WFPK is a 24-hour listener-supported, noncommercial

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, United States, broadcasting at 91.9 MHz FM with an

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 ...

format. The station plays national and local alternative music. It is owned by

Louisville Public Media Kentucky Public Radio, doing business as Louisville Public Media, is a non-profit organization that operates the three National Public Radio member stations in Louisville, Kentucky—news and talk WFPL, classical music, classical WUOL-FM, and adult ...

History

The station was founded in 1954 by the

Louisville Free Public Library The Louisville Free Public Library (LFPL) is the public library system in Louisville, Kentucky, and the largest public library system in the U.S. state of Kentucky. History Formation The Louisville Free Public Library was created in 1902 by an a ...

as a

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 ...

station. It was a sister station to

WFPL WFPL (89.3 MHz) is a 24-hour listener-supported, noncommercial FM radio station in Louisville, Kentucky. The station focuses on news and information, and is the primary National Public Radio network affiliate for the Louisville radio market. WF ...

. In 1975, the station received the entire inventory of classical music recordings from commercial outlet WHAS-FM (now

WAMZ WAMZ (97.5 FM) is a country music-formatted radio station located in Louisville, Kentucky. The station broadcasts with an ERP of 100 kW. The station's studios are located in the central part of Watterson Park and the transmitter site is ...

-FM), which had discontinued the format after a nine-year run; that station, which carried little or no advertising, was mainly a public service by then-owners, the Bingham family. In 1993, the Free Public Library and the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

WUOL-FM WUOL-FM (90.5 FM, "Classical 90.5") is a 24-hour listener-supported noncommercial radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, broadcasting a classical music format. It began broadcasting in December 1976 as part of the University of Louisville. WUOL, ...

(which had competed against WFPK for classical listeners for some 17 years) joined forces to form the Public Radio Partnership, now Louisville Public Media. At that time, WFPK adopted its current format, with a gradual evolution from traditional genres such as jazz, folk, and blues music toward the present AAA playlist heard most of the week.

Programming

WFPK hosts the weekly series ''Live Lunch'', which features local and national acts performing live in front of a studio audience in the station's performance studio. Guests of ''Live Lunch'' have included

Tommy Emmanuel William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Regarded as one of the greatest acoustic guitarists of all time, he is known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and use of percussive effects on ...

Will Oldham Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

Alejandro Escovedo Alejandro Escovedo (born January 10, 1951) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and singer, who has been recording and touring since the late 1970s. His primary instrument is the guitar. He has played in various rock genres, including punk ...

The Subdudes The Subdudes (styled lowercase as The subdudes) are an American roots rock group from New Orleans. Their music blends folk, swamp pop, New Orleans rhythm and blues, Louisiana blues, country, cajun/zydeco, funk, soul and gospel with harmonic vo ...

Jonatha Brooke Jonatha Brooke (born January 23, 1964) is an American folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist from Massachusetts, United States. Her music merges elements of folk, rock and pop, often with poignant lyrics and complex harmonies. She has been a ...

The Decemberists The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy ( lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...

Over the Rhine Over-the-Rhine (often abbreviated as OTR) is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Historically, Over-the-Rhine has been a working-class neighborhood. It is among the largest, most intact urban historic districts in the United Sta ...

The Derek Trucks Band The Derek Trucks Band was an American blues rock group founded by young slide guitar prodigy Derek Trucks, who began playing guitar and touring with some of blues and rock music's elite when he was just nine years old. After experimenting as an a ...

Amos Lee Amos Lee (born Ryan Anthony Massaro, June 20, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock, and soul. He was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in English ...

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is an American folk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2005. The group is led by singer Alex Ebert. The band's name is based on a story Ebert wrote in his youth, about a messianic figure named E ...

and local Louisville bands

My Morning Jacket My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The ba ...

, The Muckrakers and Digby. In 2007, the station released ''Best of WFPK Live Vol. 1'', a limited-edition CD that contained recordings from the series; the disc was given away as an exclusive premium for new members during the spring 2007 membership drive. Since then, it has released 10 more member-exclusive CDs containing more live songs recorded during ''Live Lunch'' and other in-studio performances. A very popular weekend show, ''Woody's Roadhouse'' (12 mid-6am Saturday) specializes in heritage R&B, C&W, Blues, Rockabilly and classic Southern Quartet Gospel. WFPK, along with its sister stations

and WUOL, presently broadcasts an

HD radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

signal.

References

External links

* * {{NPR Kentucky Freeform radio stations FPK Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States NPR member stations Radio stations established in 1954 1954 establishments in Kentucky