WLIU
Encyclopedia
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
broadcasting a Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
format. Licensed to Southampton, New York
Southampton (town), New York
The Town of Southampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, U.S., partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town had a total population of 54,712...
, USA, the station serves the New York college area. The station was previously owned by Long Island University
Long Island University
Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...
and is now owned by Peconic Public Broadcasting and features programing from American Public Media
American Public Media
American Public Media is the second largest producer of public radio programs in the United States of America after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and operates radio stations in Minnesota, California, and Florida. Its station brands are Minnesota Public Radio,...
, National Public Radio and Public Radio International
Public Radio International
Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...
.
The station is also broadcast on HD radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
.
In addition its to NPR programming local programs include jazz, rhythm and blues, world music, and music from the Broadway theater. Syndicated weekend programs include The Eclectic Café, Friday Night Soul and American Musical Theater, The Splendid Table, Putumayo World Music Hour, Afropop, and Worldwide Jazz.
History
The original station was a carrier current station, WSCR, housed in a Southampton College dormitory suite, and run as a student club. After much of the equipment was lost to theft, and finding the theft covered by insurance, construction of a new stereo FM station began in the basement of Southampton Hall by 1978. The antenna tower was raised in January 1980, and the station went on the air, still as a club and funded by student activity fees, as WPBX at 91.3 MHz on 1980-03-11. The first two songs played were "On the Air" and "DIY" by Peter Gabriel. It was completely student-run, with free-form programming, and largely ignored by the administration, until 1981-82 when the administration imposed some control and installed Joseph Valerio to run the station. Valerio arranged to carry Texaco's broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera and programming began evolving toward an NPR-style format. On 2002-07-06, the station changed its call sign to WLIU. In February 2002, the station changed to a JazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
format. In April 2004, the station changed to a News
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
format.
The station broadcasted from the second floor of Chancellors Hall on the campus of Stony Brook Southampton until the spring of 2010. State University of New York at Stony Brook
State University of New York at Stony Brook
The State University of New York at Stony Brook, also known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island, about east of Manhattan....
took over the LIU campus (previously named Southampton College) in 2006. At the time of the takeover an agreement was made to permit the station to continue to broadcast from the school through 2009 and that it could continue to use the tower on the campus through 2024.
Ownership of the station from Long Island University to Peconic Public Broadcasting was completed on December 15, 2010 and the call-letters changed to WPPB to reflect this.