KWGS

KWGS

Tulsa, Oklahoma
Broadcast area	Tulsa metropolitan area - Northeastern Oklahoma
Frequency	89.5 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	Public Radio 89.5
Programming
Format	Public Radio - News - Talk
Subchannels	HD2: Jazz "Jazz 89.5 HD2" HD3: BBC World Service "World Radio 89.5 HD3"
Affiliations	National Public Radio American Public Media Public Radio Exchange BBC World Service
Ownership
Owner	The University of Tulsa
Sister stations	KWTU
History
First air date	October 19, 1947 (1947-10-19)
Call sign meaning	William Grove Skelly (Tulsa philanthropist)
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	66586
Class	C1
ERP	50,000 watts
HAAT	325 meters (1,066 ft)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen live
Website	publicradiotulsa.org

KWGS (89.5 FM) is listen-supported, non-commercial, public radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. KWGS and classical music sister station 88.7 KWTU are owned and operated by the University of Tulsa. The studios and offices are in Kendall Hall near the intersection of 5th Place and Florence Avenue, on the university's campus.

KWGS is a Class C1 station. It has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 50,000 watts. The transmitter is on South 273rd Avenue East, off the Muskogee Turnpike in Broken Arrow. KWGS is licensed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to broadcast using HD Radio technology. The HD2 subchannel plays jazz and the HD3 subchannel carries the BBC World Service.

Programming

Most days, KWGS is all news and information. It is a National Public Radio (NPR) member station. It airs shows from NPR and other public radio networks on weekdays, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, 1A, Here and Now and Marketplace. The BBC World Service runs overnight.

On weekends, KWGS carries hour-long specialty shows, including Snap Judgment, Radiolab, The Moth Radio Hour, Selected Shorts, It's Been A Minute, Freakonomics Radio, This American Life, Latino USA, Hidden Brain, To the Best of Our Knowledge, The Splendid Table, The TED Radio Hour and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Music shows are heard on weekend evenings, mostly jazz as well as folk and world music. The station airs American Routes on Sunday evenings.

History

KWGS is Tulsa's oldest FM station. It was established in the 1940s, through the initiative of TU speech professor Ben Graf Henneke, who later became president of the university. The call letters are the initials of Tulsa oil executive and philanthropist William G. Skelly, who provided the funding.

The station signed on the air on October 19, 1947 (1947-10-19). For most of its first decades, it was a college radio station, offering students a chance to develop broadcasting skills. Few people owned FM receivers in that era, so the station did not have a large audience outside the campus.

In the 1960s, it increased its power to 4,100 watts, using a 500 foot (152 meter) tower. That allowed it to be heard around Tulsa and adjacent suburbs. Then in the 1980s, the station got a signal upgrade. It increased both power and tower height to current levels. And it switched to a public radio news and information format, becoming a member of National Public Radio.

Until the early 2000s, KWGS's schedule included some classical music, along with its news and information programming. Management wanted to give classical listeners a full time station. In 2004, co-owned 88.7 KWTU came on the air, offering classical and other genres of music. That allowed KWGS to air all news, talk and information most days, with some music on weekends.

External links

• Facility details for Facility ID 66586 (KWGS) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• KWGS in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
• Voices of Oklahoma interview with Ed Dumit. First person interview conducted on September 29, 2011 with Ed Dumit, former art producer for KWGS.