First air date October 1928 Class B Frequency 850 kHz Format Sports radio Area Gainesville, Ocala | Power 5,000 watts Facility ID 69151 City of license Gainesville Owner University of Florida Branding ESPN 850 | |
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Broadcast area Gainesville/Ocala, Florida Translator(s) 98.1 W251CG (Gainesville) Call sign meaning Radio University of Florida | ||
WRUF (850 AM) is a radio station that operates from the University of Florida's main campus in Gainesville, broadcasting at 850 kHz. WRUF is a sports station. Unlike its public sister stations, WUFT-TV and WUFT-FM, WRUF is a commercial station and, despite being state-run, is run no differently from privately owned commercial stations.
The station signed on in October 1928 and is the fifth-oldest station in the state.
WRUF featured a mixture of local and syndicated programs, including Jim Bohannon, Dr. Joy Browne, Larry King Live and Sporting News Radio, plus religious programming on Sunday mornings, including Bill Gaither, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and local church services. Network news are provided by Associated Press and CBS Radio.
The Brand Manager is Rob Harder, Operations Manager is Brett Holcomb and the Sports Director is Steve Russell.
WRUF's news and sports departments, staffed almost entirely by School of Journalism students, are fairly large for a station of its size; by at least one account it has the largest local radio news department in Florida.
A WRUF microphone used by UF alumnus Red Barber during the 1930s is part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's collection. It has been displayed in the museum's "Scribes and Mikemen" exhibit, and from 2002 to 2006 it was a part of the "Baseball as America" traveling exhibition.
On June 29, 2012 WRUF changed their format to sports, with programming from ESPN Radio.
The station is an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays radio network, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Jacksonville Jaguars. It is the flagship station for the Florida Gators football, basketball, baseball, women's basketball, lacrosse, soccer and volleyball.
On August 19, 2015 WRUF began simulcasting on FM translator W237EJ 95.3 FM in Gainesville. It exists mainly to fill in the gaps when the main signal must adjust its coverage to protect a glut of clear-channel stations on adjacent channels. Shortly afterward, the station changed its branding from "ESPN 850" to "ESPN 95.3," after the translator.
On December 1, 2016 WRUF switched its FM translator from W237EJ 95.3 FM Gainesville (now simulcasting WUFT-HD3 as CHR-formatted "95.3 GHQ") to W251CG 98.1 FM Gainesville.
Previous Logo
(WRUF's logo under previous 95.3 FM translator)