WXPR (91.7 FM) is a community-licensed public radio station serving north central Wisconsin and adjacent areas of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Licensed to

Rhinelander, Wisconsin Rhinelander is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, Wisconsin, Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 8,285 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History The area that eventually became the city of Rhine ...

, United States, the station is owned by White Pine Community Broadcasting, a nonprofit educational corporation. WXPR is a

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 ...

member station as well as an affiliate of

Native Voice One Koahnic Broadcast Corporation (KBC) is a nonprofit media center that provides Native radio programming through Alaska Native governance and operation.Koahnic Broadcast Corporation (2010). Retrieved from http://www.koahnicbroadcast.org/ KBC’s rad ...

, with Native Voice One providing most of their overnight programming. The studios are at 28 N. Stevens St. in downtown Rhinelander, in a historic building previously occupied by the local newspaper. The transmitter is off Oneida County Highway A between Sugar Camp and Three Lakes, Wisconsin, southwest of Thunder Lake. The station operates satellite WXPW at 91.9 FM in Wausau. In a share-time arrangement, WXPW shares 91.9 with WLBL-FM, the Wausau outlet for

Wisconsin Public Radio Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) is a network of 34 public radio stations in the state of Wisconsin. WPR's network is divided into two distinct analog services, the ''Ideas Network'' and the '' NPR News & Music Network,'' as well as the ''All Classic ...

's Ideas Network. WXPW airs from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. from Monday through Thursday and from 6 p.m. on Friday to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

History

The vision for WXPR was developed by Peter Nordgren, whose previous involvement in noncommercial radio was with WSSU at the

University of Wisconsin-Superior A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, as well as KBSB and

KAXE KAXE (91.7 FM) is a community licensed public radio station serving Northern Minnesota communities, including Grand Rapids, Brainerd, Bemidji, Virginia, Chisholm and Hibbing. The station airs locally produced news, talk, and music programming. ...

. Other early staff and supporters included Mary Kay Foltz Sherer, a fundraising specialist from Minocqua who would go on to be development director at

, retired Army Signal Corps colonel Elmer Goetsch, and construction worker Robert M. (Mick) Fiocchi of Rhinelander, later WXPR's general manager. The first program director was W. Scott Yankus, later with

Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest. MPR ha ...

and Marketplace (radio program); other staff included news director Jeff Gavin and programming staff Rita Rahoi, later a professor of communications at

Winona State University Winona State University (Winona) is a public university in Winona, Minnesota. It was founded as First State Normal School of Minnesota in 1858 and is the oldest member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. It was the first no ...

. WXPR was one of fourteen stations in underserved areas whose development in the early 1980s was supported by expansion grants from the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

Translators

References

External links

WXPR official website
*
Radio Locator information on W265AI
{{coord, 45.774, N, 89.248, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title NPR member stations Public broadcasting in Wisconsin Public radio stations in the United States XPR