WXPR (91.7 FM) is a community-licensed public radio station serving north central Wisconsin and adjacent areas of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Licensed to

Rhinelander, Wisconsin Rhinelander is a city in Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 8,285 at the 2020 census. History The area that eventually became the city of Rhinelander was originally called Pelican Rapids by early s ...

, United States, the station is owned by White Pine Community Broadcasting, a nonprofit educational corporation. WXPR 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 ...

member station as well as an affiliate of

Native Voice One Koahnic Broadcast Corporation (KBC) is a nonprofit media center that provides Native radio programming through Alaska Native governance and operation.Koahnic Broadcast Corporation (2010). Retrieved from http://www.koahnicbroadcast.org/ KBC’s r ...

. The studios are at 28 N. Stevens St. in downtown Rhinelander, in a historic building previously occupied by the local newspaper. The transmitter is off Oneida County Highway A between Sugar Camp and Three Lakes, Wisconsin, southwest of Thunder Lake. The station operates satellite WXPW at 91.9 FM in Wausau. In a share-time arrangement, WXPW shares 91.9 with WLBL-FM, the Wausau outlet for

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 ...

's Ideas Network. WXPW airs from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. from Monday through Thursday and from 6 p.m. on Friday to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

History

The vision for WXPR was developed by Peter Nordgren, whose previous involvement in noncommercial radio was with WSSU at the

University of Wisconsin-Superior A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, as well as KBSB and

KAXE KAXE (91.7 FM) is a community licensed public radio station serving Northern Minnesota communities, including Grand Rapids, Brainerd, Bemidji, Virginia, Chisholm and Hibbing. The station airs locally produced news, talk, and music programming. ...

. Other early staff and supporters included Mary Kay Foltz Sherer, a fundraising specialist from Minocqua who would go on to be development director at

, retired Army Signal Corps colonel Elmer Goetsch, and construction worker Robert M. (Mick) Fiocchi of Rhinelander, later WXPR's general manager. The first program director was W. Scott Yankus, later with

Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, KNOW-FM, News & Information, KSJN, YourClassical MPR and KCMP, The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper ...

and

Marketplace (radio program) ''Marketplace'' is an American radio program that focuses on business, the economy, and events that influence them. The program was first broadcast on January 2, 1989. Hosted by Kai Ryssdal since 2005, the show is produced and distributed by ...

; other staff included news director Jeff Gavin and programming staff Rita Rahoi, later a professor of communications at

Winona State University Winona State University is a public university in Winona, Minnesota, United States. It was founded as First State Normal School of Minnesota in 1858 and is the oldest member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. It was the fi ...

. WXPR was one of fourteen stations in underserved areas whose development in the early 1980s was supported by expansion grants 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 ...

Translators

References

External links

WXPR official website
*
Radio Locator information on W265AI
{{coord, 45.774, N, 89.248, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title NPR member stations Public broadcasting in Wisconsin Public radio stations in the United States XPR