york broadcast area new york college branding the original fm 89.9 wkcr 89.9 fm ny frequency 89.9 mhz also on hd radio first air date february 24 1941 format college radio hd2 classical wwfm simulcast erp 1 350 watts haat 284 meters class b1 facility id 68270 transmitter coordinates 40 42 43.00 n 74 0 49.00 w 40.7119444 n 74.0136111 w 40.7119444 ; 74.0136111 callsign meaning w king s crown radio columbia univ. 1 owner columbia university website wkcr.org wkcr fm 89.9 fm is a radio station . licensed to new york new york usa it serves the new york area . the station is currently owned by trustees of columbia university in new york . 2 wkcr broadcasts in the hd hybrid format . 3 history edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message what is now known as wkcr fm originated in the early part of the twentieth century as the columbia university radio club curc . an exact date of origin is not known but documentation of the curc as an ongoing organization exists as early as 1936 . the club was not a radio station as we know it but rather an organization concerned with the technology of radio communications . the group shared a prestigious association with major edwin armstrong e 13 the man who invented fm broadcast technology . this association accounts for the marginally accurate phrase the original fm that one will often hear alongside the wkcr call letters . in 1939 major armstrong turned his attentions towards commercial broadcasting . this spurred the curc to shift from a club concerned with radio technology to a de facto radio station that provided broadcasts to the campus . the fcc granted the station its license on october 10 1941 . for the next ten to twenty years wkcr fm functioned as an intellectual radio station . programming was largely columbia classroom events classical music and broadcasts from the united nations including many interviews with representatives of foreign nations . when sputnik 1 was launched on october 4 1957 staff members of wkcr recorded its signal during the satellite s first pass over the united states and became the first north american radio station to rebroadcast this signal . the next morning the fbi took the tape which has never been returned or paid for . after the student uprising of 1968 this format changed . the station shifted its emphasis from being an illustration of the university to presenting commercially inviable programming to the new york metropolitan area . jazz became the core of this broadcast approach which is neatly summarized in the slogan the alternative . the descriptions of individual departments contain information about wkcr s concept of alternative programming . around this time the station changed its policy from being entirely run by columbia undergraduates as an extracurricular activity to employing graduates and then others unassociated with the university . the rise of jazz on wkcr also led to the accelerated activity of live performance in the station s studios and eventually to records released 4 from those recordings . sessions booked by former student dj david reitman led to many of the jazz and blues hosts bringing in musicians such as gunter hampel 5 karl berger tyrone washington charles walker blues from the apple 6 and mississippi fred mcdowell . 7 in the late 70s under the direction of tim page the station presented the radio premieres of several leading minimalist compositions including philip glass s einstein on the beach and steve reich s music for 18 musicians . it was the first station in the country to pay attention to this important and eventually popular form of avant garde music . page also produced a benefit concert for the station at carnegie hall with appearances by reich glass john cale and david bowie among many others . in 1983 the station became the first radio or television station to transmit from the antenna at the top of the world trade center having previously broadcast from an antenna on the dumont building a 42 story structure at 515 madison avenue . 8 wkcr was home to the groundbreaking underground hip hop show the stretch armstrong and bobbito garc a show from 1990 1998 . the show provided early exposure for what became some of the biggest names in hip hop wu tang clan and notorious b.i.g among them . 9 following the terrorist attacks on 9 11 the station underwent a difficult period . broadcasting from its backup transmitter atop carman hall the station finally secured a new antenna at 4 times square in 2003 . in late december 2015 wkcr announced on its website that effective january 1 it would be ending its online broadcast while it reconsidered its ability to stream online and continued to broadcast on the fm band . 10 on july 1 2016 the station announced its return to online streaming following technical and logistical improvements . 11 references edit call letter origins . radio history on the web . wkcr fm facility record . united states federal communications commission audio division . http www.hdradio.com station guides widget.php id 1 wkcr and oblivion the oblivion records blog gunter hampel spirits kathleen loves music recording blues from the apple the oblivion records blog prepping live in new york for lp the oblivion records blog fraser c. gerald . wkcr will be the first station to transmit from trade center the new york times july 30 1977 . accessed september 27 2008 . stretch and bobbito radio that changed lives . october 2015 . retrieved 10 august 2016 . the wkcr board december 26 2015 . important update about online streaming . wkcr . retrieved january 3 2016 . the wkcr board july 1 2016 . we re back online . wkcr . retrieved august 9 2016 . external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for wkcr radio locator information on wkcr query nielsen audio s fm station database for wkcr v t e radio stations in the new york city market by am frequency 570 660 1 710 1 770 1 820 880 1 1010 1050 1130 1 1190 1280 1330 1380 1480 1560 1 1600 1620 new jersey 620 930 970 1430 1500 1530 1660 westchester county n.y. 1460 by fm frequency 87.7 88.9 89.12 89.9 90.3 new york 90.3 brooklyn 90.7 91.5 92.3 93.9 95.5 96.3 97.1 97.9 98.7 99.5 101.1 101.9 102.7 103.5 104.3 105.1 106.7 107.5 new jersey 88.3 89.12 89.5 90.3 91.1 93.1 94.7 99.1 100.3 102.3 105.5 105.9 106.3 107.1 westchester county n.y. 88.1 88.9 90.3 93.5 96.7 100.7 103.9 106.3 107.1 long island n.y. 92.7 103.5 via fm subcarrier 67 khz chinese radio new york gatewave radio reading service radio maria stati uniti italian 92 khz chung wah chinese broadcasting company icn radio radio maria estados unidos spanish rbc radio digital radio 710 880 1010 1280 1560 88.3 1 88.3 2 89.5 1 89.5 2 89.9 1 89.9 1 89.9 2 89.9 3 90.7 1 90.7 2 90.7 3 92.3 1 92.3 2 93.1 1 93.1 2 93.5 1 93.5 2 93.5 3 93.5 4 93.9 1 93.9 2 93.9 3 94.7 1 94.7 4 95.5 1 95.5 2 95.5 3 97.1 1 97.1 2 97.9 1 98.7 1 100.3 1 100.3 2 101.1 1 101.1 2 101.1 3 102.7 1 102.7 2 102.7 3 103.5 1 103.5 2 103.5 3 103.9 1 104.3 1 104.3 2 105.1 1 105.1 2 105.9 1 105.9 2 106.7 1 106.7 2 107.5 1 107.5 2 noaa weather radio frequency 162.550 by callsign kwo35 wabc 1 wado wary wawz waxq wbai wbbr 1 wbgo wbls wbmp wcbs 1 wcbs fm wepn wepn fm wfan 1 wfan fm wfdu2 wfme 1 wfme fm wfmu wfuv wght whcr fm whtz whud wicr wins wjdm wkcr fm wkdm wklv fm wkmk wkrb wktu wlib wltw wmca wmsc wnbm wnew fm wnsh wnsw wnyc wnyc fm wnye wnym wnyu fm2 wnyz lp wor 1 wpat wpat fm wplj wqbu fm wqht hd2 wqxr fm wqxw wsia wskq fm wsnr wsou wvip wvox wwes wwpr fm hd2 wwrl wwru wwrv wwzy wxny fm wxpk wzrc defunct whn 3 wnbc wnbc fm 3 wnew wyny 3 new york radio markets albany schenectady troy binghamton buffalo niagara falls elmira corning hudson valley nassau suffolk long island new york city olean plattsburgh poughkeepsie rochester syracuse utica rome watertown other new york radio regions ithaca jamestown dunkirk north country saratoga nyc metro markets long island hudson valley partial poughkeepsie middlesex somerset union monmouth ocean morristown bridgeport danbury new haven stamford norwalk see also list of radio stations in new york 1 clear channel stations with extended nighttime coverage . 2 stations share time on the frequency . 3 technically still active but on a different frequency with new call letters and different intellectual property . v t e new york college radio stations waih state university of new york college at potsdam walf alfred university wary westchester community college wbny buffalo state college wbsu college at brockport wcdb state university of new york at albany wceb corning community college wcvf fredonia state university wcwp long island university cw post campus wdwn cayuga county community college wecw elmira college werw syracuse university wetd alfred state college wfnp suny new paltz wftu five towns college wfuv fordham university wgcc genesee community college wgfr suny adirondack wgsu suny geneseo whcl hamilton college whcr city college of new york whpc nassau community college whrw binghamton university wicb ithaca college witc cazenovia college witr rochester institute of technology wjpz syracuse university wkcr columbia university wkrb kingsborough community college wnyk nyack college wnyo state university of new york oswego wnyu new york university wony suny college at oneonta wpnr utica college of syracuse university wqke plattsburgh state university wrcu colgate university wrho hartwick college wrhu hofstra university wrpi rensselaer polytechnic institute wruc union college wrur university of rochester wsbu st. bonaventure university wsia college of staten island wspn skidmore college wsuc state university of new york cortland wtsc clarkson university wusb state university of new york stony brook wvcr siena college wvhc herkiner county community college wvkr vassar college wvwa colleges of the seneca wxbc bard college see also adult contemporary classic hits college country news talk npr oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in new york retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wkcr fm & oldid 735095140 categories hd radio stationscollege radio stations in new yorkcolumbia universityjazz radio stations in the united statesradio stations in new york cityradio stations established in 1941hidden categories articles needing additional references from january 2016all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 18 august 2016 at 15 46 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view