City Rock Island, Illinois Branding Quad Cities NPR | Broadcast area Quad Cities Frequency 90.3 (MHz) | |
Repeater(s) K240DZ 95.9 FM Dubuque, Iowa First air date 1980 (on 90.1, moved to 90.3 in 1991) | ||
WVIK (90.3 FM) is the flagship National Public Radio station for the Quad Cities region of eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois. It is licensed to Rock Island, Illinois and owned by Augustana College. Studios are located on Augustana's campus in Rock Island. The station also operates a low-powered translator, K240DZ, at 95.9 FM in Dubuque, Iowa.
The station signed on for the first time on August 25, 1980 on 90.1 FM. The Quad Cities had been one of the last areas of Iowa and Illinois without a city-grade signal from an NPR station. Prior to 1980, the only source of NPR programming in the area had been a low-powered translator of Cedar Falls' KUNI, though much of the area got grade B coverage from Iowa City's WSUI. In 1991, it moved to its current frequency, and activated its Dubuque translator in 1996.