Connecticut Public Radio

WNPR (Connecticut Public Radio)

Broadcast area	Connecticut eastern Long Island, NY western Massachusetts
Branding	WNPR
Frequency	See table below
Translator(s)	See table below
First air date	June 1978
Format	Public radio
Affiliations	NPR, American Public Media, Public Radio International
Owner	Connecticut Public Broadcasting
Webcast	[1]
Website	www.wnpr.org

Connecticut Public Radio is a network of public radio stations in the state of Connecticut, western Massachusetts, and eastern Long Island affiliated with NPR (National Public Radio). It is owned by Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network, who also owns Connecticut Public Television.

The radio network airs primarily news and talk from NPR and brands itself on-air as "WNPR." It is headquartered with CPTV in Hartford, and operates an additional studio in New Haven.

History

The headquarters of WNPR and CPTV in Hartford, Connecticut

In the early 1970s, WTIC in Hartford dropped its longtime classical music format in favor of adult contemporary music, and sold its library to CPTV. Looking for a way to put the library to use, CPTV decided to get into radio. At the time, while Hartford got a fairly decent signal from WFCR in Amherst, Massachusetts and much of southwestern Connecticut was covered by WNYC-AM-FM in New York City, most of the rest of the state didn't even get a grade B signal from an NPR station. New Haven, for instance, had to content itself with a translator of WFCR on 90.5 FM. Finding available frequencies proved difficult, however. In addition to the crowded state of the noncommercial end of the FM dial in the Northeast, there was a considerable glut of 10-watt stations in the state. Ultimately, CPTV bought the 90.5 frequency from the Friends of WFCR, the New Haven group that owned the WFCR translator, and used it as the linchpin for what would become Connecticut Public Radio.

The network's first station, WPBH, signed on in June 1978. The station was licensed to Meriden, halfway between Hartford and New Haven, in order to serve both cities (Hartford and New Haven, then as now, are separate radio markets). CPBI originally wanted the WNPR calls, but the FCC turned it down due to objections from WPLR in New Haven, who claimed the calls sounded too similar. It became WPKT in 1984 after board chairman Homer Babbidge requested the FCC change the call letters to honor CPBN head Paul K. Taff.

WNPR (89.1 FM) in Norwich followed in 1981, WEDW-FM (88.5 FM) in Stamford in 1985 and WRLI-FM (91.3 FM) on Long Island in 1993.

On September 15, 2011, WPKT and WNPR swapped call letters. Although 90.5 FM has always been the flagship station, the network had been using WNPR as its on-air name since the 1990s.

For the first 20 years of its existence, the network broadcast a mix of classical music, jazz and NPR talk. However, starting in the late 1990s, WNPR began gradually increasing the news programming on its schedule. One of the first casualties of this change was the popular classical music program Morning pro musica, which was fed from WGBH-FM in Boston. The program had aired on WNPR as part of the terms by which the Friends of WFCR sold the 90.5 frequency to CPBI. However, by the late 1990s, this resulted in WNPR only being able to run the first hour of Morning Edition. Ultimately, WNPR decided to cancel Morning pro musica, even though network executives knew it would cause a major loss in funding, though the change of direction in news-heavy NPR member stations, especially after the September 11 attacks occurred, made the format change palatable. Ultimately, in 2006, WNPR dropped classical music altogether in favor of a full-time news and information format. In 2013, the station launched a new online service WNPR News at wnpr.org.

WAIC

WAIC (91.9 FM) is the college radio station of American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts. WAIC first went on air in February 1967, going stereo in 1985. Initially programmed from American International College (at various points programming top 40 and adult hits), it became a full-time relay of Connecticut Public Radio on November 1, 2011.

Programming

WNPR features the programs Where We Live, The Colin McEnroe Show, The Faith Middleton Show and The Needle Drop. All are based out of Hartford except The Faith Middleton Show, which has been based at the New Haven studio since it first went on the air. The station also syndicates NPR programming.

Stations

Call sign	Frequency	City of license	Facility ID	ERP/Power W	Height m (ft)	Class	Transmitter coordinates	Call sign meaning
WAIC	91.9 FM	Springfield, Massachusetts	1749	230	20 m (66 ft)	B1		American International College
WEDW-FM	88.5 FM	Stamford, Connecticut	13619	2,000	92 m (302 ft)	A
WNPR	90.5 FM (HD)	Meriden, Connecticut	13627	18,500	251 m (823 ft)	B		Norwich Public Radio
WPKT	89.1 FM (HD)	Norwich, Connecticut	13618	5,100	180 m (590 ft)	B1		Paul K Taff
WRLI-FM	91.3 FM	Southampton (town), New York	13598	10,000	95 m (312 ft)	B1		Radio Long Island

Translator

Broadcast translators of WNPR

Call sign	Frequency (MHz)	City of license	ERP W	Height m (ft)	Class	Transmitter coordinates	FCC info
W258AC	99.5	Storrs, Connecticut	10	117 m (384 ft)	D		FCC

Other stations

• WECS (90.1 FM) Windham: Eastern Connecticut State University's campus station simulcasts the network's feeds of Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Car Talk.
• WVOF (88.5 FM) Fairfield: Fairfield University's campus station simulcasts the network's feeds of Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Where We Live, Car Talk, Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me, Living on Earth, Speaking of Faith, and the BBC Worldservice.
• WHDD-FM (91.9 FM) Sharon: The station known as "Robin Hood Radio" used to air WNPR programs Where We Live, The Colin McEnroe Show and The Faith Middleton Show.

External links

• WNPR News
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WNPR
• Radio-Locator information on WNPR
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WNPR

Other station data

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WAIC
• Radio-Locator information on WAIC
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WAIC
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WEDW
• Radio-Locator information on WEDW
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WEDW

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WPKT
• Radio-Locator information on WPKT
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WPKT
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WRLI
• Radio-Locator information on WRLI
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WRLI