WRTI

"WJAZ" redirects here. For the former radio stations in Chicago, seeWJAZ (Chicago).

WRTI

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area	Delaware Valley
Frequency	90.1MHz(HD Radio)
Programming
Format	Classical(days) Jazz(nights)
Subchannels	HD2: Jazz - Classical
Affiliations	National Public Radio Public Radio Exchange American Public Media
Ownership
Owner	Temple University (Board of Trustees)
History
First air date	July 9, 1953(1953-07-09)(originallycarrier current1948-53)
Call signmeaning	RadioTrainingInstitute
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	65190
Class	B
ERP	7,700watts
HAAT	371 meters (1,217 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	40°2′30″N75°14′10.1″W
Translator(s)	See§ Translators
Repeater(s)	See§ Simulcasts
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	www.wrti.org

WRTI(90.1FM) is anon-commercial,listener-supportedradio stationinPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.It is a service ofTemple University,with the university's board of trustees holding the station's license. The studios are on Cecil B. Moore Avenue in Philadelphia. WRTI playsclassical musicfrom 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. andjazzall night. It broadcasts usingHD Radiotechnology, using itsdigital subchannelto reverse this schedule. On WRTI-HD2, jazz is heard by day, classical music at night. News updates are provided byNational Public Radio.The station holds periodicfundraiserson the air and on line.

WRTI is aClass Bstation. It has aneffective radiated power(ERP) of 7,700watts.Thetransmitteris in theRoxboroughsection of Philadelphia at (40°2′30.1″N75°14′10.1″W).Itstoweris shared with several Philadelphia-area FM and TV stations. WRTI programming is also heard on a network ofrepeater stationsin Pennsylvania,New JerseyandDelaware.

History

WRTI began in1948as an AMcarrier currentstation. It was founded by John Roberts, professor emeritus of communications at Temple University and a one-time anchorman atWFIL-TV(nowWPVI-TV). He helped found the School of Communications and Theater at Temple. The call letters stand for "Radio Training Institute" with the station helping students who planned careers in broadcasting.

In 1952, the station received an FM transmitter. It acquired a non-commercial license to cover the FM facility in1953.After years of serving as a student laboratory, WRTI-AM signed off for good in 1968. WRTI-FM officiallysigned onthe air on July 9, 1953(1953-07-09).

WRTI-FM later switched fromblock programmingto an all-jazz format in1969.It remained an all-jazz station for nearly three decades.

In late 1997, Philadelphia's commercial classical music station,WFLN-FM,changed formats. Classical listeners in one of America's largest cities would be without a station playing classical music. At that point, WRTI decided to switch to a dual-format service. It would play classical music from 6 AM to 6 PM, and jazz from 6 PM to 6 AM, except Sunday mornings, when it broadcastsChristian gospeland spiritual music.

Programming

After a hiatus, WRTI, in 2013, resumed broadcasting full-length concerts by thePhiladelphia Orchestraon Sunday afternoons. Recorded each week at theKimmel Center's Verizon HallinCenter City,this series brings the distinctive sound of the "Fabulous Philadelphians" in performance to the Delaware Valley airwaves.

WRTI presents in-concert performances of South Jersey's Symphony In C Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and The Crossing, as well asoperaperformances from the Academy of Vocal Arts, OperaDelaware and the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

WRTI is anetwork affiliateofNPR,Public Radio International(PRI) andAmerican Public Media(APM), airing news and arts programming from these networks. Programs include NPR'sFrom The Top,andSymphonyCast.WRTI is also an affiliate of theWFMTRadio Network, broadcasting a wide range of programming from thisChicago-based syndicator, including concert broadcasts from theChicago Symphony Orchestra,New York Philharmonic,San Francisco Symphony,theDeutsche WelleFestival Concert series on both the analog FM service and the digital HD2 service.

WRTI is also an affiliate of the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan OperaRadio Network, airing the Met's Saturday Matinee performances live from December through May each year. In the Met's off-season, WRTI broadcasts the American Opera Series from the WFMT Radio Network. This series features performances by the San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston Grand Operas, as well as the Lyric Opera of Chicago. With these series, WRTI broadcasts a full-length opera every Saturday afternoon. WRTI's Mark Pinto hosts Overture, an opera "pre-game" of sorts, playing opera-based music, Saturday at 12-noon, just before the Saturday Opera Broadcast.

The award-winningCreatively Speakinggeneral arts segments featured contributors Jim Cotter, David Patrick Stearns and Susan Lewis. Cotter formerly headed WRTI's Arts and Culture desk. The forerunner of these features was a 30-minute Saturday morning arts magazine show, also called Creatively Speaking, which was cancelled in early 2013. It was felt that splitting up the show in segments and spreading them throughout the broadcast day and week would better serve the audience. The features ended in 2018.

The Wanamaker Organ Hour, first aired in 2005, featured recordings of performances by Macy's Grand Court Organist Peter Richard Conte and various guests. TheWanamaker Organis housed in Macy's Center City Philadelphia department store and is the largest musical instrument in the world. The program was co-produced by the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ and WRTI, and was an outgrowth of a segment, and later a live remote broadcast, on the CrossOver program. The Friends organization is responsible for the restoration and upkeep of this grand instrument. The show ended in 2017 when funding to the Friends was cut.

Personalities

The station features hosts John T.K. Scherch, Melinda Whiting, Greg Bryant, Bob Craig, Joe Patti, I. Robin "Bobbi" Booker, Courtney Blue,Rich Gunning,Mark Pinto, and Mike Bolton. Air personalityDebra Lew Harderleft the station on September 21, 2021, to become the host of theMetropolitan Opera radio broadcasts.

Long-time jazz host Jeff Duperon died on June 17, 2019. He was 66. Midday classical music host Bliss Michelson died on March 14, 2021, due to complications fromCOVID-19at the age of 71.

WRTI was known for several popular arts and culture based shows over the years. The multi-award-winning CrossOver, hosted by former classical host Jill Pasternak, explored music as "the universal language." The show, which presented music and conversation with some of the world's greatest artists and personalities, focused not only on classical and jazz, but also music in the periphery of those two art forms. Featured have beenMichel Legrand,Rick Braun,Byron Janis,Billy Joel,Eric Whitacre,Marvin Hamlisch,Michael Feinstein,Louis Lortie,Herbie Hancock,Yolanda Kondonassis,Branford Marsalis,Michael Bubléand many more. The show was produced from 1998 until Ms. Pasternak's retirement in 2015. Dr. Jack Buerkle, a member of the Temple University faculty and jazz expert, was co-host until his retirement in 2003.

Discoveries From the Fleisher Collection, first aired in 2001, was hosted by Kile Smith, former curator of the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music at the Free Library of Philadelphia, the largest lending library of orchestral performance material in the world, and former WRTI classical host and program director, Jack Moore. The program featured recordings of orchestral scores and music housed at the Fleisher Collection. The program, a co-production of the Fleisher Collection and WRTI, was cancelled in 2018.

HD Radio

Along with its regular analog FM signal, WRTI also broadcasts usingHD Radiotechnology.Two WRTI network stations (WRTI and WRTJ) broadcast HD2 programming as well.Known as "WRTI-HD2," this auxiliary service broadcasts Jazz in the daytime and Classical music at night, opposite the station's analog/HD1 signal, thus providing a full 24 hours of classical and jazz programming for those with HD Radio receivers.

The programming of both WRTI and WRTI-HD2 also comprises two separate web audio streams. The "All-Classical" stream presents WRTI's daytime programming, switching to WRTI-HD2's programming at night. The "All-Jazz" stream broadcasts WRTI-HD2's daytime programming, switching to WRTI's analog/HD1 signal at night. The web streams have proven popular with those who do not have an HD Radio receiver or are not within the coverage area of WRTI and WRTJ.

Repeater stations

WRTI fronts a network of six full-poweredrepeater stations.Combined with the main WRTI signal and numerous low-poweredFM translators,their footprint covers much of eastern Pennsylvania, as well as most ofDelawareand the southern half ofNew Jersey.

Call sign	Frequency	City of license	State	Facility ID	Class	ERP (W)	Height (m(ft))	Transmitter coordinates	Call sign assigned	Broadcast area
WRTX	91.7 FM	Dover	Delaware	65181	A	580	96 m (315 ft)	39°12′3.4″N75°33′53.7″W	July 12, 1991	Dover
WRTQ	91.3 FM	Ocean City	New Jersey	65176	B1	13,500 vert 1,360 horiz	120 m (390 ft)	39°19′14.4″N74°46′16.6″W	May 5, 1993	Atlantic City
WRTJ	89.3 FM	Coatesville	Pennsylvania	90653	A	460 vert 1 horiz	87.5 m (287 ft)	40°01′26.4″N75°48′46.8″W	July 11, 2007	Chester County
WRTL	90.7 FM	Ephrata	Pennsylvania	65177	A	650 vert 1 horiz	265 m (869 ft)	40°19′22.3″N76°11′50.8″W	March 15, 1999	LancasterandLebanon
WRTY	91.1 FM	Jackson Township	Pennsylvania	65178	B1	3,500	264 m (866 ft)	41°02′40.3″N75°22′43.6″W	August 20, 1990	Mount Pocono
WJAZ	91.7 FM	Summerdale	Pennsylvania	65184	A	1,000 (analog) 100 (digital)	214 m (702 ft)	40°18′20.3″N77°0′25.9″W	July 27, 1990	Harrisburg

Notes:

Translators

Three full-power stations havetranslatorsthat are licensed to simulcast the programming of their respective stations.

Call sign	Frequency	City of license	State	Facility ID	Rebroadcasts
W299BH	107.7 FM	Marshallton	Delaware	142393	WRTI
W246AA	97.1 FM	Allentown	Pennsylvania	65183	WRTI
W214AL	90.7 FM	Denver	Pennsylvania	65193	WRTI
W221DG	92.1 FM	Exton	Pennsylvania	142298	WRTI
W256AB	99.1 FM	Pottsville	Pennsylvania	65179	WRTY
W249AT	97.7 FM	Reading	Pennsylvania	65182	WRTI
W291AP	106.1 FM	Scranton	Pennsylvania	65180	WRTY
W259BU	99.7 FM	York	Pennsylvania	65187	WJAZ

See also

• List of jazz radio stations in the United States

External links

• WRTI official website
• WRTI Old Gang website
• The Beginning of WRTI-FM
• Facility details for Facility ID 65190 (WRTI)in theFCCLicensing and Management System
• WRTIinNielsen Audio's FM station database