City Newark, Delaware | Broadcast area Newark, Delaware | |
Frequency 91.3 MHz (also on HD Radio) First air date October 4, 1976 (as WXDR) Format Analog/HD1: Freeform
HD2: Freeform ("The Basement") ERP 790 watts horiz. (analog)
6,800 watts vert. (analog)
272 watts (digital) | ||
WVUD (91.3 FM) is a non-commercial educational FM radio station owned by University of Delaware and licensed to serve Newark, Delaware. The station is student-run and broadcasts a freeform format. Studios are located in the Perkins student center at the University of Delaware and the transmitting antenna is located on the top of the Christiana East Tower residence building.
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WVUD uses HD Radio and broadcasts freeform programming on its HD2 subchannel branded as "The Basement".
History
University of Delaware Radio was originally broadcast from East Hall via AM carrier current at 640 kHz from 1968 until 1976, with the WHEN call sign as a Top 40 formatted station. The station changed call signs to WDRB with a format change to alternative rock when the station's studios were moved to the third floor of the Perkins Student Center.
The FM station that would later become WVUD signed on for the first time on October 4, 1976 with the WXDR call sign. The station's first permanent license was granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on April 6, 1977. The new station broadcast a block format that included jazz, folk, classical, ambient, college alternative, and experimental music. Local news was presented each day and the students presented a weekly news magazine show and community oriented public affairs shows.
On April 8, 1983 WXDR resumed broadcasting after being off the air for five months during which time the station installed new equipment to increase its effective radiated power from 10 watts to 1000 watts and to convert from mono to stereo. Studios were moved to the lower level of the Perkins Student Center Annex building at that time.
The station's call sign was changed to WVUD on October 19, 1992. University President David Roselle had requested that the call sign be changed to WVUD to reflect the station's university ownership. This call sign had recently been ceded by an easy listening station, Lite 100 FM, which had been owned by the University of Dayton, but had been sold off by the university and had subsequently changed call signs to WLQT.
WVUD was granted an increase in effective radiated power to 6,800 watts in August 2011. HD Radio was added two months later beginning on October 31, 2011.