Northwest Public Radio

Northwest Public Radio Logo

Northwest Public Radio is the public radio service of Washington State University. It is an affiliate of National Public Radio, Public Radio International and American Public Media. It operates 18 radio stations across Washington State, Oregon, and Idaho, and provides coverage to parts of British Columbia. The network broadcasts public radio news, talk, entertainment, classical music, jazz, and folk music. Station programming is separated into two program streams, "NPR News" and "NPR & Classical Music", with simulcast periods during Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition.

History

WSU has a long history in broadcasting, dating to 1908 when it was known as Washington State College. NWPR's flagship station, KWSU 1250 in Pullman signed on December 10, 1922 as KFAE and became KWSC (for Washington State College) in 1925. For many years, it served a large portion of the Pacific Northwest. It became KWSU sometime in the 1960s, after Washington State attained university status. Edward R. Murrow began his career at the station, as did Keith Jackson and Barry Serafin. KWSU was a charter member of NPR, and was one of the 90 stations that carried the inaugural broadcast of All Things Considered in 1971.

KWSU became a network in 1982, when KFAE-FM 89.1 Richland signed on, bringing public radio to the Tri-Cities for the first time. Two years later, WSU assumed operation of the University of Idaho's KUID-FM 91.7 FM due to budget cuts in Idaho. The station was renamed KRFA. From 1992 to 2012, 15 more stations joined the network. Combined with fourteen translators, NWPR serves large parts of Washington, Idaho, Oregon and British Columbia. Most of the stations are located east of the Cascades, though five stations are located west of the Cascades.

NWPR headquarters are in the Murrow Communications Center on the WSU campus, with satellite studios at WSU Tri-Cities' campus in Richland, University of Idaho in Moscow, and studio offices in Tacoma and Wenatchee.

Stations

For the most part, NWPR behaves like two large networks. Seven stations, based on KWSU, broadcast NPR news and talk. The other eleven, based on KRFA, broadcast a mix of NPR programming and classical music.

NPR News

Location	Frequency	Call sign	Other cities served
Pullman, WA	1250 AM	KWSU	Moscow, ID
Walla Walla, WA	89.7 FM	KWWS	Tri-Cities
Moses Lake, WA	91.5 FM	KLWS	Ephrata, WA
Omak	90.1 FM	KQWS	Kelowna, BC
Mount Vernon, WA	89.7 FM	KMWS	Burlington, WA
Chehalis, WA	88.9 FM	KSWS	Centralia and Olympia, WA
Yakima, WA	88.5 FM	KYVT	Selah and Union Gap, WA

Translators at Pullman (which broadcasts 24 hours a day while KWSU must sign off from 12 am-6 am) and Clarkston, Ellensburg, Leavenworth, Bellingham and Forks.

NPR and Classical Music

Location	Frequency	Call sign	Other cities served
Moscow, ID	91.7 FM	KRFA-FM	Pullman, WA
Richland, WA	89.1 FM	KFAE-FM	Pasco and Kennewick, WA
Ellensburg, WA	90.7 FM	KNWR	Wenatchee/Moses Lake, WA
Yakima, WA	90.3 FM	KNWY
Cottonwood, ID	90.1 FM	KNWO	Grangeville, ID
Clarkston, WA	90.5 FM	KNWV	Lewiston, ID
Forks, WA	91.5 FM	KNWU
Manson, WA	88.3 FM	KHNW	Chelan, WA
Bellingham, WA	91.7 FM	KZAZ
Port Angeles, WA	90.1 FM	KNWP	Victoria, BC
Tacoma, WA	90.9 FM	KVTI	Seattle and Olympia, WA

Translators at Goldendale, Cashmere, Chelan, Ephrata, Wallowa Valley, Clarkston, Orofino and Kamiah in Idaho.

KFAE also broadcasts the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library's Evergreen Radio Reading Service to blind and handicapped listeners on its 67kHz subcarrier. KFAE is one of three major FM stations in Washington to do so; KPBX-FM in Spokane and KUOW-FM in Seattle are the others. However, this requires a special FM radio capable of receiving such broadcasts; it cannot be received on a standard FM radio.

See also

• KWSU-TV

External links

• Northwest Public Radio Website
• Evergreen Radio Reading Service