If you tried to tune in or stream WUWM over the last few days and found silence or static, you were not imagining things — and for that, we are sorry.
Here is what happened, what we have already fixed, and what we are doing next to make your listening experience more reliable than ever.
What happened
- Sunday, October 19, around 11:00 a.m. CT: Our office building lost power during a major equipment failure. We maintain two backup systems for moments like this. The main generator did not start as expected, and our final backup battery was drained by about 12:30 p.m., which took us off the air.
- Sunday, around 4:30 p.m.: Our engineers routed NPR and BBC programming directly from our transmitter site so you could hear us again on 89.7 FM.
- Sunday, 7:30 p.m.: Power was restored to the building.
- Monday, October 20, midnight: Our regular broadcast signal was mostly back on its normal path.
- Monday: We still were experiencing internet and streaming complications. The power outage also took down our internet connection, which powers the streaming service to the website, app and your smart speakers. By Monday, the connection was restored, but the Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that day disrupted online services worldwide, including our streaming service.
- Tuesday, October 21, afternoon: Our streaming service was restored.
Where things stand now
- Broadcast (89.7 FM): On-air and stable, as of Monday.
- Streaming (web, app, smart speakers): Operational, restored on the afternoon of Tuesday.
We also know these issues this week followed a few shorter interruptions over the past couple of weeks as we have been upgrading our studios and broadcast technology. That work is part of a multi-year plan to modernize our systems so they are stronger, smarter and more resilient. We are sorry for the inconveniences they have caused you.
What we are doing to prevent this in the future
- We are working with building management to verify, service and test all backup power systems to ensure that our backup power is ready for any future power outages.
- We are finalizing the studio and broadcast upgrades and have implemented additional safeguards and oversight in our programming team to ensure that all of the programs you know and love are properly downloaded and loaded into the system.
- We are reviewing our streaming pathways and redundancy so that future internet disruptions have less impact.
Thank you for your patience and understanding through this process. We know you expect uninterrupted, reliable service. We do too.
Even when some causes are outside our control, the effect is the same for you, and we are sorry for the frustration. These upgrades are investments in the future of your station so that WUWM remains a trusted, resilient source of local news and smart conversation for our community, no matter what comes our way.
If you have questions, please contact us at wuwm@uwm.edu or call our office at 414-227-3355. Thank you for listening, for caring and for standing with WUWM.
