WYSO

Infobox Radio station
name = WYSO


city = Yellow Springs, Ohio
area = Dayton
slogan =
branding =
frequency = 91.3 MHz
repeater =
airdate = 1957
share = 1.9
share as of = FALL 2007
share source = RRC [cite news | first= | last= | title=Dayton Market Ratings | url= | publisher=Arbitron | work =Radio Research Consortium | url = http://www.rrconline.org/arbitron | date = FALL 2007 ]
format =
power =
erp = 37,000 watts
haat = 122.0 meters
class = B
facility_id = 2374
coordinates = coord|39|45|46.00|N| 83|52|59.00|W|region:US_type:city
callsign_meaning = Yellow Springs, Ohio
former_callsigns = none
owner = Antioch University
licensee = Antioch University
sister_stations =
webcast = official|http://www.wyso.org/
website =
affiliations =

WYSO (91.3 FM) is a radio station in Yellow Springs, Ohio, near Dayton, operated by Antioch University. It is a National Public Radio affiliate. It is the flagship NPR station for the Dayton area.

WYSO signed on in 1957, and has the distinction among NPR affiliates of being located in one of the smallest villages to host an NPR station.

WYSO started as a student and faculty station with a 10 watt transmitter located at the student union building of Antioch College, an institution with a unique progressive philosophy. By the early 1970's, an intermediate power increase to 3000 watts, and the introduction of permanent paid staff began a move towards reflecting and serving a larger community. At that time WYSO was know as a university based community radio station, and most significantly several Antioch College students and others involved in the station took it upon themselves to be involved with an incipient community and public radio movement in the United States. [http://www.google.com/search?q=krab+nebula&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a] Several of those individuals have occupied key positions since that time--out of proportion to the station's modest size. (see e.g. Walker, Jesse: Rebels on the Air, 2001, New York University Press). [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11626209 NPR's John McChesney remembers starting out at WYSO]

Before NPR affiliation, nearly all of the station's programming was locally originated. The station had carried live Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, and ad hoc networks set up by anti-Vietnam War activists, and a few recorded syndicated programs. "WYSO People's News" a local news program taking its inspiration from NPR's "All Things Considered" and CBC Radio's "As It Happens" was aired in the 1970s and 80s. The rest of WYSO's program schedule was eclectic and block programming. WYSO People's News, created by Mark Mericle, now with Pacifica Radio KPFA Berkeley, was not inspired by NPR or the CBC news programs cited, but Mericle evolved the program in explicit opposition to NPR or mainstream content and the viewpoint of the program was to be part of popular struggles against imperialism and the Vietnam War, and in support of labor, women's and other movements. As at other community radio stations in the United States, NPR affiliation was viewed with suspicion by some insiders, but the attendant money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting led to a permanent staff and a local fundraising mandate. The eventual popularity of news and information programming originating from NPR was not forseen at the time and there were endless discussions about how the newly energized medium of noncommercial radio would best serve the community, and local versus national origination was an important, but not the only, subject of debate.

Locally produced "Rise When The Rooster Crows", once a daily morning feature, now airs traditional Bluegrass music on Sunday mornings. "Morning Edition" has aired in its place since WYSO became an NPR affiliate in the late 1980s. Bluegrass music is also aired on Saturday evenings with the program "Down Home Bluegrass."

WYSO became an NPR member station and started broadcasting "All Things Considered" at the time of the first power increase sometime between 1971 and 1973. The decision to replace morning bluegrass music, local and unique to the region, with network news in the morning was undertaken in the late 1980's. Tom and Jim Duffy and other local bluegrass musicians introduced the genre on WYSO around 1970, and it was embraced by management at the time as a link with the larger Southwest Ohio community.

Most local programming as measured by airtime is produced by volunteers. Volunteers, listeners and donors to the station have asserted an unofficial role in station governance since the 1970's when the station was managed under Antioch's Community Government. The University holds the license and administrators now hire the professional staff.

Listeners formed "Keep WYSO Local", a group that continues to debate the future of the station with the University. [http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/rollins/entries/2008/04/08/back_in_action.html Keep WYSO Local]

Programming from Public Radio International and BBC World Service is also aired.

References

External links

*FM station data|WYSO