Broadcast area Delaware Valley ERP 7,700 watts City of license Philadelphia Owner Temple University | Language(s) English Frequency 90.1 FM Format Jazz, Classical music Area Delaware Valley | |
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Translator(s) See § Simulcasts and translators Repeater(s) See § Simulcasts and translators First air date 1953 (originally carrier current 1948-53) Slogan Your Classical and Jazz Station Call sign meaning WRTI: Radio Training Institute | ||
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WRTI (90.1 FM) is a non-commercial, public FM radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is a service of Temple University. The Temple University Board of Trustees holds the station's license. The broadcast tower used by the station is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia at (40°02′30.1″N 75°14′10.1″W).
Contents
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History
WRTI began in 1948 as an AM carrier current station. It was founded by John Roberts, professor emeritus of communications at Temple and long-time anchorman at WFIL-TV (now WPVI-TV). He helped found the School of Communications and Theater at Temple. The call letters stood for "Radio Training Institute." In 1952, the station received an FM transmitter, receiving a full license to cover the FM facility in 1953. After years of serving as a student laboratory, WRTI-AM signed-off for good in 1968. WRTI-FM switched from block programming to an all-jazz format in 1969. It added classical music in 1997 after Philadelphia's commercial classical music station, WFLN, changed formats.
Programming
WRTI is a music-intensive public radio service, broadcasting classical music during the day (6 am – 6 pm), and jazz at night (6 pm – 6 am).
The station features hosts Dave Conant, Jack Moore, Jill Pasternak, Gregg Whiteside, Bob Perkins, Bob Craig, Maureen Malloy, Mark Quinlan, Jeff Duperon, Zivit Shlank, Courtney Blue Tim Johnstone and Frank McCloy. WRTI also has special programs on Friday and Saturday evenings. Each Friday 10 pm – 2 am there's "The Bridge," with host J. Michael Harrison. This program explores the merging platforms of popular music and jazz. Saturday from 9 pm – 12 am "El Viaje" airs, hosted by David Ortiz, focusing on Latin Jazz and Salsa.
WRTI also presents arts and culture programming. The multi-award winning CrossOver (Saturday 11:30 am WRTI/Friday 7 pm WRTI-HD2), created by renowned jazz historian, Dr. Jack V. Buerkle, in conjunction with Jill Pasternak, is now hosted by Jill Pasternak. Crossover explores music as "the international language." The show, which presents music and conversation with some of the world's greatest artists and personalities, focuses not only on classical and jazz, but also music in the periphery of those two art forms. Featured have been Michel Legrand, Rick Braun, Byron Janis, Billy Joel, Eric Whitacre, Marvin Hamlisch, Michael Feinstein, Louis Lortie, Herbie Hancock, Yolanda Kondonassis, Branford Marsalis and many more.
The award-winning Creatively Speaking arts segments feature contributors Jim Cotter, David Patrick Stearns and Susan Lewis among others. Mr. Cotter heads 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.
Some of WRTI's programming is centered on area arts organizations. Discoveries From the Fleisher Collection is 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 WRTI's Jack Moore. Discoveries from the Fleisher Collection uncovers the unknown, rediscovers the little-known, and takes a fresh look at some of the remarkable treasures housed in the collection.
The Wanamaker Organ Hour, hosted by WRTI's Jill Pasternak and Macy's Grand Court Organist Peter Richard Conte, features recordings of performances on the organ by Mr. Conte and various guests. The Wanamaker Organ is housed in Macy's Center City Philadelphia department store and is the largest musical instrument in the world. Macy's and the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ make the broadcasts possible.
After a long hiatus, WRTI has recently resumed broadcasting full-length concerts by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Recorded each week at the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall in Center City, and hosted by WRTI's Gregg Whiteside, this series brings the distinctive sound of the "Fabulous Philadelphians" in performance back to the Delaware Valley airwaves for all to hear and enjoy. Broadcasts are made possible by Bryn Mawr Trust Wealth Management.
WRTI presents in-concert performances of South Jersey's Symphony In C Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and others, as well as opera performances from the Academy of Vocal Arts and the Opera Company of Philadelphia.
WRTI is a network affiliate of NPR, PRI and APM, airing news and arts programming from these networks. Programs include NPR's Newscast Service, From The Top, and SymphonyCast. WRTI is also an affiliate of the WFMT Radio Network, broadcasting a wide range of programming from this Chicago-based syndicator including concert broadcasts from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, the Deutsche Welle Festival Concert series, and many more programs and concert series.
WRTI is also an affiliate of the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera Radio Network, airing LIVE the Met's Saturday Matinee performances 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 52-weeks-a-year.
WRTI also broadcasts using HD Radio. Two stations (WRTI and WRTJ) broadcast HD2 programming as well. 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-FM and WRTI-HD2 also comprise two separate web audio streams. The "All-Classical" stream presents WRTI-FM'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.
Simulcasts and translators
Six full-power stations are licensed to simulcast the programming of WRTI.
Three full-power stations have translators that are licensed to simulcast the programming of their respective stations.
A radio station with the call sign WJAZ is mentioned in the song "The Nightfly" on Donald Fagen's 1982 album The Nightfly.