WSMC-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 ...

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 ...

licensed to

Collegedale, Tennessee Collegedale is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 11,109 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Collegedale is a suburb of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Chattanooga and is part of the Chattanooga metropolitan ...

, and serving the Chattanooga metropolitan area. It is owned by Southern Adventist University (SAU). Saturday evening through Friday afternoon, it 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 ...

Christian radio Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

programming is heard from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon, as part of the

Adventist Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher Willi ...

Sabbath. WSMC has only three full-time employees: the general manager, corporate sales manager, and operations manager. SAU students serve as the announcers and production staff. The station seeks donations on the air and on its website. WSMC-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 100,000

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, currently the maximum power for American FM stations. 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 on Mowbray Mountain, off Montlake Road in Soddy-Daisy. The signal can be heard in parts of

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and

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. Programming can also be heard on

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W217AW at 91.3 MHz in

Dalton, Georgia Dalton is a city and the county seat of Whitfield County, Georgia, Whitfield County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It is also the principal city of the Dalton metropolitan area, Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encomp ...

History

Early years

WSMC-FM first signed on the air in .''Broadcasting Yearbook 1977'' page C-193. Retrieved Nov. 4, 2024.
/ref> Originally on 88.1 FM, it moved to 90.7 in 1967 and to 90.3 in 1990. For years, its signal was spotty at best in downtown Chattanooga. However, in 1990, it moved from its original tower on White Oak Mountain to a new tower on Mowbray Mountain in Soddy-Daisy, allowing it better coverage of the

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

radio market. The

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

stands for Southern Missionary College, SAU's name at the time the station began operations. From its earliest days, the station has broadcast a mix of classical music and Adventist religious music and teachings.

Adventist restrictions

In 1971, WSMC became one of the charter members of NPR. However, because of the religious doctrine of the licensee's church body, the

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...

, WSMC cannot air live news programming from sunset on Friday evening until sunset on Saturday evening. This frequently resulted in NPR's afternoon

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

program, ''

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 ...

,'' being interrupted while in progress. This situation did not sit well with NPR during the 1990s.Bhatti, Jabeen
Religious program dispute drives Chattanooga station out of NPR
''Current'', 1995-07-31. Coinciding with this dispute, a citizens' group called "Chattanoogans for Better Public Radio" took exception to what group organizer Bob Steverson described as the "awkward marriage of convenience" between WSMC and NPR. Most of NPR's funding comes from the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB; stylized as cpb) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to ...

, partially subsidized by Federal appropriations. From sunset on Friday evening to sunset on Saturday evening, WSMC aired a variety of local and national religious programs. The groups complained that it was inappropriate for WSMC to receive federal funding, since it aired more religious programming each week than could be considered a public service. Some individuals also alleged that the religious programming, mandated by the administration of what was then Southern College of Seventh-day Adventists, amounted to catering to a religious minority at the expense of the larger public in the

Tennessee Valley The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to north Alabama and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North C ...

.Bhatti, Jabeen
After sundown Friday in Chattanooga, is WSMC still a public radio station?
''Current'', 1995-04-03. In March 1995, WSMC formed a community advisory board to address these concerns. However, as Steverson's group saw it, Southern College had three options: stop preempting NPR programming, move NPR programming to WUTC 88.1 FM, the area's other NPR member station, or give up WSMC's license to another owner. In June 1995, NPR officials began the process of terminating WSMC's membership on the grounds that the station preempted NPR programming too often and aired too much religious programming. In response, college officials and station management decided to take action themselves, discontinuing most NPR programming, news included, taking effect on September 30, 1995. Replacing ''ATC'' were

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 ...

's '' The World'' and

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

's ''

Marketplace A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from ...

,'' which could air on a delayed basis or be preempted on Fridays. Today, long-form spoken word programming from NPR and other sources is gone. Most moved to WUTC, which replaced WSMC as the Chattanooga market's primary NPR station. (WUTC is owned by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.) A few NPR music programs and news briefs remain on WSMC's schedule (purchased separately without a network discount).

Programming

WSMC's programming consists entirely of classical music and derived genres. The

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player, either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs that can be played once or in a loop. ...

is less diverse than a typical classical public radio station, targeting an older, more conservative listenership. By contrast, 88.1 WUTC carries mostly news and talk programs furnished by NPR and other public radio suppliers with jazz heard nights and weekends. On weekends, some national classical shows from NPR and other public radio sources include '' Performance Today'', '' From the Top'', '' With Heart and Voice'', '' Pipedreams'' and '' Sunday Baroque''. Weeknights and Sundays, programming is supplied by " Classical 24," a national classical network for public radio stations. Inspirational classical music and

shows are heard on Friday evenings and nights, as well as in the daytime on Saturdays (the 24-hour period of observance for Seventh-day Adventists).

References

Notes

1995 report on listener dissatisfaction over religious programming on WSMC

External links

WSMC-FM official website
* {{NPR Tennessee SMC Seventh-day Adventist media Classical music radio stations in the United States Southern Adventist University NPR member stations Radio stations established in 1961 1961 establishments in Tennessee