Wisconsin is the birth place of public radio, so it should come as no surprise that there is much love for it (and its many unique stations) across the state.
But because there are so many of them, it can be a little confusing to parse out who is who, who does what and for whom.
When it comes to WUWM, WPR, Radio Milwaukee and WXPR, here’s what we have in common and how we differ.
What do we have in common?
All four entities, WUWM, WPR, Radio Milwaukee and WXPR are funded primarily by the public. This means that individuals in the communities we serve give us money on a monthly or annual basis to support the programming we provide.
Public funding serves as the foundation of our organizations and gives us flexibility to cover what truly matters to the community. Because individual people are our primary stakeholders, we exist to serve them and the needs of the community at large. We do not exist to serve corporations or media conglomerates.
We are all non-profit organizations, which means that the money we raise from individuals and local businesses goes back into the organization to support overhead and programming costs.
We are all affiliates of the National Public Radio (NPR) network. This means that we pay membership dues to NPR, which gives us license to broadcast NPR’s national programs on our stations.
What makes us different?
The two big differences are broadcast regions and content type. Here’s a quick breakdown of each organization:
WUWM 89.7 – Milwaukee’s NPR
WUWM is Milwaukee’s source for public radio news and information. Our local content primarily focuses on issues facing southeastern Wisconsin. We have a team of reporters and producers who create more than five hours of local news content every week. Our radio signal reaches south past Racine, west to Oconomowoc and north past Port Washington. WUWM is licensed to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents and operated by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Letters and Science.
Radio Milwaukee
Radio Milwaukee can be found at 88.9 FM on the radio dial. It and its sister station, HYFIN, are AAA music stations which means they both offer music from local and independent artists. The local stories produced from Radio Milwaukee focus primarily on the local music, arts and culture scene. Radio Milwaukee’s FCC license is owned by Milwaukee Public Schools.
Wisconsin Public Radio
Wisconsin Public Radio, WPR, is based in Madison and offers statewide news and music service through two networks in Wisconsin, WPR News and WPR Music. WPR News comes from reporters in eight local bureaus across Wisconsin. WPR Music offers locally hosted classical music with other genres on the weekends. WPR is made up of 39 stations across the two networks. In Milwaukee, WPR Music is available on 90.7 FM. WPR is a service of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Educational Communications Board, with additional support from the Wisconsin Public Radio Association.
WXPR
WXPR is a community-licensed public radio station located in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. This station offers local reporting on issues facing northern Wisconsin along with locally hosted music programming.WXPR is operated by White Pine Community Broadcasting, Inc.and is not affiliated with a university, nor does it receive any funding from the state.
How does PBS fit in?
PBS Wisconsin and Milwaukee PBS, two separate entities, are both public television stations that also receive support from individuals in the communities they serve. In some markets, PBS and NPR stations are operated under the same organizational umbrella. WPR and PBS Wisconsin are services of UW-Madison’s Wisconsin Public Media division and the Educational Communications Board.
In Milwaukee, Milwaukee PBS is owned by Milwaukee Area Technical College and is a service of MATC. While, WUWM is licensed to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents and operated by the UWM College of Letters and Science.
Your support makes our stations possible
Individuals in our communities, along with local businesses and foundations who provide grant funding, make it possible for our stations to operate freely and independently. With the elimination of funding from Congress through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, community support is needed now more than ever. Consider contributing financially to your Wisconsin-based public radio stations; we couldn’t do it without you.
