverage from WNIU or WNIJ, depending on the location. Originally, the three repeaters simulcast WNIJ during the day and WNIU at night, but problems with switching equipment forced them to simulcast WNIJ 24 hours a day.

References

External links

northernpublicradio.orgwnij.orgwniu.org
{{Northern Illinois University NPR member networks Northern Illinois University College radio stations in Illinois 1954 establishments in Illinois