WFAE

Infobox Radio station
name = WFAE


city = Charlotte, North Carolina
area = Metrolina
branding = 90.7 WFAE
slogan = Your NPR news source
airdate = June 29 1981 (carrier current mid 1970s-1981)
frequency = 90.7 MHz HD Radio
format = News/Talk
power = 100,000 watts
erp =
class = A
callsign_meaning = W Fine Arts Education [Pam Kelley, "Public Radio Stations Facing Crisis with N.C. Budget Cuts," "The Charlotte Observer", April 2, 1991.]
former_callsigns =
owner = University Radio Foundation
webcast =
website = [http://www.wfae.org www.wfae.org]
affiliations = NPR

WFAE is the flagship National Public Radio station in Charlotte, North Carolina broadcasting at 90.7 MHz on the FM dial.

The station went on the air on June 29, 1981 as a service of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, taking over from a student-run carrier current station that had begun operation in the mid 1970s. It operated from the basement of the Cone University Center. In addition to NPR programs, it aired jazz during the day and classical music at nightFact|date=July 2008. Later, jazz was moved to night [Kathy Haight, "Jazz Turns Hot As Charlotte Warms to the Sound," "The Charlotte Observer", October 10, 1986.] .

The station grew rapidly, and within five years moved to much larger studios in the One University Place building near the UNCC campus where it still is today.

In February 1986, WFAE began airing new age music on a Sunday evening show emphasizing contemporary jazz, featuring such artists as George Winston and Kitaro [Jeff Borden, "'New Age Sunday' to Debut on WFAE," "The Charlotte Observer", February 7, 1986.] . The show was called "New Age Sunday" at first, but the station dropped that name to distance itself from the new age spiritual movement [David Perlmutt, "'New Age' Jazz Show Drops Misinterpreted Name," "The Charlotte Observer", December 27, 1986.] .

In 1987, WFAE began broadcasting 24 hours a day [Jeff Borden, "24-Hour Broadcasting Will Begin at WFAE," "The Charlotte Observer", March 12, 1987.] and began airing more jazz [Jeff Borden, "WFAE Replaces Daytime Classical Music with Jazz," "The Charlotte Observer", November 26, 1987.] . WFAE dropped classical music because WDAV played it, and the station increased its news and information programming. Soon, the station was emphasizing contemporary jazz [Jeff Borden, "Station Manager Leaving WFAE," "The Charlotte Observer", June 4, 1988.] .

WFAE's growth occurred amid financial uncertainty. UNCC was eventually forced to end support for the station due to a budget crunch. In 1994, UNCC handed over control to a nonprofit community board, the University Radio Foundation.

WFAE continued to grow through the next decade. It added a satellite station in Hickory, WFHE, at 90.3 mHz, in 1995. WFAE's signal is spotty at best in some parts of the North Carolina foothills. WFHE largely simulcasts WFAE, with inserts specific to the Foothills area airing during hourly news breaks. The next year, it largely dropped music in favor of a news/talk format as part of an agreement with WNSC in Rock Hill to provide non-conflicting programming. It was one of the first NPR stations to air NPR's midday news/talk block ("The Diane Rehm Show, Fresh Air" and "Talk of the Nation"). However, it had been committed to news long before then. At one point, its three reporters were doing as much work as far larger news staffs.

While its weekday lineup consists entirely of news/talk programs provided mostly by NPR, PRI, or the BBC, music provides the basis for some of its weekend programming. Specifically, it carries NPR's World Cafe, PRI's Echoes, and Nightscapes, a locally produced program of New Age music. WFAE is also the home station for the The Thistle & Shamrock, a popular Celtic music show from NPR that originated on WFAE when it was licensed to UNCC and its host, Fiona Ritchie, was a visiting professor at the university. It began as a local program soon after WFAE signed on, and was picked up nationally in 1983.

In recent years, the station has become one of the most technologically advanced NPR stations in the country. In 2004, it converted to digital technology, with a far clearer signal than before. It also became the first station in Charlotte and the first public radio station in North Carolina to convert to HD Radio digital broadcast technology. In 2005 WFAE became the first HD multicaster. In an experiment in April they multicasted up to 11 channels. however, at the time of the test, the small number of HD tuners, and even smaller number of multicast-capable tuners makes it unlikely that anyone outside the station heard anything other than their primary signal.Fact|date=February 2008

On July 28, 2008, WFAE began airing jazz from JazzWorks on one of its HD channels to reach those disppointed by the loss of jazz on WNSC. Locally produced jazz shows were a possibility as well, since the station still had its music library [Mark Washburn, "WFAE Adds Jazz to Its Mix," "The Charlotte Observer", July 24, 2008.] .

References

External links

* [http://www.wfae.org WFAE Web site]
*fmq|WFAE