please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message wxpn city philadelphia pennsylvania broadcast area delaware valley branding 88.5 xpn frequency 88.5 mhz also on hd radio 88.5 hd2 for xpn2 xponential radio translator s see tables below first air date 1945 carrier current on 730 am 1957 on 88.9 fm format analog hd1 hd2 adult album alternative erp 2 650 watts haat 365 meters class b facility id 68229 transmitter coordinates 40 02 19.3 n 75 14 14.2 w 40.038694 n 75.237278 w 40.038694 ; 75.237278 nad27 callsign meaning w experimental pennsylvania network former callsigns wxpn am 1945 1980 wqhs 1980 2003 former frequencies 730 am wqhs 1945 2003 owner university of pennsylvania webcast listen live website wxpn online wxpn 88.5 fm is a non commercial public fm radio station licensed to the trustees of the university of pennsylvania in philadelphia pennsylvania that broadcasts an adult album alternative aaa radio format along with many other format shows . wxpn produces world cafe a music program distributed by npr to many non commercial stations in the united states . the station s call sign which is often abbreviated to xpn stands for experimental pennsylvania network . the broadcast tower used by wxpn is located at 40 02 19.7 n 75 14 12.8 w 40.038806 n 75.236889 w 40.038806 ; 75.236889 1 in the antenna farm complex in the roxborough section of philadelphia . contents 1 history 2 programs 3 stations 3.1 translators 4 wxpn hd2 4.1 history 5 wqhs 6 references 7 external links history edit while the university of pennsylvania has been involved with radio since 1909 when a wireless station was located in houston hall 2 3 4 wxpn itself first came into existence in 1945 as a carrier current station at 730 am . in 1957 it was granted a full license as a 10 watt college radio station at 88.9 fm in addition to their frequency of 730 am . from then into the mid 1970s wxpn was a student activity of the university and as it grew the station initiated unique programming designs including one of the earliest freeform radio formats phase ii in the 1960s . prominent local dj michael tearson got his start at wxpn in the late 1960s with a radio show the attic . tearson went on to replace dave herman at wmmr in 1970 . in 1975 a controversial broadcast on the talk show the vegetable report led to an obscenity complaint with the fcc which found the charges serious enough to decline renewal of the broadcast license . this incident december 1975 marked the first time fcc pulled a license on grounds of obscenity . but a citizen s group organized to petition the fcc to consider xpn s unique service and with a pledge from penn to create positions for professional staff to run the station the fcc allowed the license to renew . with this new staff of five managers wxpn became a steady fountain of high quality folk jazz new and avant garde music and public affairs programming produced by a combination of penn students alumni and community volunteers . veterans of wxpn that have gone on to notable achievements in other areas include broadway producer director harold prince the station s first program director nbc news correspondent andrea mitchell former news director ; jazz producer michael cuscuna former dj and echoes producers john diliberto and kimberly haas former producers of diaspar and other xpn shows . shows that have been staples on xpn since the 70s include the blues show with jonny meister saturday nights sleepy hollow saturday and sunday morning quiet music shows star s end ambient and space music saturday night sunday morning and amazon country lesbian oriented music and programming on sunday evening . xpn also broadcasts the folk show with gene shay on sunday evening which started at what fm in 1962 and continued on wdas fm wmmr wioq and whyy fm but moved to wxpn in the 90s when whyy changed to a talk format . in 1986 the station qualified for membership in the corporation for public broadcasting and began the legal process to move from 88.9 to 88.5 on the fm broadcast band in order to increase signal coverage . beginning the late 1980s the programming and personnel were shifted from its diverse volunteer voice to full time salaried programmers . penn student radio activity is currently carried out on wqhs . station manager roger lamay speaking at the station s annual music festival . in 1988 wxpn started kids corner a daily interactive radio show for kids hosted by kathy o connell . kids corner has won numerous awards including the peabody award and the armstrong award . in 2004 wxpn moved to new facilities at 3025 walnut street where the radio station shares space with a music venue called world cafe live . world cafe live is an independent for profit entity that pays a yearly fee to license the world cafe name from wxpn . in october 2015 wxpn and wnti jointly announced a sales agreement for transfer of ownership of the hackettstown nj public radio station owned by centenary college . the sale price is 1 250 000 in cash and another 500 000 in underwriting value over 10 years . a public service operating agreement enabled wxpn to begin using the wnti transmission facilities to air wxpn programming effective october 15 2015 . 5 wnti changed its call sign to wxpj on may 16 2016 . programs edit wxpn carries primarily locally originated programs supplemented by a few nationally syndicated shows . 6 the station s weekday programs are all produced by its own staff including world cafe a show developed and hosted by wxpn host david dye and now distributed by npr . 7 the station also produces most of its night and weekend specialty programs including kids corner with kathy o connell the geator s r & r r & b express with legendary philadelphia dj jerry blavat the blues show with jonny meister the folk show with gene shay and sleepy hollow an early morning program of quiet music . the station s syndicated offerings include the grateful dead hour with david gans the many moods of ben vaughn echoes with john diliberto and mountain stage with larry groce . 6 wxpn also broadcasts the penn quakers men s basketball games . 8 stations edit one full power station is licensed to simulcast the programming of wxpn full time call sign frequency city of license facility id erp power w height m ft class transmitter coordinates notes wxph 88.7 fm hd middletown pennsylvania 87834 7 000 vert 75 horiz 216 m 709 ft b 40 02 07.3 n 76 37 17.9 w 40.035361 n 76.621639 w 40.035361 ; 76.621639 wxph nad27 service contour covers york and lancaster one full power station currently has a public service operating agreement to simulcast the programming of wxpn call sign frequency city of license facility id erp power w height m ft class transmitter coordinates notes wxpj 91.9 fm hackettstown new jersey 9759 5 600 vert 5 500 horiz 155 m 509 ft b1 40 51 07 n 74 52 35 w 40.85194 n 74.87639 w 40.85194 ; 74.87639 wxpj nad27 service contour covers hackettstown northern new jersey and northeastern pennsylvania . translators edit wxpn programming is broadcast on the following translators broadcast translators of wxpn call sign frequency mhz city of license erp w height m ft class fcc info w285dh 104.9 north whitehall township pennsylvania 13 105 m 344 ft d fcc broadcast translators of wxph call sign frequency mhz city of license erp w height m ft class fcc info w259au 99.7 harrisburg pennsylvania 10 209.2 m 686 ft d fcc from 1993 to 2007 the wxph call sign was used on 88.1 in harrisburg now wzxm . 9 wxpn traded that facility to four rivers community broadcasting in return for 88.7 middletown and w259au . 10 portions of wxpn s schedule are simulcast on wkhs 90.5 fm worton maryland eastern shore chesapeake bay and baltimore maryland areas . wxpn hd2 edit xpn2 xponential radio is an adult album alternative radio station broadcast on the hd2 channels of wxpn in philadelphia and wxph in middletown pennsylvania . the station is also syndicated to several other public radio stations which air it on their hd2 or hd3 channels . history edit on may 2 2007 wxpn launched an indie rock format on its hd2 channel branded as y rock on xpn . 11 y rock on xpn featured on air personalities originally from philadelphia radio station wply 100.3 fm branded as y100 . wply owner radio one changed the station s format in 2005 ending the alternative rock format . y rock on xpn was the latest incarnation of the y100 brand 12 that originally aired on wply which was the market s alternative rock station from 1995 until 2005 . in mid june 2010 y rock on xpn programming was cancelled due to budget cuts . 13 the y rock on xpn branding officially changed to xpn2 at midnight june 15 2011 . 14 the hd2 channel and companion online stream would later be re branded as xponential radio . former y rock logo used from 2006 to 2010 wqhs edit main article wqhs radio in 1970 wxpn am s operations moved from houston hall directly in the center of campus to 3905 spruce street . the fm radio station became professionally run by 1980 with a mix of community volunteers and students staffing the station while the am radio station was still student run . wxpn am then became wqhs which stands for quad hill superblock referring to student dormitories on campus . as of september 2005 the radio station is located on the 5th floor of the hollenback center on the far east side of campus . in 2003 the wqhs radio tower formerly on top of harnwell college house fell in a severe storm . as a result wqhs now broadcasts exclusively over the internet in an eclectic freeform radio format . references edit fm query results for wxpn federal communications commission . retrieved 2014 08 28 . the wireless club station up . retrieved 2012 11 06 . a brief history of the club . retrieved 2012 06 08 . the wireless club pdf . retrieved 2012 06 08 . wxpn picks up centenary college s wnti . radioworld.com . retrieved 2016 04 29 . a b xpn program guide . xpn.org . retrieved 2016 04 29 . david dye npr biography . national public radio website . retrieved 2016 04 29 . penn basketball . xpn.org . retrieved 2016 04 29 . call sign history wzxm . federal communications commission . retrieved 2016 04 29 . northeast radio watch june 25 2007 . fybush.com . retrieved 2016 04 29 . wxpn launches y rock as hd2 channel . radioworld.com . retrieved 2016 04 29 . dept. of sad face . philadelphia city paper . june 16 2010 . dead link northeast radio watch june 14 2010 . fybush.com . retrieved 2016 04 29 . just announced y rock on xpn to change its name to xpn2 at midnight . thekey.xpn.org . retrieved 2016 04 29 . external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for wxpn radio locator information on wxpn query nielsen audio s fm station database for wxpn query the fcc s fm station database for wxph radio locator information on wxph query nielsen audio s fm station database for wxph query the fcc s fm station database for wxpj radio locator information on wxpj query nielsen audio s fm station database for wxpj query the fcc s fm station database for w259au query the fcc s fm