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WBUR-FM (90.9 FM) is a public radio station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...
. It is the largest of three NPR member stations in Boston, along with WGBH and WUMB-FM and produces several nationally distributed programs, including '' On Point'', ''
Here and Now Here and Now may refer to: Music * Here & Now (band), an English progressive/space rock band * Here and Now Tour, a series of concert tours Albums * ''Here and Now'' (The Jazztet album) (1962) * ''Here and Now'' (Hampton Hawes album) (1965) * ...
'' and ''
Open Source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
.'' WBUR previously produced '' Car Talk'', '' Only a Game'', and '' The Connection'' (which was cancelled on August 5, 2005). ''RadioBoston'', launched in 2007, is its only purely local show. WBUR's positioning statement is "Boston's NPR News Station". WBUR also carries its programming on two other stations serving Cape Cod and the Islands: WBUH (89.1 FM) in
Brewster Brewster may refer to: People * Brewster (surname) *Brewster Kahle (born 1960), American computer technologist *Brewster H. Shaw (born 1945), American astronaut Places * Brewster Park (Enniskillen), Northern Ireland *Brewster (crater), The Moon ...
, and WBUA (92.7 FM) in Tisbury. The latter station, located on
Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes th ...
, uses the frequency formerly occupied by WMVY."WBUR Buys Martha’s Vineyard Station 92.7-FM"
WBUR website
In 1998, the station helped launch WRNI in
Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
—the first NPR station within that state's borders. It has since sold the station to a local group. According to Ken Mills, a Minneapolis broadcast consultant and Nielsen data, the number of listeners of WBUR has grown since 2012, increasing from 409,000 to 534,400. In 2017, WBUR was named the sixth-most popular NPR news station in the United States.


Programming

WBUR programs ''On Point'' and ''Here and Now'' are carried nationwide in the US on hundreds of public radio stations and on XM Radio's public radio station, XM Public Radio. In total, WBUR produces more than 25 hours of news and programming each week. '' On Point'' is a one-hour discussion show formerly hosted by Tom Ashbrook, currently hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, broadcast weekdays. It began as 'special programming' in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, originally airing from 7 to 9 p.m. It took over the time slot of the similar ''The Connection'' when that show was cancelled in 2005. ''
Here and Now Here and Now may refer to: Music * Here & Now (band), an English progressive/space rock band * Here and Now Tour, a series of concert tours Albums * ''Here and Now'' (The Jazztet album) (1962) * ''Here and Now'' (Hampton Hawes album) (1965) * ...
'' is a news and culture digest show hosted by Scott Tong, Robin Young, and Deepa Fernandes normally consisting of several interview segments with reporters, authors, artists and statesmen. It began as a regional and local show but soon expanded to cover national and international issues. The show is syndicated nationally by more than 400 other NPR member stations. ''
Open Source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
'' is a weekly show hosted by Christopher Lydon, former
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
journalist and original host of '' The Connection''. The show focuses on the arts, literature, and foreign affairs. In 2007, WBUR launched ''
Radio Boston Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
'', a weekly radio show featuring longtime Boston journalist
David Boeri David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
. The show was later hosted by
Jane Clayson Johnson Jane Clayson Johnson (born April 25, 1967) is an American journalist and author. Early life and career Clayson was born in Sacramento, California, and spent most of her childhood there. She played with the Sacramento Youth Symphony and is an ac ...
as a one-hour discussion and interview, though Boeri still introduced each show with a report from the field. In 2010, Radio Boston expanded to broadcast Monday through Friday. In the fall of 2010, new host Meghna Chakrabarti went on maternity leave and was temporarily replaced by WBUR reporter Sacha Pfeiffer. Chakrabarti returned to co-host the show with Anthony Brooks until she was elevated to host O''n Point''. In June 2019, the station announced that
Tiziana Dearing Tiziana is an Italian feminine given name. The masculine form is Tiziano. Notable people with the name include: *Flavia Titiana, Roman empress who ruled in 193 AD *Tiziana Alagia (born 1973), Italian long-distance runner *Tiziana Cantone, an Italia ...
, a longtime commentator and contributor at the station, would be the permanent host of the program. ''Only A Game'' was a weekly sports program broadcast twice on Saturdays. The show was hosted by Bill Littlefield until 2018 and was syndicated to about 210 affiliate stations by
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 othe ...
. The wide-ranging program described itself as "irreverent" and often covered sports from a human interest angle, rather than appealing directly to a particular fan base. On Sunday evenings, WBUR-FM also broadcasts a show entitled ''
Boston University's World of Ideas Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...
''. The show features academics and intellectuals presenting lectures and answering questions on issues of national or global importance. The 3-minute comedy sketch series ''11 Central Ave'', broadcast on
WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Financed by corporate underwriting, government funding and lis ...
in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, was for a time recorded at WBUR. WBUR began producing podcasts in 2014. Current productions include ''Dear Sugar Radio'', an advice podcast with Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond; and ''Modern Love'', a partnership with ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.


History

WBUR first went on the air March 1, 1950, with studios and transmitter located at 84 Exeter Street in Boston. Initially, most of WBUR's staff were Boston University students, with the station broadcasting primarily classical, jazz and BU sporting events. In the early 1960s, the station moved from Exeter Street to the newly renovated School of Communications building at 640 Commonwealth Avenue. By the 1970s, WBUR began receiving funding from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting and became a "public radio station" with a professional staff. Volunteer BU students continued local programming on WTBU using unlicensed low-power carrier-current AM transmitters serving the BU residence halls. In 1997 the WBUR offices and studios moved to a new facility on the BU campus at 890 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. During the 1970s and 1980s, the station had several
jazz music Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and classical music programs. The disc jockeys demonstrated a broad knowledge of composers, performers, and the execution of jazz, demonstrating familiarity with such matters as
improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
and shared this with listeners.' Noteworthy jazz and classical disc jockeys included
Dennis Boyer Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Saint Dionysius (disambiguation), Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Classical mythology, Greek god of ecstatic states, ...
(classical: ''FM in the PM''),
Steve Elman ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...
(jazz: ''Spaces''),
Tony Cennamo Tony Cennamo (September 30, 1933 – June 8, 2010 ) was for 25 years a jazz disc jockey on Boston University's WBUR. When he had a morning show in the 1970s and 1980s he began his show with Oliver Nelson's '' Stolen Moments or "Blues In A Min ...
(jazz: ''New Morning'' and subsequently, a night-time show), James Isaacs (jazz), and Jose Masso (Latin: ''Con Salsa''). One exception to this was the expansion of overnight programming, most notably the 2-to-6 Shift hosted By Kevin Vandenbroek and Bob King. It lasted about 9 months when it was cancelled by the Station Manager Bonnie Cronin. This act lead to the Director of Programming Victor S. Wheatman to resign. At the end of the 1980s, WBUR began replacing many of its music programs with news and information programming from NPR, Public Radio International (which was merged into Public Radio Exchange in 2019) and the BBC. This brought WBUR into head-on competition with another major Boston-area NPR station, WGBH. WGBH eventually decided to retain a mostly music (classical music daytime/jazz nights) and cultural programming format (WBUR's former territory), although WGBH did broadcast NPR's ''
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 A ...
'' and ''
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 ...
''. By the early 1990s, with the exception of '' Con Salsa'' on Saturday nights, WBUR had adopted an around-the-clock news and information format. Numerous NPR member stations have since followed WBUR's lead and eliminated music programming in favor of news and information programming (including rival WGBH, which transferred classical music programming to WCRB following its acquisition in 2009, though WGBH continued to program jazz at night until July 2012 and still airs a few hours of jazz on weekends). By 2009, the majority of NPR member stations were programming 24/7 news and information formats. WBUR's main transmitter operates at 8,600 watts, which on paper is somewhat modest for a full NPR member on the FM band. However, due to its antenna's height (1,174 feet) and configuration, WBUR broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 60,000 watts. It decently covers much of eastern Massachusetts, though it does not penetrate nearly as far to the south and north as WGBH-FM penetrates.


Cape Cod

During the 1990s, WBUR began expanding onto Cape Cod. In 1992, it partnered with Cape Cod Regional Technical High School to air WBUR programming over its WCCT-FM (90.3) when students were not on the air. The following year, WBUR reached similar arrangements with
WSDH WSDH (91.5 FM) is a high school radio station licensed to Sandwich, Massachusetts, United States and serving the Cape Cod area. The station is owned by Sandwich, Massachusetts Public Schools. It is operated by Cape Cod Community College ...
(91.5 FM) at
Sandwich High School Sandwich High School is a public high school located in East Sandwich, Massachusetts, United States. The school serves the students of Sandwich, Massachusetts. Enrollment at the school is about 700 students in grades 9–12, and employs 85 facul ...
and WKKL (90.7 FM) at
Cape Cod Community College Cape Cod Community College, known locally as "Four Cs", is a public community college in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. It was established in 1961, the second institution to open as part of what is now a 15 community college system in Massachu ...
. In 1997, auto dealer
Ernie Boch Sr. Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to: People * Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive * Ernie Adams (disambiguation) * Ernie Afaganis (born c ...
donated WUOK (1240 AM) in West Yarmouth, which had been simulcasting WXTK, to Boston University, which changed its call letters to WBUR and made it a full-time satellite of WBUR-FM (which added the "-FM" suffix to accommodate the West Yarmouth station as AM stations always have the base callsign). WBUR programming was then dropped from WKKL in 1999, as the 1240 AM signal can be heard in much of WKKL's coverage area. On November 27, 2012, WBUR announced that it would acquire WMVY (92.7 FM) in Tisbury (on
Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes th ...
) to serve as an additional satellite, under the call letters of WBUA. The transaction was completed on February 8, 2013; at midnight that night, WBUA began to carry the WBUR schedule. WMVY's
adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...
programming continued through an online stream and eventually they acquired a new FM facility on 88.7 and expanded it into the current incarnation of WMVY."After WBUR Purchase, Martha’s Vineyard Station WMVY May Move Online"
WBUR website
The acquisition of WBUA rendered the 1240 AM facility redundant; on August 5, 2013, BU announced that it would be sold to Alex Langer, who would program it with Portuguese-language programming similar to that of another Langer station, WSRO. The call letters of 1240 AM were changed to WBAS on February 1, 2014, two days after BU and Langer agreed to a time brokerage agreement. Soon afterward, WSDH also dropped WBUR's programming. WBUR added another Cape Cod satellite on May 23, 2014 with the sign-on of WBUH in Brewster; this station broadcasts at a higher power than other noncommercial stations on Cape Cod, allowing it to serve the majority of the region (the exception is the Falmouth area, which is within WBUA's coverage area). BU had sought to build a station on Cape Cod since 2004 and applied for the 89.1 facility in Brewster in 2007, but in March 2011 the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...
issued the
construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...
to Home Improvement Ministries, who subsequently sold the permit to BU.


Rhode Island

In 1998, WBUR helped to found
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...
's NPR station WRNI. At the time Rhode Island was one of two states lacking an NPR station. WBUR decided to partner with the newly formed Foundation for Ocean State Public Radio to build a state-of-the-art facility at historic Union Station in downtown Providence. Initially, WBUR invested heavily in WRNI's local programming, but several of these programs were soon canceled, and its schedule became almost identical to that of WBUR. In 2004, WBUR announced suddenly that it planned to drop WRNI by selling it, raising a number of questions. Rhode Islanders were angry at the thought that they would be forced to buy a station they had invested greatly in creating. It was later revealed that the WBUR management believed WRNI was a financial drain and wished to get rid of it. The resulting management turmoil caused the departure of longtime WBUR station manager Jane Christo. Eventually, the Foundation for Ocean State Public Radio, renamed Rhode Island Public Radio, bought the station in 2008, it has since rebranded as
The Public's Radio Rhode Island Public Radio, doing business as The Public's Radio, is the NPR member radio network for the state of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. Its studios are in the historic Union Station in downtown Providence. The network a ...
.


Pro-Israel boycott

Between 2001 and June 2002, WBUR estimated that it lost between $1–2 million due to the loss of at least six underwriters and a number of small donors. This was the result of a boycott launched by Jewish groups who charged that NPR coverage of the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
was biased against
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. Boston is a major center for the American Jewish community and this made Israel a particularly sensitive subject. The boycott started in October 2001, when two Boston-area businesses ended contracts:
WordsWorth Books William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's '' ...
(now defunct) in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...
, and Cognex Corp. in nearby Natick, Massachusetts. The two businesses were reportedly tied with the advocacy group Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), a persistent critic of NPR's coverage for almost a decade. CAMERA has demonstrated outside National Public Radio (NPR) stations in 33 cities in the United States. The CAMERA boycott also extended to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
''. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and explicitly pro-Palestinian organizations have made contradictory accusations of pro-Israel bias in NPR's coverage or imbalance in particular stories. NPR's ombudsman and an independent reviewer appointed by the agency found "lack of completeness but strong factual accuracy and no systematic bias" in reporting on the controversial issue.


2020 layoffs and cost cuts

In mid-June 2020, WBUR laid off 29 employees, more than 10 percent of the station's staff, and ended the ''Only A Game'' syndicated program due to the ongoing COVID-19 recession. In an email to all staff members, the station announced a spending cut of 13 percent, elimination of wage increases, a hiring freeze, and a 10 percent pay cut for Margaret Low, the current chief executive.


Repeaters


Current


Former

Notes:


See also

* List of NPR stations: Massachusetts


References


External links

*
Link to Radio TNT Boston, which broadcasts on WBUR-FM's 67kHz subcarrier. Retrieved June 27, 2016.

WBUR Boston Car Donation Official Program
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wbur-Fm Boston University NPR member stations News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1950 BUR BUR 1950 establishments in Massachusetts