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May 15, 1998
Jazz rounds out WBAA-AM's
new 24-hour programming
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- WBAA-AM 920 has moved to around-the-clock, seven-day-a-week
broadcasting.
Instead of hearing WBAA-AM sign off the air at midnight, late-night listeners now
hear jazz until National Public Radio's (NPR) "Morning Edition" hits the air the
next morning. "Jazz with Bob Parlocha" is heard from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. on weekdays
and 6 a.m. on weekends. "Many listeners have wanted more jazz on WBAA, and this is one way
the station is responding to their requests," said David Bunte, WBAA-AM program director.
WBAA's FM station -- 101.3 FM -- has provided 24-hour classical music programming since
it hit the airwaves in 1993. Both stations also are carried on cable frequencies
as part of a package of radio channels provided by Insight Communications of Lafayette.
WBAA-AM is on 89.7 FM on the cable, and WBAA-FM can be heard at 102.5 FM.
WBAA-AM and WBAA-FM are listener-supported public radio from Purdue University, both
broadcasting from studios in the basement of Elliott Hall of Music.
General Manager Dan Skinner said listener response to the changes at the AM station
has been positive. "But one listener thought she had overslept when the radio alarm
went off at 5:45 a.m. and NPR's 'Morning Edition' was already on the air," he said.
"Once she figured out she wasn't late, she was glad she didn't have to wait until 6 a.m.
to get the news."
After a successful fund-raising effort about a year ago, WBAA-AM added NPR's news
programs -- "Morning Edition," "All Things Considered" and "Weekend Edition" -- to
its lineup. "We're pleased we could respond then to the audience's request for NPR
programs," Bunte said, "and now we're glad we can further respond by providing quality, listener-supported
public radio programs 24 hours a day."
WBAA-AM began as an experiment in voice transmission by the School of Electrical Engineering.
WBAA, which was licensed by the federal government in 1922, was the first radio station
in the state to provide regular broadcasting. AM 920 provides news, information and jazz programs. The daytime broadcast radius is approximately 70 miles, making
it accessible to more than half the population of the state -- almost 2.5 million
people.
CONTACTS: Bunte, (765) 494-3961; e-mail, dpbunte@wbaa.purdue.edu;
Skinner, (765) 494-5920;
e-mail, deskinner@wbaa.purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
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