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Wisconsin Public Radio to Revamp its Two Networks
- Thread starter Brian Bowers
- Start date
Milwaukee has its own NPR News/Talk station, 89.7 WUWM, owned by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. But it is also served by 90.7 WHAD Delafield, owned by Wisconsin Public Radio. Instead of them both competing with similar NPR News programming, sometimes even the same show, it makes sense to make WHAD a Classical station on weekdays with other music genres on weekends.
Milwaukee is one of the biggest markets with no Classical station. It had a commercial classical station for many years, a Class A outlet sometimes at 98.3 and later at 106.9. But those are both airing mass-appeal formats now. And no non-commercial station ever picked up the format. So now, 90.7 WHAD will do that.
In Madison, both 970 WHA and 88.7 WERN will run the NPR News/Talk format, while two of WHA's translators will instead run the Classical network. WHAD 90.7 is strong enough that it also can be heard in some parts of the Madison market, and that will also provide Classical music.
Milwaukee is one of the biggest markets with no Classical station. It had a commercial classical station for many years, a Class A outlet sometimes at 98.3 and later at 106.9. But those are both airing mass-appeal formats now. And no non-commercial station ever picked up the format. So now, 90.7 WHAD will do that.
In Madison, both 970 WHA and 88.7 WERN will run the NPR News/Talk format, while two of WHA's translators will instead run the Classical network. WHAD 90.7 is strong enough that it also can be heard in some parts of the Madison market, and that will also provide Classical music.
We moved to Milwaukee in 2000, and at the time, like other cities its size, it had a classical music station, commercial WFMR, and a fine mainstream jazz station, noncommercial WYMS, both featuring fine local announcers. In 2007, WYMS flipped to AAA and WFMR flipped to smooth jazz. Both were losses that upset loyal listeners. Some classical music fans from Milwaukee met with WPR management at the time (I was present at the meeting), and asked them to consider replacing the Ideas Network on WHAD with the WPR classical music service, but WPR wanted to keep their flagship news service in the Milwaukee market, even though WUWM was covering that audience quite successfully. I'm glad WPR has finally decided to do that.
I was thinking, since 970 WHA Madison is one of the oldest stations in the United States (experimental radio at the University of Wisconsin dates back to 1915) why not have FM station 88.7 WERC pick up its call letters? They will now be simulcasting the same WPR News programming. So let's call the stations WHA-AM-FM.
WHA is the flagship station of Wisconsin Public Radio's News network. So its FM simulcast might as well have the same call sign, WHA-FM.
WHA is the flagship station of Wisconsin Public Radio's News network. So its FM simulcast might as well have the same call sign, WHA-FM.
It's interesting to look at the Duluth-Superior market. Duluth has three Minnesota Public Radio stations, all pretty much 70,000 to 100,000 watt outlets. One airs the MPR News/Talk/NPR service, one carries the MPR Classical music service and one has the MPR Adult Album Alternative service. That's on the Minnesota side.
Then on the Wisconsin side, there is one station airing the WPR Classical service at 83,000 watts and two stations airing the WPR News/Talk/NPR service, one at 34,000 watts that's about 25 miles away and one right in Superior that's 1,000 watts. Needless to say, MPR and WPR were able to buy or put on the air some prime high-powered FM stations in Duluth-Superior over the years. A few had been commercial outlets that struggled in a low population region that's heavily radioed.
So if you like Public Radio and don't mind the cold, Duluth-Superior is the place for you!
Then on the Wisconsin side, there is one station airing the WPR Classical service at 83,000 watts and two stations airing the WPR News/Talk/NPR service, one at 34,000 watts that's about 25 miles away and one right in Superior that's 1,000 watts. Needless to say, MPR and WPR were able to buy or put on the air some prime high-powered FM stations in Duluth-Superior over the years. A few had been commercial outlets that struggled in a low population region that's heavily radioed.
So if you like Public Radio and don't mind the cold, Duluth-Superior is the place for you!
The restructure makes so much sense to me. They should have done this years ago. The new director is doing a really good job. I think the changes will help them stay relevant. A lot of younger people like classical music. The call in shows took up way too much time, and I suspect fewer people were calling in over the years.
I don’t understand how the WHA translators can air non-WHA programming. Are they re-licensing those?
I also wonder what will happen to their remaining HD stations.
Also yes, Duluth has an abundance of public radio. And a lot of non-commercial religious radio. Which is all very on brand for the area. But I think we will see more of that in other markets as mass market music moves away from the traditional radio dial.
I don’t understand how the WHA translators can air non-WHA programming. Are they re-licensing those?
I also wonder what will happen to their remaining HD stations.
Also yes, Duluth has an abundance of public radio. And a lot of non-commercial religious radio. Which is all very on brand for the area. But I think we will see more of that in other markets as mass market music moves away from the traditional radio dial.
I wrote WPR and was told, "We will have three remaining HD radio stations, WPR Music on 88.7 HD-2 in Madison, WPR News on 90.7 HD-2 in Milwaukee, and WPR Music on 90.2 HD-2 in Wausau."
I also read that on the WGTD website, owned by Gateway Technical College, "In addition, by repeating WPR's new fine arts station on our HD3, we hope to be able to fill in some gaps in the WHAD signal that we realize occur in the southern reaches of the Gateway district and the northern tier of communities in Lake County."
Format Change Coming to WGTD
Beginning May 20th, WGTD will become part of WPR News. New classical music listening options will become available.
www.wgtd.org
I was also told by WPR that the 24/7 classical stream and HD channels that broadcast the all classical stream are going away. The new WPR Music channel will have jazz, world, and folk music on the weekends including Friday night and a good part of Saturday and Sunday according to the scheduled they posted. Personally, I would not like that as a listener of classical music. There will be no classical music 3 out of 7 evenings a week which to me is not acceptable. I would stick to a 24/7 classical channel online. But jazz, world, and folk music on Friday, Saturday and Sunday is what they have now on they analog NPR News and Classical stations so that does not change. They are removing the NPR news from it to add more classical music when news programing was on in the morning and afternoon drives so it will be better than what they had on their analog stations for those who want to hear music.
I would prefer the 24/7 classical station they currently have online and on their HD sub-channels which are on their strongest signals than what they are going to do so this a downgrade for classical music for me. Unfortunately most people do not listen to HD radio like I do. More public radio HD channels will likely be turned off across the country as the years go by because HD radio is not supported with donations like stations thought they would be.
This move is understandable because it will save WPR money by turning off more of the HD stations and consolidating their programing onto 2 separate channels for news and music as most NPR stations have been doing. It is something they should have done before I agree. I do think it is smart to have all news on 1 channel but wish the other would be all classical. But I do not live in Wisconsin anyway. I live in central Illinois.
One last thing. I recently bought a Grace internet radio to hook up to my home sound system and it has so many more choices of what to listen to. I will no longer be listening to HD radio at home as much. In the car I will still listen to HD radio and Sirius XM for classical music,
Thanks for the info! It’s too bad to see the discontinuation of HD substations for public radio. They could have done some neat things with those extra channels. I suppose it carries an expense after all, but still.I wrote WPR and was told, "We will have three remaining HD radio stations, WPR Music on 88.7 HD-2 in Madison, WPR News on 90.7 HD-2 in Milwaukee, and WPR Music on 90.2 HD-2 in Wausau."
I also read that on the WGTD website, owned by Gateway Technical College, "In addition, by repeating WPR's new fine arts station on our HD3, we hope to be able to fill in some gaps in the WHAD signal that we realize occur in the southern reaches of the Gateway district and the northern tier of communities in Lake County."
Format Change Coming to WGTD
Beginning May 20th, WGTD will become part of WPR News. New classical music listening options will become available.
I was also told by WPR that the 24/7 classical stream and HD channels that broadcast the all classical stream are going away. The new WPR Music channel will have jazz, world, and folk music on the weekends including Friday night and a good part of Saturday and Sunday according to the scheduled they posted. Personally, I would not like that as a listener of classical music. There will be no classical music 3 out of 7 evenings a week which to me is not acceptable. I would stick to a 24/7 classical channel online. But jazz, world, and folk music on Friday, Saturday and Sunday is what they have now on they analog NPR News and Classical stations so that does not change. They are removing the NPR news from it to add more classical music when news programing was on in the morning and afternoon drives so it will be better than what they had on their analog stations for those who want to hear music.
I would prefer the 24/7 classical station they currently have online and on their HD sub-channels which are on their strongest signals than what they are going to do so this a downgrade for classical music for me. Unfortunately most people do not listen to HD radio like I do. More public radio HD channels will likely be turned off across the country as the years go by because HD radio is not supported with donations like stations thought they would be.
This move is understandable because it will save WPR money by turning off more of the HD stations and consolidating their programing onto 2 separate channels for news and music as most NPR stations have been doing. It is something they should have done before I agree. I do think it is smart to have all news on 1 channel but wish the other would be all classical. But I do not live in Wisconsin anyway. I live in central Illinois.
One last thing. I recently bought a Grace internet radio to hook up to my home sound system and it has so many more choices of what to listen to. I will no longer be listening to HD radio at home as much. In the car I will still listen to HD radio and Sirius XM for classical music,
WPR wrote me back saying 90.2 Wausau. They meant 90.9 in Wausau.
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The engineer I work with tells me HD broadcasts bring higher electricity bills and more wear on the broadcast equipment.
By far the biggest cost of running HD is the programming. Yes, there are utility and engineering costs, but those aren't huge marginal costs, once you're already running a full-power FM transmitter.
It seems like a lot of broadcasters are letting their HD radio stations go. WKBH 102.7 HD-3 in La Crosse is unlistenable. So is WXSS 103.7 HD-3 in Milwaukee. The public radio stations seem to manage them better, but even WPR had its questionable moments.
Many stations are turning off their HD substations altogether and just carrying the main HD-1 feed. I think this helps them save money on royalty payments to XPERI, and it also saves programming costs.
Many stations are turning off their HD substations altogether and just carrying the main HD-1 feed. I think this helps them save money on royalty payments to XPERI, and it also saves programming costs.
I've enjoyed listening to WPR's new music network since it launched on May 20. It's not the primary radio station I listen to, but it's been nice to occasionally have it on while working. Unfortunately, according to the Nielsen ratings, it seems there's not very many of us listening to the new network so far.
In Milwaukee's 6+ ratings, WHAD (Delafield / Milwaukee) has dropped from an average 1.4 rating over the 3 months before the launch of WPR Music (with a high of 1.8) to a steady 0.2 for the last 4 months since the switch.
In Madison, WPR Music is on WERN-HD2, which feeds a couple of FM translators with good coverage of Madison. WERN-HD2 has been at 0.0 the past two monthly ratings, which cover May - August.
Anyone else here check out WPR's new music network, and if so, what are your thoughts?
In Milwaukee's 6+ ratings, WHAD (Delafield / Milwaukee) has dropped from an average 1.4 rating over the 3 months before the launch of WPR Music (with a high of 1.8) to a steady 0.2 for the last 4 months since the switch.
In Madison, WPR Music is on WERN-HD2, which feeds a couple of FM translators with good coverage of Madison. WERN-HD2 has been at 0.0 the past two monthly ratings, which cover May - August.
Anyone else here check out WPR's new music network, and if so, what are your thoughts?
Nielsen ratings with public radio are relative, to say the least. Sure, they can help get corporate sponsorship. But the number of individual doners matters more. In 2022, WPR brought in $30 M. They're doing just fine.
The real questions is - did WUWM gain more listeners from the loss of WHAD news/talk programming? It appears WUWM gained a substantial listener increase (go Panthers!), while WHAD remained flat. The upcoming election may have something to do with that, and so could the format change for WHAD.
I personally love the new music network. I think it was a good move. Maybe I'm biased. There are definitely some growing pains, but they will get through them.
I hope they can stay innovative. I wonder if they will do something with the syndicated programming on the nights/weekends. There's a lot of programming overlap in the Duluth, Eau Claire, and La Crosse/Winona areas. While the overlap mostly occurs during hours with less listeners, there's an opportunity to expand WPR's impact.
They could also expand their online streaming services. TuneIn still has the old programming schedules for both networks.
The real questions is - did WUWM gain more listeners from the loss of WHAD news/talk programming? It appears WUWM gained a substantial listener increase (go Panthers!), while WHAD remained flat. The upcoming election may have something to do with that, and so could the format change for WHAD.
I personally love the new music network. I think it was a good move. Maybe I'm biased. There are definitely some growing pains, but they will get through them.
I hope they can stay innovative. I wonder if they will do something with the syndicated programming on the nights/weekends. There's a lot of programming overlap in the Duluth, Eau Claire, and La Crosse/Winona areas. While the overlap mostly occurs during hours with less listeners, there's an opportunity to expand WPR's impact.
They could also expand their online streaming services. TuneIn still has the old programming schedules for both networks.
WGTD seems to do their own thing. Glad to hear they are still going!
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