WXPR

WXPR

Rhinelander, Wisconsin United States
Frequency	91.7 MHz(HD Radio)
Programming
Format	Public radio
Affiliations	NPR PRX APM NV1
Ownership
Owner	White Pine Community Broadcasting, Inc.
History
First air date	April 24, 1983
Call sign meaning	EXcellence in Public Radio
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	72220
Class	C1
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	128 meters
Transmitter coordinates	45.774444°N 89.248333°W / 45.774444; -89.248333
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	www.wxpr.org

WXPR (91.7 FM) is a community-licensed public radio station serving north central Wisconsin and adjacent areas of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Licensed to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, United States, the station is owned by White Pine Community Broadcasting, a nonprofit educational corporation. WXPR is a National Public Radio member station as well as an affiliate of Native Voice One. The studios are at 28 North Stevens Street in downtown Rhinelander, in a historic building previously occupied by the local newspaper. The transmitter is off Oneida County Highway A between Sugar Camp and Three Lakes, Wisconsin, southwest of Thunder Lake.

The station operates satellite WXPW at 91.9 FM in Wausau. In a share-time arrangement, WXPW shares 91.9 with WLBL-FM, the Wausau outlet for Wisconsin Public Radio's Ideas Network. WXPW airs from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. from Monday through Thursday and from 6 p.m. on Friday to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

History

The vision for WXPR was developed by Peter Nordgren, whose previous involvement in noncommercial radio was with WSSU at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, as well as KBSB and KAXE. Other early staff and Board of Directors included local businessman Michael Seraphin, a former commercial broadcaster at WOBT in Rhinelander as well as radio stations in Wisconsin's Fox Valley and Colorado; Mary Kay Foltz Sherer, a fundraising specialist from Minocqua who would go on to be development director at Wisconsin Public Radio; retired Army Signal Corps colonel Elmer Goetsch, and construction worker Robert M. (Mick) Fiocchi of Rhinelander, later WXPR's general manager. The first program director was W. Scott Yankus, later with Minnesota Public Radio and Marketplace (radio program); other staff included news director Jeff Gavin and programming staff Rita Rahoi, later a professor of communications at Winona State University. WXPR was one of fourteen stations in underserved areas whose development in the early 1980s was supported by expansion grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. A re-authorization of the Public Broadcasting Financing Act of 1975 signed by President Jimmy Carter on January 15, 1981 provided critical funds to erect a tower near Three-Lakes, Wisconsin. Additional resources included a donated used transmitter from the University of Wisconsin-Stout in June 1981 and an 18-acre transmitter site donated by Wausau Paper Mills. Local fundraising efforts raised $40,000 through membership drives in 1982 to match federal requirements. Seraphin's suggestion for call letters WXPR won out over 100 other submissions. WXPR began broadcasting at 12-noon on April 24, 1983.

Translators

Call sign	Frequency	City of license	FID	ERP (W)	Class	FCC info
W265AI	100.9 FM	Ironwood, Michigan	72221	10	D	LMS

External links

• WXPR official website
• Facility details for Facility ID 72220 (WXPR) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• WXPR in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
• Facility details for Facility ID 72222 (WXPW) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• WXPW in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
• Facility details for Facility ID 72221 (W265AI) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• Radio Locator information on W265AI