WDDE (91.1 FM) is an

NPR 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 ...

-member radio station based out of

Dover, Delaware Dover () is the capital and second-largest city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County and the principal city of the Dover, DE, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County and is part of ...

. It is owned and operated by Delaware First Media Corporation, and is the first and only full-fledged public radio station based in Delaware. WDDE's studios are located on the

Delaware State University Delaware State University (DSU or Del State) is a public historically black land-grant research university in Dover, Delaware. DSU also has two satellite campuses: one in Wilmington and one in Georgetown. The university encompasses four col ...

campus, and its transmitter is located in

Felton, Delaware Felton is a town in Kent County, Delaware, United States. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,298 at the 2010 census. History Established in 1856 as a whistle stop along the Delaware Railroad, Fe ...

. WDDE broadcasts a variety of national and international programming from

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

, and

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...

as well as local news created by WDDE's staff. WDDE's website features multimedia coverage of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, including 24/7 live streaming audio coverage, archived stories from WDDE and its online predecessor, DFM News, and timely special events coverage from political debates to concerts.

WMPH WMPH (91.7 FM, "Super 91.7") is Delaware's first high school radio station, located in Wilmington. The Brandywine School District Board of Education owns the license granted by the FCC. The call letters WMPH stand for Mount Pleasant High and o ...

91.7 and WMHS 88.1 in Wilmington simulcasts WDDE's programming on weekday mornings and afternoons. The station is working to build additional repeaters in the rest of the state. Although WDDE has a collaborative partnership with both Delaware State University and the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

, it is run independently from both institutions.

History

WDDE traces its roots to 2010, when several longtime Delaware journalists founded Delaware First Media and launched DFM News, an online news site focused on Delaware news. Many of them had worked at

WHYY-FM WHYY-FM (90.9 MHz, "91 FM") is a public radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its broadcast tower is located in the city's Roxborough neighborhood at () while its studios and offices are located on Independence Mall in Cen ...

- TV in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and had been laid off when the stations scaled back coverage of Delaware events. The move particularly rankled Delaware residents and elected officials, since WHYY-TV is licensed to Wilmington. Indeed, Wilmington city officials went as far as to challenge the renewal of WHYY-TV's license in 2009. A year later, they learned that a construction permit for a noncommercial station in Dover was on the verge of expiring.

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Salisbury University Salisbury University is a public university in Salisbury, Maryland. Founded in 1925, Salisbury is a member of the University System of Maryland, with a fall 2016 enrollment of 8,748. Salisbury University offers 42 distinct undergraduate and 14 ...

, owner of

WSCL WSCL (89.5 FM) is a National Public Radio member station in Salisbury, Maryland, owned by Salisbury University Salisbury University is a public university in Salisbury, Maryland. Founded in 1925, Salisbury is a member of the University S ...

, the NPR member for the

Delmarva Peninsula The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a large peninsula and proposed state on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the vast majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore regions of Maryland and Virginia ...

, had won the permit in 2007, but opted not to use it. With the support of former ''

Weekend Edition Sunday ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program ''Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday'' ...

'' host

Liane Hansen Liane Hansen (; born September 29, 1951,) is an American journalist and radio personality. She was the host of the National Public Radio (NPR) newsmagazine ''Weekend Edition Sunday'' from 1989 until her retirement in May 2011. Her experience in ...

, who now lives in Bethany Beach, Delaware First Media secured the backing needed for a full-fledged NPR member station. In 2011, Delaware First Media briefly brought the station online in 2011 as a repeater of WSCL's sister station, WSDL in Ocean City, before taking it offline pending its full launch. WDDE began broadcasting on August 17, 2012 from its studio on the

campus in Dover. Philadelphia's two full NPR members, WHYY-FM and

WRTI WRTI (90.1 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is a service of Temple University. The Temple University Board of Trustees holds the station's license. The broadcast tower used by the s ...

, have long claimed much of Delaware as part of their primary coverage areas; the latter has long operated repeaters in Wilmington and Dover. However, until WDDE's launch, Delaware had been the only state without a full-fledged NPR station within its borders. The station's first president, Micheline Boudreau was formerly headed WHYY's Dover bureau and reported for ''Delaware Tonight,'' the long-running news program that was canceled in the 2009 cutback. Another WHYY alumnus, Tom Byrne is the station's news director. Jane Vincent is the current president of the station.

References

External links

WDDE's official website
* {{NPR Delaware DDE NPR member stations 2012 establishments in Delaware