Alabama Public Radio (APR) is a network of
public radio
Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
stations based in
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...
, United States, that serves roughly the western half of the state of
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
with
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
,
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
, and nostalgic music programs, as well as news and feature programs from the
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
(NPR),
Public Radio International (PRI), and
American Public Media
American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...
(APM) networks. The network is operated by the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...
, with studios in Tuscaloosa.
Since the station is licensed to a university with a broadcasting curriculum, students in the UA
College of Communication and Information Sciences get opportunities for practical training in announcing and other varied production duties. Nonetheless, APR maintains a small professional staff, as well as several volunteer announcers from the larger community. The Alabama Public Radio newsroom has recently won over 50 awards for journalism excellence, one-third of which are at the national and international levels. This includes RTDNA's national Edward R. Murrow award for Overall Excellence. The APR news team also works extensively with journalism students at the University of Alabama. Newsroom student interns typically put in 750 hours of work, which results in 142 minutes of Alabama-centric news, heard by many Alabama residents. This provides students with valuable real-life experience and material for their resumes to seek employment, mainly in commercial media.
History
The University of Alabama established WUAL-FM in January 1982 as the state's fifth public radio station. It emphasized service to the immediate western Alabama area in its first several years, since most of the region had no other access to NPR programming. However, UA soon realized the potential for expansion into other parts of the state without NPR service. Since
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
Huntsville
Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in th ...
, southeastern Alabama, and
Mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ( ...
already had existing stations, WUAL and UA officials focused on developing relay transmitters to send WUAL's signal into northwestern and south-central Alabama. Thus, WQPR, originally a joint project with the
University of North Alabama
The University of North Alabama (UNA) is a public university in Florence, Alabama. It is the state's oldest public university. Occupying a campus in a residential section of Florence, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, appeared in the late 1980s. It was followed in the early 1990s by WAPR, which is a joint venture of
Alabama State University
Alabama State University (ASU) is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
History
Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the ...
,
Troy University (both of which already owned NPR stations of their own in the Montgomery area) and UA.
In September 2007, WQPR received a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to assist in its conversion from analog to digital broadcasting.
In 2011, due to the desire of licensee
Spring Hill College
Spring Hill College is a private, Jesuit college in Mobile, Alabama. It was founded in 1830 by Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile. Along with being the oldest college or university in the state of Alabama, it was the first Catholic college in the ...
to exit public broadcasting, Spring Hill's NPR member station, WHIL-FM in Mobile, joined APR, effective July 1. That station had been affected, like many throughout the country, by declining listener contributions, which influenced the College to sell the 32-year-old outlet.
APR's studios have been housed in various locations on campus. They were first located on Bryce Lawn Drive and moved to Phifer Hall around 1990. In February 2014 they moved to the University's Digital Media Center, a facility located inside
Bryant–Denny Stadium
Bryant–Denny Stadium is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States, on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It is the home field of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Open ...
that houses commercial TV station
WVUA-CD
WVUA-CD (channel 7) is a low-power, Class A television station licensed to both Tuscaloosa and Northport, Alabama, United States, affiliated with the classic television network Cozi TV. Owned by the University of Alabama, the station maintains st ...
; the Center for Public Television and Radio (APR's parent organization that produces some regular programs for
Alabama Public Television
Alabama Public Television (APT) is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. state of Alabama. It is operated by the Alabama Educational Television Commission (AETC), an agency of the Alabama state government which ho ...
); and Crimson Tide Productions, which is devoted to producing shows featuring UA athletics for commercial broadcast.
APR stations
Four stations currently comprise the network:
Notes:
WLJS-FM
WLJS-FM (91.9 FM, "92J") is the student-run non-commercial educational college radio station of Jacksonville State University. The station was established for the purpose of giving students an environment in which they could learn to be radio bro ...
(91.9 FM), the student-operated station of
Jacksonville State University
Jacksonville State University (JSU) is a public university in Jacksonville, Alabama. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in six academic schools leading to bachelor's, master's, education specialist, and doctorate degr ...
which broadcasts to eastern central Alabama, simulcasts the first hour of classical music on APR each weekday. No other affiliations, either in personnel or in programming, exist between the two entities.
Translators
In addition to the full-power stations, Alabama Public Radio relays its signal via a low-powered translator to widen its broadcast area. The translator station was transferred to Edgewater Broadcasting, Inc under the authority of Summit Media and is a translator of WENN-AM 1320, with an effective radiated power of 35 watts at a height above ground level of 846 feet. Also, the WQPR signal has a translator (W264AI) that covers the
Huntsville
Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in th ...
-
Decatur market on 100.7 FM. The area also has two other public stations,
WLRH and
WJAB.
Weekday hosts
*Alex AuBuchon and Pat Duggins--''
Morning Edition
''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 AM ...
''
*David Duff and Bob Woodman--daytime classical music
*Stan Ingold--''
All Things Considered
''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
,'' ''
Marketplace
A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...
,'' ''
The Daily,'' ''
Fresh Air
''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 6 ...
''
Local specialty programs
Unlike many NPR-affiliated stations in recent times, APR has always featured a heavy schedule of locally hosted programs, many of which are unique in featuring special genres of music. Among them are the following:
*''All Things Acoustic''
a play on the title of NPR's flagship news broadcast, this show explores the wide variety of traditional and contemporary folk music and ethnic sounds, plus the singer-songwriter genre as well. UA professor
Jeremy Butler hosts the program, heard on Friday evenings. This program debuted in 1993.
*''Jugs, Jukes and Jazz''long-running program featuring jazz,
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...
,
Dixieland
Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...
, and
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
sounds from the earliest recordings through about the 1960s or so. Tom Halladay helmed this show from the beginnings of APR (WUAL's) history until 2019. The program was heard for many years on Saturday afternoons and shifted to Sunday evenings until Halladay retired from radio. The cancellation marked the first time in the network's 37-year history that no "
straight-ahead" jazz was broadcast at all, the program having been replaced by a syndicated
smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s.
History
Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...
offering.
*''Bama Bluegrass''Jeff Miller is the current host of this similarly enduring show, which features artists from the
Bluegrass and "old-time"
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
scenes. The program, heard early Saturday evenings, is especially popular with older, rural listeners. Miller also hosts the ''Flashpoint Bluegrass Radio Show'' on the website worldwidebluegrass.com.
*''The Crooners''Sunday-evening show featuring vocalists performing
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
and
swing music
Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...
from the 1930s through the 1950s. Former APR staff announcer Dale Owen continues his involvement with the network as host of this program.
*''Getting Sentimental Over You''similar to the above program, but emphasizing instrumentals rather than vocals. The program immediately precedes "The Crooners" and is hosted by Dave Clark.
See also
*
WVUA-FM
WVUA-FM (90.7 FM broadcasting, FM, "The Capstone") is the student-run college radio station at the University of Alabama. The station was established for the purpose of giving students an environment in which they could learn to be radio broadcast ...
90.7, the University's student-programmed station
References
External links
Alabama Public RadioAll Things Acoustic
{{American broadcast radio
University of Alabama
*
NPR member networks
Radio stations established in 1982
1982 establishments in Alabama