WFPL is a 24-hour listener-supported, noncommercial radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 in Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

, broadcasting at 89.3 MHz and focusing on news. The station is the NPR affiliate for the Louisville market. WFPL is now owned by Louisville Public Media and was originally owned by the Louisville Free Public Library

Louisville Free Public Library

The Louisville Free Public Library is the largest public library system in Kentucky. Officially opened in 1908, the library's main site resides south of Broadway in downtown Louisville. Additional branches were added over time, including the Western Colored Branch, which was the first...

. When the station came on the air in 1950, it was the first library-owned radio station in the country.

History

WFPL began operating as a public radio station in 1950 under ownership of the Louisville Free Public Library

Louisville Free Public Library

The Louisville Free Public Library is the largest public library system in Kentucky. Officially opened in 1908, the library's main site resides south of Broadway in downtown Louisville. Additional branches were added over time, including the Western Colored Branch, which was the first...

, giving the station the distinction of being the first library-owned radio station in the country. Founded years before the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967

Public Broadcasting Act of 1967

The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 set up public broadcasting in the United States, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and eventually the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio .When Lyndon B...

 National Public Radio's creation in 1970, the station was made possible by the donation of equipment by the Bingham family, who owned The Courier-Journal

The Courier-Journal

The Courier-Journal, locally called "The C-J", is the main newspaper for the city of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. According to the 1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, the paper is the 48th largest daily paper in the United States and the single largest in Kentucky.- Origins :The...

 and WHAS

WHAS (AM)

WHAS, known by the on air branding as "84 WHAS", is an AM radio station broadcasting in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a 50,000 Watt clear channel radio station assigned to frequency 840 kHz. With clear channel status, its nighttime signal can be heard in most of the continental U.S...

 radio at the time. In 1993, the library joined with the University of Louisville

University of Louisville

The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...

 to form the Public Radio Partnership—now Louisville Public Media—to operate WFPK with the other local public stations: WFPK

WFPK

WFPK is a 24-hour listener-supported, noncommercial radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, broadcasting at 91.9 MHz FM featuring an adult album alternative format. The station plays national and local alternative music as well as jazz all day on Sunday....

 and WUOL-FM

WUOL-FM

WUOL-FM is a 24-hour listener supported, noncommercial radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, broadcasting a classical music format. It began broadcasting in December 1976....

. Since then, WFPL has steered away from music to focus on broadcasting news

Radio News

Radio News was an American monthly technology magazine published from 1919 to 1971. The magazine was started by Hugo Gernsback as a magazine for amateur radio enthusiasts, but it evolved to cover all the technical aspects to radio and electronics. In 1929 a bankruptcy forced the sale of Gernsback's...

, general interest, comedy

Radio comedy

Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches and various types of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some...

, and drama

Radio drama

Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...

 programming. Like its sister stations, WFPL broadcasts an HD radio

HD Radio

HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...

signal.