WETA (FM)

WETA (90.9 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to serve Washington, DC broadcasting a classical music format. Its studios are located in Arlington, Virginia and its broadcast tower is located near Arlington at (38°53′30.0″N 77°07′54.0″W / 38.891667°N 77.131667°W / 38.891667; -77.131667). The station covers the Washington metro area with the highest effective radiated power of any FM station in the area with 75,000 watts, which exceeds the current limit set by the Federal Communications Commission for Class B FM radio stations. It has an HD Radio simulcast at 90.9 FM HD and operates simulcasting stations WGMS/89.1 in Hagerstown, Maryland and at W205BL/88.9 in Frederick, Maryland.

Past formats and format changes

From 1970 through early 2005, WETA featured a mixed radio format of classical music, folk music, jazz, and news. It switched to a predominantly news and talk radio format from February 28, 2005 until January 22, 2007, when it switched to its current all-classical radio format. The switch was part of an unusual deal between the public radio station and commercial station WGMS (FM), which abandoned the classical music format it had aired for decades after an attempt to sell WGMS to Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder failed. The FCC subsequently granted WETA permission to use the WGMS call letters for its Hagerstown, Maryland, repeater station, formerly known as WETH.