WRTI

WRTI (90.1 FM) is a public radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is a service of Temple University.

History

WRTI began in 1948 as an AM carrier current station. It was founded by John Roberts, professor emeritus of communications at Temple and long-time anchorman at WFIL-TV (now WPVI-TV). He'd helped found the School of Communications and Theater at Temple. The call letters stood for "Radio Training Institute." In 1952, the station received an FM transmitter, receiving a full license to cover the FM facility in 1953. After years of serving as a student laboratory, WRTI-AM signed-off for good in 1968. WRTI-FM switched from block programming to an all-jazz format in 1969. It added classical music in 1997 after Philadelphia's commercial classical music station, WFLN, changed formats.

Programming

WRTI is a music-intensive Public Radio service, broadcasting classical music during the day (6am-6pm), and jazz at night (6pm-6am).

The station features hosts Dave Conant, Jack Moore, Jill Pasternak, Gregg Whiteside, Bob Perkins, Bob Craig, Maureen Malloy, Mark Quinlan, Jeff Duperon, Zivit Shlank, Courtney Blue Tim Johnstone and Frank McCloy. WRTI also has special programs on Friday and Saturday evenings. Each Friday 10pm-2am there's "The Bridge," with host J. Michael Harrison. This program explores the merging platforms of popular music and jazz. Saturday from 9pm-12am "El Viaje" airs, hosted by David Ortiz, focusing on Latin Jazz and Salsa.