Public radio station in Huntsville, Alabama
WLRH (89.3 FM), branded as "WLRH 89.3 FM/HD Huntsville," is an American public radio station located in Huntsville, Alabama, the state's first such broadcaster. It offers music, news, cultural and entertainment programming from American Public Media, Public Radio Exchange, National Public Radio, and other nationally-recognized public media outlets, as well as airing several local shows produced by staff and volunteers. WLRH provides three HD channels. The HD1 signal is a digital version of the main WLRH signal, the HD2 signal is a 24-hour classical music service, and the HD3 signal provides news and talk programs. WLRH serves an area roughly 60 miles in all directions from its transmitter on Monte Sano Mountain, located on the city's eastern end, including north-central Alabama and south-central Tennessee, as well as northeastern Alabama (Fort Payne) via a translator.
History
For many years, Huntsville has boasted a large population of highly-educated, affluent professionals. Among them are technicians, engineers, and entrepreneurs mostly associated with the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal installation, NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and contractors. Many of these individuals were responsible for organizing an unusually high-quality performing arts scene for such a small city in the 1960s. These were among the factors that led to Huntsville receiving Alabama's first public radio license, and broadcasts began on October 13, 1976 from the Times Building on Holmes Avenue. The state's largest city, Birmingham, followed suit two months later when WBHM started in December.
The station was originally owned by the Huntsville Madison County Public Library; in fact, the call letters stand for Library Radio Huntsville. However, just over a year after the station began operations, it became apparent that the library's budget could not properly support a full-service radio station, especially one in what has always been a modest-sized market. The Alabama Educational Television Commission stepped in and acquired the station in December 1977 to prevent it from failing, and still owns it today.[2] The station carried, as was customary for public stations during that era, mostly classical music programming, with jazz late nights Mondays through Saturdays; some folk music and radio drama programs were mixed in during the week. In 1987, after significant listener growth, the University of Alabama in Huntsville offered the AETC use of a newly constructed facility on its campus, several miles to the west of downtown; WLRH took the offer and remains at that location today. WLRH otherwise has no direct connection to UAH, as that institution does not have a broadcasting curriculum.
In the early years, the station carried some unusual programs, most notably Radio Andernach, a weekly hour-long German-language news and features show for the benefit of several natives of that land who worked in Huntsville's aerospace and defense industry. Beginning in the mid-1980s, it also was the home of northern Alabama's first call-in radio talk show, which had a very different flavor than most of those found on commercial stations today (in fact, when the format's popularity exploded elsewhere in the 1990s, WLRH dropped the show).
In 2010 WLRH added 89.3 HD2, a 24-hour classical music service. It added 89.3 HD3, a news/talk outlet, in 2012.
WLRH added a translator at 104.5 FM in Fort Payne, Alabama in 2018.
Operations
WLRH is the Alabama Educational Television Commission's only radio property; that state government agency is better known as the operator of the Alabama Public Television network (seen in the WLRH listening area on WHIQ-TV, channel 25).
One distinctive programming practice of WLRH is its frequent announcements throughout the broadcast day of underwriting day sponsorships made by individuals or families, in addition to the usual businesses and non-profit organizations. Usually, these messages honor birthdays or wedding anniversaries. Additionally, for more than 25 years, WLRH has offered a unique community service to its listening area. The WLRH PSA (public service announcement) Program provides representatives from local non-profit and community organizations the opportunity to record 30-second spots for their group or events for free. WLRH features PSAs on its three channels in all dayparts, including morning and afternoon drive time. The PSAs are deeply integrated into all parts of on-air programming. For many of the non-profits that use it, PSA Program may be the only way to connect with the communities they serve. WLRH offers two categories of PSAs: general PSAs share a group's service message for up to a year, while event PSAs provide information about a group's events and fundraisers.
George Dickerson, a former South Bend, Indiana television news anchor (but actually born in Huntsville), served as the only general manager in WLRH's entire history from its 1976 inception until his retirement in early 2007. It is believed that Dickerson's tenure was the longest ever for a manager of an American public radio station (and perhaps all public broadcasting), exceeding 30 years. After a short tenure by Dickerson's successor, a new general manager, Brett Tannehill, formerly of the University of Alabama's Alabama Public Radio network, came to WLRH in 2011.
