WVXU (91.7 FM) is a
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 ...
station located in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
. It is owned by
Cincinnati Public Radio
Cincinnati Public Radio, Inc. is the broadcast license holder for WGUC (90.9) and WVXU (91.7), two FM radio stations broadcasting to the Greater Cincinnati area with classical music, news, information, and entertainment programming. The organiza ...
, which also operates station
WGUC
WGUC (90.9 MHz) is a public FM radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is owned by Cincinnati Public Radio and has a classical music format. WGUC broadcasts using HD Radio technology and plays jazz on WGUC-HD2 and adult album alternative on WGUC- ...
and
WMUB. It airs
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 ...
news and
talk
Talk may refer to:
Communication
* Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people
* Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people
* Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct
...
syndicated programming from
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 ...
,
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 oper ...
and
Public Radio Exchange
The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a non-profit web-based platform for digital distribution, review, and licensing of radio programs. The organization is the largest on-demand catalogue of public radio programs available for broadcast and internet ...
.
History, union with WGUC
The station was originally licensed to
Xavier University
Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...
; it featured primarily a
jazz
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
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
format. It became an NPR member when the network'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 AM ...
'' was added to the schedule in 1981. The original NPR member for the Cincinnati area, WGUC, did not want to replace its popular morning drive-time classical music show with the newsmagazine, so WVXU started carrying ''Morning Edition'' and other NPR programs. WGUC continued carrying NPR's flagship afternoon newsmagazine ''
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 ...
.''
WVXU then added more news and talk programs to supplement its eclectic music schedule, coinciding with the expansion of NPR's schedule in the 1980s. While WGUC and WVXU between them provided most of the NPR programs available to a single market, the two NPR flagship news magazines aired separately. WVXU featured programs from the
Golden Age of Radio
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment, entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcastin ...
and in 1994 won the
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
for their 12-hour "D-Day Plus 50 Years" broadcast commemorating the anniversary of
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
, capturing the day's history through historic broadcast recordings.
On August 22,
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
, Xavier transferred ownership WVXU and its "X-Star Network" of translator stations to CPRI in a $15-million transaction, bringing the station and WGUC under the same licensee. This permitted elimination of program duplication and a realignment of formats. WGUC transferred nearly all of its remaining spoken-word programming, including ''All Things Considered,'' to WVXU. WGUC now airs
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 ...
almost exclusively, while WVXU carries news and information programs, including both NPR flagship news magazines, and carried some music programs on weeknights and weekends after the ownership change.
Cincinnati Public Radio took over management of WMUB in March 2009, a station licensed to
Miami University
Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...
in
Oxford, Ohio
Oxford is a city in Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,035 at the 2020 census. A college town, Oxford was founded as a home for Miami University and lies in the southwestern portion of the state approximately northwest ...
. As part of the deal, Miami retained ownership of the station serving southwestern Ohio and southeastern Indiana, though it is now a full-time satellite of WVXU. WMUB brings WVXU's programming to areas north of Cincinnati where the main signal is weak.
Current Programming
WVXU and WMUB continues to carry programs from NPR and PRI and the station carries most of the major public radio programs, including
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 ...
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), ' ...
and
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 ...
. In addition, a locally produced talk show, Cincinnati Edition, airs each weekday at 12:00pm. WVXU has a news team of seven staff members who report and host, and the station's website is augmented by Howard Wilkinson (Blogger and Politics Reporter) and John Kiesewetter (Media blogger.) In 2021, WVXU dropped any remaining music programs continued after the 2005 takeover and is now a 100% news and talk station.
Community events
Since beginning operation of WVXU in August 2005, the station has brought in a variety of public radio hosts and programs and acts as media sponsor for various community-wide events.
Examples of shows and hosts who have visited Cincinnati: live broadcasts of "A Prairie Home Companion," "Whad'ya Know," and "Talk of the Nation." Recorded episode of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me," Visits from Ira Glass ("This American Life"), Lynne Rossetto Kasper ("The Splendid Table"), Terry Gross ("Fresh Air"), Diane Rehm ("The Diane Rehm Show"), and Carl Kasell (NPR News and "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me").
Former translator network
Shortly after CPRI acquired WVXU, it sold the network of translator stations ("X-Star") that Xavier had built in rural parts of Ohio and
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
during the 1990
WVXU FAQto provide service to those outside the clear signal of another NPR affiliate. The Ohio frequencies were acquired by an
evangelical Christian
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
broadcaster, while the Michigan stations were sold to commercial interests.
In addition to WVXU, the X-Star network included:
*WVXA
Rogers City, Michigan
Rogers City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,827 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Presque Isle County. The city is adjacent to Rogers Township, but is politically independent.
Rogers City is located on La ...
(now 96.7
WRGZ
WKLT 97.5 Kalkaska (Traverse City), WBCM 93.5 Boyne City (Petoskey) and WRGZ 96.7 Rogers City (Alpena) are classic rock-leaning mainstream rock stations simulcasting as "KLT The Rock Station". The stations serve all of northern lower Mich ...
)
*WVXC
Chillicothe, Ohio
Chillicothe ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ross County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Scioto River 45 miles (72 km) south of Columbus, Chillicothe was the first and third capital of Ohio. It is the only city in Ross Count ...
(now 89.3
WZCP
WZCP is an American non-commercial FM radio station located in Chillicothe, Ohio, and operates on the assigned frequency of 89.3 MHz. As of 2007, WZCP identifies itself on the air as "89.3 The River".
The station previously had the call sign ...
)
*
WVXG
WVXG (95.1 FM, "Classic Rock 95X") is a radio station licensed to serve Mount Gilead, Ohio, United States. The station is owned by Brent Casagrande, through licensee Delmar Communications, Inc., and serves the Mid-Ohio area. WVXG broadcasts a cl ...
Mount Gilead, Ohio
Mount Gilead is a village and the county seat of Morrow County, Ohio, United States.
It is located 41 miles (66 km) northeast of Columbus. The population was 3,660 at the 2010 census. It is the center of population of Ohio. The village was esta ...
(95.1)
*WVXH
Harrison, Michigan
Harrison is a city in and county seat of Clare County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,150 at the 2020 census.
The community was settled as early as 1877 and was named after William Henry Harrison. Harrison is near the jun ...
(now 92.1
WTWS)
*WVXI
Crawfordsville, Indiana
Crawfordsville is a city in Montgomery County in west central Indiana, United States, west by northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,306. The city is the county seat of Montgomery County, the only cha ...
(now 106.3
WCDQ (FM))
*WVXM
West Union, Ohio
West Union is a village in Adams County, Ohio, United States, about southeast of Cincinnati. The population was 3,241 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Adams County. West Union is served by West Union High School, the Adams Count ...
/
Maysville, Kentucky
Maysville is a home rule-class city in Mason County, Kentucky, United States and is the seat of Mason County. The population was 8,782 as of 2019, making it the 51st-largest city in Kentucky by population. Maysville is on the Ohio River, north ...
: Later, WVXM was assigned to the
Manistee, Michigan
Manistee ( ') is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in southwestern Manistee County, Michigan, Manistee County, it is part of the northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula. Manistee is the county seat of Manistee County ...
, translator and the West Union translator was given the WVXW call letters (now 89.5
WZWP
WZWP is an American non-commercial FM radio station located in West Union, Ohio, and operates on the assigned frequency of 89.5 MHz. WZWP is one of seven stations in the King of Kings Radio network.
Programming
WZWP's programming consists o ...
)
*WVXM
Manistee, Michigan
Manistee ( ') is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in southwestern Manistee County, Michigan, Manistee County, it is part of the northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula. Manistee is the county seat of Manistee County ...
(now 97.7
WMLQ
WMLQ (97.7 FM, "News 97 & 98") is a radio station located in Manistee, Michigan broadcasting a news/ talk format, simulcasting WLDN 98.7 FM Ludington.
The station began broadcasting in 1970 under the WMTE-FM call sign (the current WMTE-FM, at 10 ...
)
*WVXR
New Paris, Ohio
New Paris is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in Preble County, Ohio, Preble County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,629 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton, Ohio, Dayton Greater Dayton, Metrop ...
/
Richmond, Indiana
Richmond is a city in eastern Wayne County, Indiana. Bordering the state of Ohio, it is the county seat of Wayne County and is part of the Dayton, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 36,812. Situa ...
(now 89.3
WKRT)
*W237CF
Mackinaw City, Michigan
Mackinaw City ( ) is a village in Emmet and Cheboygan counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 846 at the 2010 census, the population increases during summertime, including an influx of tourists and seasonal workers who serve ...
HD radio
In addition to airing its regular programming in digital sound on HD Radio, WVXU air
Radio Artifact a local music service owned and produced by Northside'
Urban Artifacton its second (HD2)
sideband
In radio communications, a sideband is a band of frequencies higher than or lower than the carrier frequency, that are the result of the modulation process. The sidebands carry the information transmitted by the radio signal. The sidebands co ...
channel.
See also
*
Cincinnati Public Radio
Cincinnati Public Radio, Inc. is the broadcast license holder for WGUC (90.9) and WVXU (91.7), two FM radio stations broadcasting to the Greater Cincinnati area with classical music, news, information, and entertainment programming. The organiza ...
*
WMUB
References
External links
91.7 WVXU*
Radio Artifact On WVXU-HD2
{{Authority control
VXU
NPR member stations