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| Broadcast area | Delaware Valley |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 90.1MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | WRTI 90.1 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Classical (days) Jazz (nights) |
| Subchannels | HD2: Jazz - Classical |
| Affiliations | National Public Radio Public Radio Exchange American Public Media |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | July 9, 1953; 71 years ago (1953-07-09) (originallycarrier current 1948-53) |
Call sign meaning | RadioTrainingInstitute[1] |
| Technical information[2] | |
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 / 40.04167°N 75.236139°W /40.04167; -75.236139 (WRTI) |
| Translator(s) | See§ Translators |
| Repeater(s) | See§ Simulcasts |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www |
WRTI (90.1FM) is anon-commercial, listener-supportedradio station inPhiladelphia, 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 music from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. andjazz all night. It broadcasts usingHD Radio technology, using itsdigital subchannel to 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 periodicfundraisers on the air and on line.
WRTI is aClass B station. It has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 7,700watts. Thetransmitter is in theRoxborough section of Philadelphia at (40°2′30.1″N75°14′10.1″W / 40.041694°N 75.236139°W /40.041694; -75.236139).[3] Itstower is shared with several Philadelphia-area FM and TV stations. WRTI programming is also heard on a network ofrepeater stations in Pennsylvania,New Jersey andDelaware.
WRTI began in1948 as an AMcarrier current station. 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 Technical 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 on the air on July 9, 1953; 71 years ago (1953-07-09).
WRTI-FM later switched fromblock programming to 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 gospel and spiritual music.[1][4]
After a hiatus, WRTI, in 2013, resumed broadcasting full-length concerts by thePhiladelphia Orchestra on Sunday afternoons. Recorded each week at theKimmel Center's Verizon Hall inCenter 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 asopera performances from the Academy of Vocal Arts, OperaDelaware and the Opera Company of Philadelphia.
WRTI is anetwork affiliate ofNPR,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 theWFMT Radio 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 Welle Festival Concert series on both the analog FM service and the digital HD2 service.
WRTI is also an affiliate of the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera Radio 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 Speaking general 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 Organ is 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.
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 Harder left the station on September 21, 2021, to become the host of theMetropolitan Opera radio broadcasts.[5]
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-19 at 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 Bublé and 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.
Along with its regular analog FM signal, WRTI also broadcasts usingHD Radio technology.[6] Two WRTI network stations (WRTI and WRTJ) broadcast HD2 programming as well.[7] 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.
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 ofDelaware and the southern half ofNew Jersey.
Notes:
Three full-power stations havetranslators that 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 |
Located in:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | ||
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