WFMT
Encyclopedia
WFMT is an FM
radio
station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music
programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk
and jazz
). The station is managed by Window To The World Communications, Inc., owner of WTTW
, one of Chicago's two Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS) Public television stations. WFMT is also the primary station of the WFMT Radio Network, and the Beethoven
and Jazz Satellite Networks.
WFMT is considered one of the most active and important broadcasters of classical music in America.
A unique feature of this commercial station is that it airs no pre-recorded (by non-station hosts) advertising on-air. A brief attempt at introducing pre-recorded commercial advertising, the only time in its history, proved unpopular with listeners. All advertising on the station is currently read exclusively by WFMT's on-air hosts.
WFMT's programs can be heard through its satellite services, or syndication, internationally. The station's programming is also available online.
WFMT is an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union
, the only local broadcast station of any kind in the United States that holds that title.
. They began with eight hour a day broadcasts (3-11 PM), with Bernard serving as the station's engineer, and Rita as the station's announcer. By 1953, programming had expanded to 18 hours per day.
WFMT moved to new studios in the LaSalle-Wacker Building
in 1954. The station's power and antenna height were increased, increasing its broadcast range, and the transmitting frequency was changed to the present-day 98.7 mHz. That same year, WFMT aired a live recording made on July 4 at Circle Pines Center in Delton, Michigan with Pete Seeger
and Big Bill Broonzy
.
In 1957, the station received an Alfred I. DuPont Award as the country's best broadcaster in the small-station category. WFMT also aired a discussion between Frank Lloyd Wright
and Carl Sandburg
, which was simulcast with WTTW, marking the first collaboration between WTTW and WFMT. Another collaboration occurred the following year, as the two stations began a pioneering stereo music project in which WTTW broadcast a left audio channel, and WFMT broadcast the right audio channel simultaneously.
WFMT won another Alfred I. DuPont Award in 1961, this time as the country's best broadcaster in the large-station category, in addition to the station's first Peabody Award
. The station quadrupled its broadcasting power the same year and offered its first multiplex stereo broadcast, which was tested the following year, presenting the first live concert series broadcast in stereo, with music by the Fine Arts Quartet
. In 1964, Hi Fi/Stereo Review readers voted WFMT the highest-fidelity station in the US. The station's first series of Chicago Symphony Orchestra
concerts began in 1965.
In 1968, WFMT began around-the-clock broadcasting. That same year, Bernard Jacobs sold WFMT to WGN
Continental Broadcasting Company, which in turn donated the station to WTTW two years later.
The station began distributing WFMT programming to other American and international radio stations in 1972. In 1973 it created the Fine Arts Network for syndication of Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera broadcasts.
In 1979, WFMT became America's first radio superstation
, delivered by satellite and cable systems across the United States. WFMT programming entered the Communist Bloc, as the Soviet Union
and China
began broadcasting WFMT tapes of Chicago Symphony Orchestra radio concerts. In 1980, WFMT became the first US radio station to join the European Broadcasting Union
. A live performance of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was heard in the US, United Kingdom
, France
, Belgium
, Switzerland
, Italy
, Sweden
and West Germany
simultaneously. Wagner's Ring Cycle
was broadcast live for the first time as a digital transatlantic performance from Bayreuth
, Germany to the US and Canada
in 1983.
The WFMT Fine Arts Circle, a member/listener support and funding group, was formed in 1991.
In 1995, the station moved to its current location in the WTTW complex in Chicago's Northwest Side. The new facility included an all-digital path from studios to transmitter. The WFMT Jazz Satellite Network debuted two years later.
WFMT celebrated its 50th anniversary on December 13, 2001, which Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
declared WFMT Day.
In 2002, WFMT Radio Network hosted and produced a live broadcast from Durban, South Africa featuring the world premiere performance of Princess Magogo
, the first South African indigenous opera and the first opera with a libretto in the Zulu language
. The broadcast was heard by over four million people on 155 stations in the US and on European state radio networks.
In 2003, the station began syndication of the program "Exploring Music
with Bill McGlaughlin
", an educational daily program on various themes in classical music. They also launched a Fine Arts Hotline for the Chicago area that same year.
, at the time a student at the University of Chicago
, joined the station in 1952. Nichols started the folk music program The Midnight Special
in 1953. The show still airs weekly on WFMT, with Rich Warren as the host.
Noted author
and broadcaster Studs Terkel
, began a weekly program on the station in 1953. It eventually became a weeknight program, until his retirement from the station almost fifty years later.
Two-time Peabody Award-winning audio dramatist Yuri Rasovsky
, creator of the National Radio Theater of Chicago, began a decade-long association with WFMT in 1975. He is still heard periodically on The Midnight Special in his classic "Chicago Language Tape" skit.
WFMT is noted for the longevity of various staff members. Norman Pellegrini
joined the station and became program director in 1953, holding the position until 1996. Ray Nordstrand was hired as an announcer, also in 1953. He later became the assistant of original owner Bernard Jacobs. Nordstrand moved up to the position of president and general manager in 1970. He retired in 1993 after suffering a heart attack, but continued to work as a consultant to the station until his death in 2005.
Another key contributor to WFMT’s success was Associate Program Director Lois Baum. Arriving at the station from KPFK in California in July 1964, Baum produced and oversaw the production of countless spoken arts programs and features. She produced the Critic’s Choice series, regular broadcasts of reviews and commentary by artist Harry Bouras (whose name was the inspiration for the playful Chicago art group, the "Hairy Who"
), theater critic Claudia Cassidy, and journalist and author Herman Kogan. Baum selected and programmed plays and readings produced by the BBC and by the National Radio Theater of Chicago, and created The Storytellers, a program devoted to short stories. With co-producer George Drury, she created Word of Mouth, a spoken arts program that presented a mixture of rare archival recordings and new studio recordings of poets, novelists, philosophers, scientists, actors and musicians. In addition to her extensive work with spoken arts programs, from 1972 until 2009 Lois Baum co-hosted with Norman Pellegrini nationally-syndicated broadcasts from the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
In August 2000, Steve Robinson was hired as general manager of WFMT. He had worked in classical music radio for 40 years.
In 1958, WFMT and television station WTTW collaborated on a pioneering stereo music project in which WTTW broadcast a left audio channel, and WFMT broadcast the right audio channel simultaneously.
WFMT broadcast a live concert in 1969 using Dolby noise reduction, the first station to do so. In 1972 it broadcasted for the first time in four-channel (quadrophonic) sound, a live performance of the Chicago Lyric Opera's presentation of Rossini's Semiramide
.
In 1978, WFMT participated in the first stereo relay of a live performance via satellite, from the San Francisco Opera
.
In 1979, WFMT was one of the first local FM stations to re-broadcast its programming via satellite. This feed was received by cable companies (who transmitted WFMT's programming to their subscribers), as well as by home TVRO
users.
In the 1980s, WFMT moved into the digital era, being chosen by Sony
and Philips
to be the first station in the world to broadcast music from a Compact Disc
, thanks to the station's reputation for high audio standards. The station broadcasted material from DAT (Digital Audio Tape
) for the first time in 1987, and was once again chosen by Sony to broadcast from a MiniDisc
, to demonstrate the subtle differences between an MD and a CD.
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
). The station is managed by Window To The World Communications, Inc., owner of WTTW
WTTW
WTTW channel 11 is one of three Public Broadcasting Service member public television stations serving the Chicago, Illinois market; the others are WYCC and WYIN. WTTW began broadcasting on September 6, 1955 and it is owned and operated by Window to the World Communications, Inc., a not-for-profit...
, one of Chicago's two Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS) Public television stations. WFMT is also the primary station of the WFMT Radio Network, and the Beethoven
Peter Van de Graaff
Peter Van de Graaff is an American musician. He is best known as the host of the Beethoven Satellite Network overnight classical music service, which is carried over approximately 150 radio stations nationwide.-Biography:...
and Jazz Satellite Networks.
WFMT is considered one of the most active and important broadcasters of classical music in America.
A unique feature of this commercial station is that it airs no pre-recorded (by non-station hosts) advertising on-air. A brief attempt at introducing pre-recorded commercial advertising, the only time in its history, proved unpopular with listeners. All advertising on the station is currently read exclusively by WFMT's on-air hosts.
WFMT's programs can be heard through its satellite services, or syndication, internationally. The station's programming is also available online.
WFMT is an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 74 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 49 associate broadcasters from a further 25...
, the only local broadcast station of any kind in the United States that holds that title.
History
On December 13, 1951, Bernard and Rita Jacobs put WFMT on the air at 105.9 mHz with a classical music/fine arts radio formatRadio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
. They began with eight hour a day broadcasts (3-11 PM), with Bernard serving as the station's engineer, and Rita as the station's announcer. By 1953, programming had expanded to 18 hours per day.
WFMT moved to new studios in the LaSalle-Wacker Building
LaSalle-Wacker Building
The LaSalle-Wacker Building, at 221 North LaSalle Street, is a 41-story skyscraper at the north end of the LaSalle Street canyon in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, USA.-Design:...
in 1954. The station's power and antenna height were increased, increasing its broadcast range, and the transmitting frequency was changed to the present-day 98.7 mHz. That same year, WFMT aired a live recording made on July 4 at Circle Pines Center in Delton, Michigan with Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
and Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
.
In 1957, the station received an Alfred I. DuPont Award as the country's best broadcaster in the small-station category. WFMT also aired a discussion between Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
and Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. H. L. Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat."-Biography:Sandburg was born in Galesburg,...
, which was simulcast with WTTW, marking the first collaboration between WTTW and WFMT. Another collaboration occurred the following year, as the two stations began a pioneering stereo music project in which WTTW broadcast a left audio channel, and WFMT broadcast the right audio channel simultaneously.
WFMT won another Alfred I. DuPont Award in 1961, this time as the country's best broadcaster in the large-station category, in addition to the station's first Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
. The station quadrupled its broadcasting power the same year and offered its first multiplex stereo broadcast, which was tested the following year, presenting the first live concert series broadcast in stereo, with music by the Fine Arts Quartet
Fine Arts Quartet
The Fine Arts Quartet, a distinguished chamber music ensemble founded in Chicago, USA in 1946 by Leonard Sorkin and George Sopkin, has an illustrious history of performing success and an extensive recording legacy. It is one of the few to have recorded and toured internationally for over half a...
. In 1964, Hi Fi/Stereo Review readers voted WFMT the highest-fidelity station in the US. The station's first series of Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
concerts began in 1965.
In 1968, WFMT began around-the-clock broadcasting. That same year, Bernard Jacobs sold WFMT to WGN
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
Continental Broadcasting Company, which in turn donated the station to WTTW two years later.
The station began distributing WFMT programming to other American and international radio stations in 1972. In 1973 it created the Fine Arts Network for syndication of Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera broadcasts.
In 1979, WFMT became America's first radio superstation
Superstation
Superstation in United States television can have several meanings. In its most precise meaning, a superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as "A television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the FCC that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite...
, delivered by satellite and cable systems across the United States. WFMT programming entered the Communist Bloc, as the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
began broadcasting WFMT tapes of Chicago Symphony Orchestra radio concerts. In 1980, WFMT became the first US radio station to join the European Broadcasting Union
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 74 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 49 associate broadcasters from a further 25...
. A live performance of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was heard in the US, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
simultaneously. Wagner's Ring Cycle
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
was broadcast live for the first time as a digital transatlantic performance from Bayreuth
Bayreuth Festspielhaus
The or Bayreuth Festival Theatre is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, dedicated solely to the performance of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner...
, Germany to the US and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1983.
The WFMT Fine Arts Circle, a member/listener support and funding group, was formed in 1991.
In 1995, the station moved to its current location in the WTTW complex in Chicago's Northwest Side. The new facility included an all-digital path from studios to transmitter. The WFMT Jazz Satellite Network debuted two years later.
WFMT celebrated its 50th anniversary on December 13, 2001, which Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
declared WFMT Day.
In 2002, WFMT Radio Network hosted and produced a live broadcast from Durban, South Africa featuring the world premiere performance of Princess Magogo
Princess Magogo
Princess Constance Magogo Sibilile Mantithi Ngangezinye kaDinuzulu was a Zulu Princess and artist, and mother to Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Inkatha Freedom Party leader....
, the first South African indigenous opera and the first opera with a libretto in the Zulu language
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
. The broadcast was heard by over four million people on 155 stations in the US and on European state radio networks.
In 2003, the station began syndication of the program "Exploring Music
Exploring Music
Exploring Music is an internationally syndicated radio program featuring classical music, with commentary and analysis by host Bill McGlaughlin. It is a daily, one-hour show with a single in-depth theme each week. The show, which debuted in 2003, is produced by WFMT Radio Network...
with Bill McGlaughlin
Bill McGlaughlin
William "Bill" McGlaughlin is an American composer, conductor, music educator, and Peabody Award-winning classical music radio host...
", an educational daily program on various themes in classical music. They also launched a Fine Arts Hotline for the Chicago area that same year.
People of WFMT
Several noteworthy individuals have worked at WFMT in its history. Award-winning stage and film director, writer, and producer Mike NicholsMike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
, at the time a student at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, joined the station in 1952. Nichols started the folk music program The Midnight Special
The Midnight Special (radio)
The Midnight Special is a syndicated radio show broadcast on Chicago, Illinois radio station, WFMT-FM since 1953. It is a showcase for folk and roots music from historical and contemporary artists. The show also features comedy sketches and show tunes...
in 1953. The show still airs weekly on WFMT, with Rich Warren as the host.
Noted author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and broadcaster Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel
Louis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...
, began a weekly program on the station in 1953. It eventually became a weeknight program, until his retirement from the station almost fifty years later.
Two-time Peabody Award-winning audio dramatist Yuri Rasovsky
Yuri Rasovsky
Yuri Rasovsky is an American award-winning writer and producer working in the field of radio drama in the United States....
, creator of the National Radio Theater of Chicago, began a decade-long association with WFMT in 1975. He is still heard periodically on The Midnight Special in his classic "Chicago Language Tape" skit.
WFMT is noted for the longevity of various staff members. Norman Pellegrini
Norman Pellegrini
Norman Pellegrini was an American radio executive, producer, and personality. He was the program director for WFMT radio in Chicago from 1953 to 1996. On air he led WFMT's internationally syndicated broadcasts of live performances from the Lyric Opera of Chicago from 1971 until his retirement...
joined the station and became program director in 1953, holding the position until 1996. Ray Nordstrand was hired as an announcer, also in 1953. He later became the assistant of original owner Bernard Jacobs. Nordstrand moved up to the position of president and general manager in 1970. He retired in 1993 after suffering a heart attack, but continued to work as a consultant to the station until his death in 2005.
Another key contributor to WFMT’s success was Associate Program Director Lois Baum. Arriving at the station from KPFK in California in July 1964, Baum produced and oversaw the production of countless spoken arts programs and features. She produced the Critic’s Choice series, regular broadcasts of reviews and commentary by artist Harry Bouras (whose name was the inspiration for the playful Chicago art group, the "Hairy Who"
Chicago Imagists
The Chicago Imagists is the name of a group of representational artists associated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who exhibited at the Hyde Park Art Center in the late 1960s. Their work was known for grotesquerie, surrealism and complete uninvolvement with New York art world trends...
), theater critic Claudia Cassidy, and journalist and author Herman Kogan. Baum selected and programmed plays and readings produced by the BBC and by the National Radio Theater of Chicago, and created The Storytellers, a program devoted to short stories. With co-producer George Drury, she created Word of Mouth, a spoken arts program that presented a mixture of rare archival recordings and new studio recordings of poets, novelists, philosophers, scientists, actors and musicians. In addition to her extensive work with spoken arts programs, from 1972 until 2009 Lois Baum co-hosted with Norman Pellegrini nationally-syndicated broadcasts from the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
In August 2000, Steve Robinson was hired as general manager of WFMT. He had worked in classical music radio for 40 years.
Technological achievements
Since going on the air in 1951, WFMT has garnered a strong reputation for technological innovation and sound quality.In 1958, WFMT and television station WTTW collaborated on a pioneering stereo music project in which WTTW broadcast a left audio channel, and WFMT broadcast the right audio channel simultaneously.
WFMT broadcast a live concert in 1969 using Dolby noise reduction, the first station to do so. In 1972 it broadcasted for the first time in four-channel (quadrophonic) sound, a live performance of the Chicago Lyric Opera's presentation of Rossini's Semiramide
Semiramide
Semiramide is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini.The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Babylon...
.
In 1978, WFMT participated in the first stereo relay of a live performance via satellite, from the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
.
In 1979, WFMT was one of the first local FM stations to re-broadcast its programming via satellite. This feed was received by cable companies (who transmitted WFMT's programming to their subscribers), as well as by home TVRO
Television receive-only
Television receive-only, TVRO, or Big ugly dish , is a term used in North America to refer to the reception of satellite television from FSS-type satellites, generally on C-band analog; free-to-air and unconnected to a commercial DBS provider...
users.
In the 1980s, WFMT moved into the digital era, being chosen by Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
and Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
to be the first station in the world to broadcast music from a Compact Disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, thanks to the station's reputation for high audio standards. The station broadcasted material from DAT (Digital Audio Tape
Digital Audio Tape
Digital Audio Tape is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987. In appearance it is similar to a compact audio cassette, using 4 mm magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the size at 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm. As...
) for the first time in 1987, and was once again chosen by Sony to broadcast from a MiniDisc
MiniDisc
The disc is permanently housed in a cartridge with a sliding door, similar to the casing of a 3.5" floppy disk. This shutter is opened automatically by a mechanism upon insertion. The audio discs can either be recordable or premastered. Recordable MiniDiscs use a magneto-optical system to record...
, to demonstrate the subtle differences between an MD and a CD.