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This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2010) |
WYPR is a public radio station that services the Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan area. The station broadcasts on 88.1 MHz on the FM band. Its studio is in the Charles Village section of Baltimore and its transmitter is westward in the Park Heights section. The station is simulcast in the Frederick and Hagerstown area on WYPF (88.1 FM) and in the Ocean City area on WYPO (106.9 FM). Surprisingly, the two stations on 88.1 are not synchronized. WYPF's sound is about 1/2 second behind WYPR, rendering WYPR almost unlistenable in some portions of Howard and Carroll counties.
WYPR is Baltimore's National Public Radio member station, carrying content from NPR, American Public Media (the distribution arm of Minnesota Public Radio), Public Radio International and the BBC World Service (on HD2). In addition, WYPR produces several of its own programs, many of which focus on local affairs. WYPR recently added a classical music format on its HD3 subchannel.
History [edit]
Serving the metropolitan Baltimore area and the state of Maryland, the mission of Your Public Radio is to broadcast programs of intellectual integrity and cultural merit which enrich the minds and spirits of our listeners and ultimately strengthen the communities we serve. -- WYPR Mission Statement [1]
The station signed on in 1979 as WJHU, owned by Johns Hopkins University. It took over from a carrier current station that had operated under the same calls on AM 830 since 1945. It originally aired a mix of classical music and NPR programming. Over the years it progressively added more content from NPR and its partners, shifting to the format of news/talk in the daytime and overnight weekday hours, and music (mainly jazz) programming during evenings and nights. In the fall of 1998, then-WJHU added overnight coverage of World Radio Network (WRN), which provides English-language news programs from broadcasters around the world; today the station simulcasts the BBC World Service during the overnight. The station was sold by the university in early 2002 to Your Public Radio Corp., a locally based group of station talk hosts and listeners, and became WYPR. In 2004 Your Public Radio Corp. bought religious broadcaster WJTM in Frederick, which became a relay of WYPR with the call letters of WYPF. WYPF's signal also covers Hagersown. On July 30, 2007, Your Public Radio Corp. bought Ocean City, Maryland alternative rock station 106.9 WRXS, which began simulcasting WYPR starting September 10, 2007. That station was renamed WYPO on October 3, 2007.
For many years, the station operated at only 10,000 watts. While this provided a decent signal to Baltimore itself and most of its close-in suburbs, many of Baltimore's outer suburbs, including Annapolis, only got a grade B signal. In 2008, it increased its power to 15,500 watts, giving it a coverage area roughly comparable to the other major Baltimore stations. However, its signal is not as strong southwest of Baltimore because it must conform its signal to protect the University of Maryland's WMUC, which broadcasts on the same frequency. Due to its transmitter being located in northeastern Baltimore, some areas of Harford County get only a grade B signal.
Weekday Schedule [edit]
Midday is WYPR's daily public affairs program heard from noon - 2PM, Monday through Friday. Hosted by longtime Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks, the program covers a wide range of topics selected to engage, inform, and entertain the listening audience. Regular guests include Rona Kobell on the Chesapeake Bay, Jim Astrachan on the Law, and Linda DeLibero and Chris Reed on Film. Since its debut, Midday has covered a mix of the serious (politics, the economy, education) and the not-so-serious (National Grammar Day, crab cakes, film noir) with, as one listener describes it, "A certain politeness, good manners, and gentle laughter". Midday is produced by Nikki Gamer and Sean Yoes.
Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast is a mix of interviews about news, the arts, politics, science, history. all the topics and people that make Maryland such an interesting place to live and work. From 9 to 10 a.m. every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, they reach from the Chesapeake Bay to the mountains for compelling conversations with people who make the news, and with people who cover it - including WYPR's own reporters. Maryland Morning is produced by Lawrence Lanahan, Stephanie Hughes, and Matt Purdy.
External links [edit]
Coordinates: 39°19′53″N 76°39′28″W / 39.33139°N 76.65778°W / 39.33139; -76.65778
