public radio broadcast area rhode island branding rhode island public radio slogan rhode island s npr frequency see table in article first air date may 1 1998 service on 1290 am format news talk erp see table in article haat see table in article class a all stations facility id see table in article transmitter coordinates see table in article callsign meaning see table in article former callsigns see table in article affiliations npr public radio international american public media owner rhode island public radio sister stations wrni webcast listen live website www.ripr.org rhode island public radio is the npr member radio network for the state of rhode island . its studios are located in the historic union station in downtown providence . the network airs a format of news and talk from npr such as morning edition on point and all things considered as well as extensive local news coverage . contents 1 local programming 2 history 2.1 controversy over sale 2.2 independence from boston university 2.3 migration to fm 3 stations 4 hd radio 5 awards 6 references 7 external links local programming edit in addition to npr apm pri and other public radio programming from national sources ripr has dedicated reporters covering specific beats including politics health care education the environment and arts & culture . ripr also produces local segments including political roundtable with ian donnis scott mackay & maureen moakley every friday . scott mackay s weekly commentary the bottom line with dave fallon & mark murphy a weekly look at the local business climate . this i believe rhode island with frederic reamer . a local take on the famous this i believe series of essays . made in rhode island an ongoing occasional series looking at manufacturing in the state . one square mile an annual special week long series taking an in depth look at one city or town in rhode island . previous osm series include central falls bristol woonsocket west warwick block island narragansett bay itself and newport . policy & pinot an ongoing occasional series taped live at the providence athenaeum library focusing on various topics . history edit in the 1990s a group of rhode islanders formed the foundation for ocean state public radio in order to bring a local public radio station to the state . at the time rhode island was the only state in new england traditionally one of the bedrocks of support for npr and one of only two in the entire country the other being delaware that did not have a full service npr station within its borders . most of the state got at least a grade b signal from boston s wgbh fm with providence itself receiving a city grade signal and wbur . after a few years of looking they found a partner in boston university owner of wbur . bu agreed to buy wrcp 1290 am a 5 000 watt station that had been on the air since 1947 for 1.9 million ; the foundation conducted a statewide drive to help raise the funds . for many years 1290 am had been known as wice but switched to portuguese programming as wrcp in 1983 . on may 1 1998 wrcp s calls officially changed to wrni and the license was officially transferred to the wrni foundation a separate fundraising group set up by wbur to handle local underwriting . even though bu doubled wrni s transmission power to 10 000 watts its signal was not strong enough to reach the southern and western portion of the state though it provides a city grade signal to newport southern rhode island s biggest city . accordingly in 1999 bu bought weri 1230 am in westerly which had been on the air since 1949 . bu changed weri s calls to wxni and made it a full time satellite of wrni . the station brought a city grade npr signal to southern rhode island for the first time ever . bu and wbur had very big plans for wrni at first . it moved wrni from its longtime studio on douglas avenue to a state of the art facility at union station . it also started a daily two hour local news magazine one union station . 1 it also had plans to set up a third station to fill the gaps in wxni s 1 000 watt signal . 2 however budget problems brought on by the september 11 2001 attacks forced one union station s cancellation . it was replaced with a one hour news magazine that was canceled in 2004 . at that point wrni s local operations were significantly cut back with most of the station s staff either laid off or transferred to boston . as a result wrni s schedule became almost identical to that of wbur . controversy over sale edit on september 17 2004 with no advance warning wbur group general manager jane christo announced that wrni and wxni were being put on the market . she wouldn t give any specifics only saying that it was time for rhode islanders to buy the stations if they wanted to keep npr programming in the state . 1 indeed wbur claimed that it never intended to operate wrni on a long term basis and had only intended to help develop it into a self sustaining service . 2 the reaction in rhode island was not surprisingly hostile . in an editorial the providence journal said that wbur had made numerous long term commitments to wrni . the journal claimed that if the station s local backers had to buy wrni it would be tantamount to buying the station twice . 3 the announcement led state attorney general patrick lynch to open an investigation into wbur and wrni . 4 on september 27 bu interim president aram chobanian delayed the sale of wrni and wxni citing concerns raised by both lynch and rhode island governor don carcieri . memos obtained by the boston globe revealed that wbur felt the rhode island stations were money bleeders and had decided to either lease or sell the stations at the earliest opportunity . 5 the furor over the wrni sale was one factor in christo s resignation almost a month later . 6 in june 2005 bu took wrni and wxni off the market . it promised to hire a full time general manager based in providence and also stepped up local news coverage . as a result lynch closed his investigation in november 2006 . 4 independence from boston university edit on march 21 2007 wbur announced that it was selling wrni to rhode island public radio formerly the foundation for ocean state public radio for 2 million . rhode island public radio also announced it was buying wakx 102.7 fm in narragansett pier from davidson media group to serve as a repeater for wrni in southern rhode island . 7 wakx which signed on in 1989 had been a smooth jazz station though its call letters referred to a former simulcast of wwkx which lasted from 1997 to 2005 . as part of the sale agreement bu will continue to provide engineering and programming assistance to ripr for five years . ripr officially took control of wakx on may 17 2007 ; changing the calls to wrni fm . the addition of wrni fm made wxni redundant and bu has sold that station separately to diponti communications which renamed it wblq . ripr took control of wrni on september 1 2008 . ripr registered the domain name ripr.org on february 13 2007 ; the site was live as of june 2007 . migration to fm edit during the summer and fall of 2011 ripr began to expand wrni into a statewide network ; that july it began to provide programming to wcvy which has operated from coventry high school since 1978 allowing the station to remain on the air full time previously it only operated from 2 8 p.m. on school days sharing time with now defunct religious station wrji ; wcvy still airs its own programming during that time period 8 and on october 8 2011 the network s flagship signal in providence moved from 1290 am to welh 88.1 fm owned by the wheeler school completing ripr s move from am to fm . welh had aired programming from the wheeler school and other groups since 1995 ; some of this programming including wheeler s student run programming and brown student radio moved to internet radio while latino public radio s spanish language public radio programming moved from a part time clearance on welh to full time broadcasting on ripr s original 1290 am frequency . 9 10 at the same time ripr rebranded the network from wrni to rhode island public radio . stations edit station frequency city first air date erp haat facility id coordinates call sign meaning former call signs owner welh flagship 88.1 mhz providence february 1995 4 000 watts 41 m 135 ft 66656 41 51 26.7 n 71 19 5.6 w 41.857417 n 71.318222 w 41.857417 ; 71.318222 welh wheeler school the wheeler school wcvy1 91.5 mhz coventry october 19 1978 11 200 watts 11 m 36 ft 14229 41 41 10 n 71 35 37 w 41.68611 n 71.59361 w 41.68611 ; 71.59361 wcvy coventry coventry public schools wrni fm 102.7 mhz narragansett pier july 15 1989 12 6 000 watts 69 m 226 ft 22874 41 25 27 n 71 28 38 w 41.42417 n 71.47722 w 41.42417 ; 71.47722 wrni fm derived from wrni wpjb 1989 1997 wakx 1997 2007 rhode island public radio note 1 wcvy airs its own programming out of coventry high school from 2 to 8 p.m. on school days with rhode island public radio programming airing at all other times . the network s programming is also available on full channel digital cable channel 799 in bristol warren and barrington . hd radio edit currently wrni fm hd2 airs wmvy the non commercial internet stream of the former wmvy 92.7 on martha s vineyard which was sold to boston university . 13 awards edit ripr has won over thirty associated press awards for news coverage seven public radio news directors inc awards and seven prestigious rtdna edward r. murrow awards . 14 references edit a b northeast radio watch by scott fybush a b current.org struggle over wbur s rhode island stations 2004 editorial broadcast betrayal . providence journal . september 19 2004 . archived from the original on march 1 2008 . a b peoples steve november 20 2006 . attorney general closes wbur investigation . providence journal . retrieved september 22 2013 . jurkowitz mark september 28 2004 . bu delays sale of r.i. radio stations . the boston globe . current.org christo resigns at wbur 2004 smith andy march 23 2007 . r.i. group to buy wrni . providence journal . fybush scott july 11 2011 . merlin drops 101.9 clues . northeast radio watch . retrieved october 10 2011 . ziner karen lee october 7 2011 . r.i. latino radio station going 24 7 in new place . the providence journal . archived from the original on october 7 2011 . retrieved october 10 2011 . harrison elisabeth october 10 2011 . changes ahead for radio in rhode island . wrni.org . retrieved october 10 2011 . broadcasting & cable yearbook 2003 2004 pdf . 2003 . p. d 417 . retrieved october 10 2011 . 1996 providence journal almanac radio discussions website 102.7 in hd started february 26 2013 . page retrieved march 5 2013 . ripr awards page . page retrieved december 11 2013 . external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for welh radio locator information on welh query nielsen audio s fm station database for welh query the fcc s fm station database for wcvy radio locator information