Alabama Public Radio

WUAL-FM

City of license	Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Branding	Alabama Public Radio
Repeaters	WUAL-FM 91.5 (Tuscaloosa) WQPR 88.7 (Muscle Shoals) WAPR 88.3 (Selma) WHIL 91.3 (Mobile)
Format	Public Radio
Affiliations	American Public Media, National Public Radio, Public Radio International
Owner	University of Alabama
Website	apr.org

Alabama Public Radio is a network of public radio stations based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama that serves roughly the western half of the state of Alabama with classical music, folk music, jazz, and nostalgic music programs, as well as news and feature programs from the National Public Radio, Public Radio International, and American Public Media networks. The network is operated by the University of Alabama, with studios in Tuscaloosa.

Since the station is licensed to a university, students in the UA College of Communication and Information Sciences get opportunities for practical training in announcing and other varied production duties. Nonetheless, APR maintains a small professional staff, as well as several volunteer announcers from the larger community.

History

UA started WUAL-FM in January 1982 as the state's fifth public radio station. It emphasized service to the immediate western Alabama area in its first several years, since most of the region had no other access to the public radio medium. However, the university soon realized the potential for expansion into other parts of the state that similarly lacked NPR service. Since Birmingham, Huntsville, southeastern Alabama, and Mobile already had existing stations, station and university officials focused on developing relay transmitters to send WUAL's signal into northwestern and south central Alabama. Thus, WQPR, originally a joint project with the University of North Alabama in Florence, appeared in the late 1980s. It was followed in the early 1990s by WAPR, which is jointly owned by Alabama State University, Troy University (both of which already held station licenses of their own) and UA. In September 2007, WQPR received a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to assist in its conversion from analog to digital broadcasting.^[1] In 2011, due to the desire of licensee Spring Hill College to get out of public broadcasting, an existing station, WHIL-FM in Mobile, joined APR, effective July 1. That station had been affected, like many throughout the country, by declining listener contributions, which influenced the College to sell the 32-year-old outlet.

APR stations

Four stations currently comprise the network:

WLJS-FM (91.9 FM), the student-operated station of Jacksonville State University which broadcasts to eastern central Alabama, simulcasts the first hour of classical music on APR each weekday. No other affiliations, either in personnel or in programming, exist between the two entities.

Translators

In addition to the full-power stations, Alabama Public Radio is relayed by these low-powered translators to widen its broadcast area:

Also, the WQPR signal has a translator (W264AI) that covers the Huntsville-Decatur market on 100.7 FM.

Weekday hosts

• Maggie Martin--Morning Edition
• David Duff and Bob Woodman--daytime classical music
• Ryan Vasquez--All Things Considered, Marketplace, The World, Fresh Air

Local specialty programs

Unlike many stations in recent times, APR has always featured a heavy schedule of locally-hosted programs, many of which are unique in featuring special genres of music. Among them are the following:

• All Things Acoustic--a play on the title of NPR's flagship news broadcast, this show explores the wide variety of traditional and contemporary folk music and ethnic sounds, plus the singer-songwriter genre as well. UA professor Jeremy Butler hosts the program, heard on Friday evenings. This program debuted in 1993.

• Jugs, Jukes and Jazz--long-running program featuring jazz, ragtime, Dixieland, and big band sounds from the earliest recordings through about the 1960s or so. Tom Halladay has helmed this show for the entirety of APR (WUAL's) history, over 25 years now. The program was heard for many years on Saturday afternoons; it now airs on Sunday evenings.

• Bama Bluegrass--Lance Kinney is the current host of this similarly enduring show, which features artists from the Bluegrass and "old-time" country music scenes. The program, heard early Saturday evenings, is especially popular with older, rural listeners. Kinney is also an associate professor of advertising and public relations at the University of Alabama.

• The Crooners--Sunday-evening show featuring vocalists performing big band and swing music from the 1930s through the 1950s. Former APR staff announcer Dale Owen continues his involvement with the network as host of this program.

• Getting Sentimental Over You--similar to the above program, but emphasizing instrumentals rather than vocals. The program immediately precedes "The Crooners" and is hosted by Dave Clark.

See also

WVUA-FM 90.7, the University's student-programmed station

References

External links

• Alabama Public Radio
• All Things Acoustic

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