WUSF (89.7 FM) is a

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 ...

(NPR) member station in the

Tampa Bay area The Tampa Bay area is a major metropolitan area surrounding Tampa Bay on the Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, Florida, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater, Florida, Clea ...

. It is licensed to

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

and owned by the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

. WUSF is

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 ...

and listener-supported. The station's format features news and talk programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, provided by NPR and other public radio networks. The studios and offices are on East Fowler Avenue in Tampa, on the USF campus. WUSF is a Class C1 FM station. It 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 69,000

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. 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 ...

is on Boyette Road at Mosaic Drive in Riverview, Florida.Radio-Locator.com/WUSF
/REF> WUSF broadcasts using

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 ...

technology. Its HD2

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 ...

features

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 ...

from

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 ...

89.1 WSMR. That programming feeds 250-watt

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

W280DW at 103.9 MHz.

History

WUSF signed on the air in . That was seven years after USF's founding in 1956. It joined NPR in 1976. It was the first public radio station in the country-—and the first station of any kind in Florida-—to broadcast using

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 ...

technology. In 2010, USF acquired

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, ...

station WSMR 89.1 MHz in Sarasota. It was previously owned by Northwestern College of

Roseville, Minnesota Roseville is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. It is one of two Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Twin Cities suburbs that are bordered directly by Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul and Minneapolis (Lauderdale, M ...

. At the time, WUSF aired a mix of news and information shows along with

. USF planned to change WSMR's format to classical music, available around the clock. WSMR inherited the classical music library of WUSF. With WSMR becoming a full-time classical station, WUSF could switch to a format of NPR news along with nighttime

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 ...

programming. WSMR's coverage area is mainly in the Sarasota- Bradenton area, but the station's programming would also be available online and on WUSF's HD2

. WUSF's format was scheduled to be changed on September 15, 2010. But its relaunch was delayed due to technical problems. WSMR's sale to USF also included

station W280DW, a repeater of WSMR, that broadcasts on 103.9 MHz. It is based in Brandon and serves Pasco and northern Hillsborough counties. The translator continued rebroadcasting WSMR, with its new classical music format. Two weeks after the failed launch of classical replacement WSMR, station management came under public scrutiny. Critics thought the staff neglected to perform due diligence regarding the purchase of the WSMR transmitter. According to an article in the ''Bradenton Herald'': :Arthur Doak, an engineer for the FCC, said there was no record of WUSF or Northwestern College conducting an inspection on the tower but said stations are entitled to a review of tower sites. :“If the buyer wanted it done to protect themselves, certainly they could,” Doak said. “That’s between the buyer and the seller.” On October 20, 2022, WUSF announced that it would drop jazz programming later that month. It would have a schedule of all spoken-word programming, with news, information and talk shows, along with the

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 ...

airing overnight. In 2023, WUSF launched its online jazz programming.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wusf (Fm) NPR member stations University of South Florida media

USF USF may refer to: Universities * University of Saint Francis (Indiana), Ft. Wayne, Indiana * University of San Francisco, California * University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida * University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois * University of Sioux ...

USF (FM) 1963 establishments in Florida Radio stations established in 1963

History

See also

References

External links