City | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Delaware Valley |
Branding | WHYY 91 FM |
Slogan | "Radio That's Worth Your Time" |
Frequency | 90.9 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
Repeater(s) | See § New Jersey expansion and controversy |
First air date | December 14, 1954 |
Format | Analog/HD1: Public radio HD2: Arts & Info Service |
ERP | 13,500 watts |
HAAT | 280 meters |
Class | B |
Facility ID | 72336 |
Transmitter coordinates | 40°2′30″N 75°14′24″W / 40.04167°N 75.24000°W (NAD27) |
Callsign meaning | Wider Horizons for You and Yours |
Former callsigns | WUHY (1963–1983) |
Affiliations |
NPR Public Radio International American Public Media |
Owner | WHYY, Inc. |
Sister stations | WHYY-TV |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | whyy.org/91FM |
WHYY-FM (90.9 FM; "91 FM") is the flagship National Public Radio station serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley. Its broadcast tower is located in the city's Roxborough neighborhood at (40°02′30.9″N 75°14′21.9″W / 40.041917°N 75.239417°W), while its studios are located on Independence Mall in Center City, Philadelphia.
WHYY signed on for the first time on December 14, 1954. It was the first station in Philadelphia devoted solely to education. After sister television station WHYY-TV moved to the Channel 12 license from Wilmington, Delaware in 1963, FCC regulations forced the radio station to change its calls to WUHY. It regained its original calls in 1983.
The station was a charter member of NPR in 1970, and was one of the 90 stations that carried the initial broadcast of All Things Considered.
Until a 1990 format change, WHYY served the region as a non-commercial station with a format that featured jazz, folk, and classical music, with the latter predominating. The management decision to establish a talk-radio format departed from the pattern established by most public radio affiliates nationwide. Its implementation resulted in sustained protests from the station's traditional listening audience who were formerly WHYY's major contributors.