WRR (FM)

WRR
City Dallas, Texas
Broadcast area Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
Branding Classical 101 WRR
Slogan Classical Music & The Arts for North Texas
Frequency 101.1 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date 1920 on AM
1948 on FM 101.1
Format Classical music
Language(s) English
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 508 meters
Class C
Facility ID 11451
Transmitter coordinates 32°35′19″N 96°58′05″W / 32.58861°N 96.96806°W / 32.58861; -96.96806Coordinates: 32°35′19″N 96°58′05″W / 32.58861°N 96.96806°W / 32.58861; -96.96806
Callsign meaning Where Radio Radiates (taken from former sister WRR 1310 AM)
Former callsigns WRR-FM (1948-1978)
Owner City of Dallas
Webcast Listen Live
Website wrr101.com

WRR (101.1 FM, "Classical 101") is a municipally-owned radio station, owned by the city of Dallas, Texas, that broadcasts a classical music format. The station's studios are located in the Fair Park complex in South Dallas and the transmitter site is in Cedar Hill. WRR is broadcasting with its maximum allowed power of 100,000 watts.[1]

WRR (AM), now known as KTCK), began broadcasting via AM in 1920 [2] and received its license and call letters on March 13, 1922.[3] In 1948, WRR-FM received its first FM license. After WRR 1310 was sold and its callsign changed, WRR-FM changed its callsign to WRR.

Despite its public ownership, WRR is a commercial station and sells advertising. Over the years, private broadcasters in the Dallas-Fort Worth market have made numerous but unsuccessful calls for privatizing the station.

On September 19, some people listen to WRR over-the-air or on the internet to celebrate "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" because the last two letters spoken aloud are "R-R".

KTCK 1310, formerly WRR (AM), is the oldest commercially operated radio station in Texas [4] It is one of the oldest radio stations in the U.S., although KDKA in Pittsburgh is usually credited with being the first commercial radio station. Of course, the preceding refers only to the station occupying the FCC assigned frequency (with minor variations). As the radio station with the call WRR, continually owned by the City of Dallas since its inception in 1920 (incidentally the station having continuous ownership by the same entity for the longest time period in US history), WRR is, from this standpoint, the oldest commercial broadcast station in Texas (KTCK acquired only the frequency and transmitter site; not the staffing - with the possible exception of transmitter site engineers; studios, station mission, programming, or common ownership). Due to its early origins, WRR has only three call letters and they begin with a "W," dating from the early 1920s when all stations east of the Rocky Mountains were given call signs that started with "W" (KDKA, KYW and a few others were "grandfathered in" and maintained their "K" prefix despite being in the eastern US). A few years later, the "K/W" dividing line was moved to the Mississippi River. Today in Texas, four letter call signs beginning with a "K" are the norm. (c.f White's Radio Log - various editions; 1931 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Radio Log, WRR official website).

WRR broadcasts an "HD Radio" iBiquity Digital signal.[5]

Notable figures

The station is the starting point of John Peel's radio career. Peel, who later became a British disc jockey, notably covered the arraignment hearing of Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before Oswald was shot and killed.

WRR 1310 also first brought the voice of singer Kay Starr to the airwaves.

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 6, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  2. ↑ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ebr01 Handbook of Texas Online.
  3. ↑ http://www.oldradio.com/archives/general/100oldest.html
  4. ↑ "About WRR". WRR Classical 101.1 FM. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  5. ↑ http://www.hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=10 HD Radio Guide for Dallas-Ft. Worth

  • Nicholson, Eric (February 12, 2013). "At WRR, Dallas' Classical Music Station, Employees Blame the Bloodletting on City Hall". Dallas Observer. Dallas, TX: Voice Media Group. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
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