WHYY-FM

History

WHYY signed on the air on December 14, 1954, owned by the Metropolitan Philadelphia Educational Radio and Television Corporation. It was the first educational station in Philadelphia. The transmitter, originally located at 17th and Sansom Streets in Philadelphia, was donated by Westinghouse Broadcasting. In 1957, it added a sister television station, WHYY-TV on channel 35.

In 1963, WHYY-TV moved from channel 35 in Philadelphia to the stronger channel 12 in Wilmington, Delaware. At the time, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations did not allow co-owned stations in different broadcast services to share the same base callsign if they did not have the same or adjoining city of license. Although Philadelphia and Wilmington are a single television market, then as now they are separate radio markets. As a result, the radio station was forced to change its call sign to WUHY-FM to match the renamed WUHY-TV on channel 35. The FCC removed this restriction in 1983 and the radio station was allowed to reclaim the WHYY-FM calls.

When NPR was formed in 1970, the station (then still known as WUHY-FM) became a charter member and was one of the 90 stations that carried the initial broadcast of All Things Considered.

Programs produced

• Fresh Air: A weekday radio interview program and podcast focusing on contemporary arts and issues. It is hosted by Terry Gross and Tanya Mosley. It is one of public radio's most popular programs. It is broadcast on 650 National Public Radio stations across the country, as well as in Europe on the World Radio Network. The program has received numerous accolades, including two Peabody Awards.
• The Connection with Marty Moss-Coane: A weekly interview program covering “wide-ranging conversations“ about human connection and isolation. Moss-Coane previously hosted Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane, a daily program that followed a similar format.
• The Pulse: A program that focuses on health, science and innovation in the Philadelphia region. The show is hosted by WHYY's Behavioral Health Reporter Maiken Scott and distributed on the Public Radio Exchange.
• Studio 2: A thrice-weekly program covering local and national news in the Delaware Valley. Listeners can call-in and email during the broadcast to contribute. The show is hosted by Avi Wolfman-Arent and Cherri Greg. The program also streams live on YouTube. Podcasts
• Hittin’ Season: A podcast that covers the Philadelphia Phillies. It is a production of Billy Penn at WHYY, a local news and lifestyle site. It is hosted by John Stolnis, Liz Roscher, and Justin Klugh.
• Art Outside: A podcast covering public art, street art, and art history in Philadelphia. Philadelphia’s public art is among the most prolific in the United States and the world. It is hosted by Conrad Benner, founder of the street art blog Streets Dept.
• Peak Travel: A podcast covering the impact of travel on local communities.
• Stop and Frisk: Revisit or Resist: A five-episode podcast covering gun violence in Philadelphia and stop-and-frisk policies. The podcast was produced by Temple University’s Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting.
• Eleanor Amplified: An adventure podcast following the title character, fictional radio reporter Eleanor Amplified, as she pursues leads.

Format change

Until 1990, WHYY served the region as a non-commercial station with a format that featured mostly classical music with some jazz and folk music. The management decision to establish a news/talk radio format was a departure from the classical music that most public radio stations were programming. The format switch left the privately owned WFLN as the only Philadelphia classical station and resulted in protests from many of the station's listening audience who were among WHYY's major contributors. After WFLN's new owners also abandoned the classical format in the late 1990s, Temple University's WRTI (90.1 FM) began programming classical music during the day to serve the displaced listeners.

New Jersey expansion and controversy

On June 6, 2011, the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority agreed to sell five FM stations in Southern New Jersey to WHYY. The purchase was made through an anonymous one-million dollar grant and a non-cash agreement that included scholarships for students and teachers. The five stations were previously the southern portion of the New Jersey Network's statewide radio service.

The transaction was announced by Governor Chris Christie, as part of his long-term goal to end state-subsidized public broadcasting. The governor's critics maintained that scrapping New Jersey Network effectively ended all non-commercial statewide news coverage. It was also noted that the sale eliminated a source of legislative oversight frequently critical of the Christie administration.

WHYY assumed control of the stations through a management agreement on July 1, 2011, pending FCC approval for the acquisition. At that point, the stations began to simulcast WHYY-FM programming. The five stations are: 1 horiz 1 horiz 25 horiz 1 horiz The stations all operate at relatively low power due to the crowded state of the noncommercial end of the FM dial in the northeastern United States. They primarily serve areas of southern New Jersey not covered by the main WHYY-FM signal, which itself operates at a relatively modest 13,500 watts. However, their combined footprint extends WHYY-FM's coverage from Berks County to the Jersey Shore.

In November 2022, WHYY began to reduce its New Jersey radio footprint by announcing that it would sell WNJB-FM to non-profit Christian Broadcast, The Bridge of Hope, Inc., which owns WKNZ in Harrington, Delaware. The sale was approved by the FCC and was later completed in February 2023.

In March 2023, WHYY also announced that it would sell WNJS-FM to the Bux-Mont Educational Radio Association which owns WRDV for $110,000. The sale of the station was consummated on June 15, 2023.

Billy Penn

In April 2019, WHYY acquired local news website Billy Penn. At its 2014 founding, the site was conceived as a "mobile-first" site packaging local news for millennials. The purchase was compared to New York public radio station WNYC buying the Gothamist in February 2018.

References

References

1. "FM Query Results for WHYY". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
2. [http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1958/Radio-All-1958-BC-YB.pdf Broadcasting Yearbook 1958 page A-357]
3. "History".
4. [https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-83-573A1.pdf "In re Matter of: Revision of Section 73.3550 of the Commission's Rules with respect to the Assignment of New and Modified Call Letters to AM, FM and TV Broadcast Stations"], MM Docket No. 83-373, Adopted: December 1, 1983.
5. "Fresh Air with Terry Gross".
6. "Apple unveils Best of 2016 across apps, music, movies and more".
7. . ["About 'Fresh Air'"](https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5013).
8. "Fresh Air with Terry Gross".
9. "The Connection with Marty Moss-Coane".
10. "Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane".
11. "About The Pulse".
12. "Studio 2".
13. "Studio 2".
14. "Avi Wolfman-Arent".
15. "Cherri Gregg".
16. "Studio 2".
17. (2025-07-25). "Hittin' Season: A Philadelphia Phillies podcast".
18. "No fluff, no BS, all Philly ✨".
19. "Art Outside".
20. "Philadelphia Murals".
21. "Streets Dept".
22. "Peak Travel".
23. "Stop and Frisk: Revisit or Resist".
24. "Eleanor Amplified".
25. (June 30, 2011). "WHYY-FM TO EXPAND COVERAGE IN NEW JERSEY AS PART OF AGREEMENT TO TAKE OVER FIVE NJN STATIONS". WHYY, Inc.
26. Grigoriadis, Vanessa. (January 14, 2014). "The Time Chris Christie Shut Down a Public Television Station That Did a Tough Story on Him".
27. (July 1, 2011). "WHYY Philadelphia Expands New Jersey Coverage, NJN Is Kaput". Atlantic City Central.
28. Simon, Perry Michael. (November 22, 2022). "WHYY/Philadelphia Sells South Jersey Simulcast FM To Bridge Of Hope". [[Mediabase.
29. "Coverage Area". whyy.org.
30. (November 23, 2022). "New Jersey Expansion". The Bridge of Hope, Inc..
31. Michael Simon, Perry. (March 12, 2023). "WHYY/Philadelphia Sells Off Another South Jersey FM". All Access.
32. (April 15, 2019). "WHYY acquires local news site Billy Penn". WHYY.
33. (April 15, 2019). "Public radio's WHYY buys Billy Penn news site". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].