Great news in Iowa from DesMoinesRegister.com: Iowa Public Radio is now the owner of two new frequencies near Des Moines — 96.3 in Pleasantville and 105.9 in Patterson — that will allow them to increase their classical service.
The result: Listeners in greater Des Moines can now tune in to classical music 24/7. The two new channels don’t break for news on “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered,” unlike IPR’s mostly classical 90.1 FM, which serves central Iowa from a transmission hub in Ames.
But 90.1 FM may follow suit. The patching up of the last staticky pockets of FM reception for the metro’s 400,000 residents would allow IPR to shift all of its news programming to its AM channel at 640, IPR chief Mary Grace Herrington said with Monday’s announcement.
Herrington says they have plans to increase the service even more, and to have full service news and full service classical throughout the state.
The Federal Communications Commission recently awarded IPR a permit to build a new FM station in Sioux City, which is expected to start up in the next 18 to 24 months. IPR is also looking to expand its FM reach in what Herrington called “the last frontier,” the airwaves around Council Bluffs, Red Oak and Shenandoah.
After the Republican caucus fiasco in Iowa, it’s nice to see that the real competence in the state is in the hands of its awesome public radio peeps. No surprise.
Subscribe Via Email
Enter your email address to subscribe to Scanning the Dial and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Thank you for subscribing.
Something went wrong.
The article says 90.1 FM may follow suit. By that I assume it means 90.1 may soon be all classical music too. That would great but makes no sense. If KICP 105.9, KICL 96.3, KICJ 88.9 and KICG 91.7 all remain/become full-time classical 90.1 would not need to be classical because all the signals overlap. 90.1 would likely go news and studio one format dumping classical. 90.1 HD3 is all classical now. 90.1 has better coverage than 105.9, 96.3, 88.9 and 91.7 combined so I would rather see 90.1 become all classical and 105.9, 96.3, 88.9 and 91.7 go news and studio one.
http://iowapublicradio.org/about-ipr/station-guide.html is a map of all their stations to better see.
Time will tell, I guess. Thanks for the insight, Brian. I hardly consider HD channels stations, because so few people have HD radios. Much more likely that people will listen online, and if you’re listening online, you might as well listen to the BBC, Q2, KUSC, or one of the other interesting stations out there.
Thanks Marty. I just found your web blog and greatly appreciate it. I love Classical music and like to know about what radio stations are Classical.
Because most Classical stations are now on HD radio I have bought 7 home HD radios. 5 are at my home in Springfield, IL to get WUIS-HD3 and 2 at my mom’s in Peoria, IL to get WCBU HD2 for when I visit. Plus I have 3 portable HD radios for walks, plus 3 HD car radios (for me, my wife, and my mom). So I have no problems with Classical being on HD radio for myself as I like new technology.
But I do realize most people are not as motivated as me or technically inclined or want to their spend money to buy an HD radio. I wish HD radio would catch on better. Usually HD radios need to be ordered online. Also home reception can be spotty in HD without a good FM antenna depending on were people live. I have an attic FM antenna and it helps me get both WUIS Springfield, IL and WILL-FM Urbana, IL in HD from my house.
It is easy to listen online to Classical now but listening in the car is getting harder because most people are not interested in changing their car radio just to get HD. Thanks for the suggestions for stations to listen to online as well. I will try them.
Brian, I think you win the prize for most HD radios in a single household! If you’re that into radio, maybe you should be listening on a smart phone or iPad so you can get the best stations. So much great music, so little time.
Also- Although I have a lot of HD radios the main benefit for me to HD radio is because it’s portable so I can listen in the car or when walking because like you said at home we can listen online and have so many choices. If it was not for HD radio I would have to get XM radio for my car so I could still listen to classical music when not at home. I really appreciate HD radio for playing classical music 24 hours a day 7 days a week rather than the part-time classical on dual or multiple format NPR stations. I need and want a 24 hour classical station not those dual formatted stations.
Again i would rather get XM radio and be able to listen to Classical anytime I want rather than NPR stations that just air it a few hours a day. And those NPR station usually air very little classical music then on the weekend. But fortunately I do not have to get XM radio because of HD radio.
At home I like to listen to different Classical stations online. My goal is to check out every station but most stations broadcast either Classical 24 or the Beethoven Network from WFMT so there is not that many local programmed Classical stations to check out anymore.
My local station WUIS HD3 carrying Classical 24 is online too but I do not see the need to listen to it online because online there are already so many choices and I would rather check out what other stations are playing and how they sound. There was a blog about maybe just having a couple Classical music streams a couple years ago on this site. I think that if a classical station is just carrying a satellite network that is available all over the internet there is no need for them to stream it too. They are better off saving their money and pointing listeners to another site. But I know most mangers would want to keep or get all the listeners they can.
Yeah there is so much music to listen to but so little time.
I do not have a cell phone let alone a smart phone or Ipad. I use Skype. Smart phones with a data plan are expensive are expensive and i work for PBS.
Hi! My mother is lamenting the loss of classical radio in Ames. Is there a classical HD signal she could receive if we bought her the right radio? No, she doesn’t have internet and doesn’t want it. sigh……
I hope you get this or already figured it out. I just saw the comment a month late. Yes the station that was classical WOI 90.1 moved the classical to their HD2 at
90.1-2. So if you buy her an HD radio she can receive Classical music again for free on a radio.
I wrote in to Iowa Public Radio to complain that they do not have the HD stations listed on their website. But it did not good.
Also Iowa Public Radio has a new CP for KICG 91.7 that will serve Ames with a 24 hour analog Classical signal. But I do not know when it will be built. However WOI 90.1 will be a much stronger signal.
this will be the coverage area for KICG 91.7:
https://maps.google.com/?q=http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/contourplot.kml%3Fgmap%3D2%26appid%3D1486648%26call%3DKICG%26freq%3D91.7%26contour%3D60%26city%3DPERRY%26state%3DIA.kml
Finally I think its a shame that Iowa Public radio replaced the Classical music on the analog WOI 90.1 for AAA rock which I do not like. And a shame they program NPR news and AAA rock on several other stations too in areas with no Classical music or areas where the Classical music in on weaker signals.
It was a move to appeal to a younger audience so they could grow there audience. But on the positive side WOI analog also aired NPR news in morning and afternoon drive when most people listen. While WOI HD2 and when it comes on KICG 91.7 will be 24 hours of Classical. So at least Iowa public radio has not abandoned classical but are trying to keep it going with stations dedicated to it 24 hours a day. And they plan on adding a few more lower powered classical signals to make up for coverage lost.
Hi Brian,
Thanks for the information — there’s also a little “independent” classical station growing in Ames:
http://khoifm.org
However, what’s really interesting is that my mother’s maiden name is Marchand! She’s from south Louisiana (Donaldsonville), where one still finds quite a few.
I hope you are able to get an HD radio for your mom. Best Buy or online are about the only places currently.
It looks like KHOI 89.1 is trying to build a studio and will have a lot of talk programs. There schedule is not online but you say they are airing classical music. Did the Classical start after WOI 90.1 dropped Classical? If so they are trying to capitalize on it. I would guess when Iowa Public Radio builds KICG 91.7 they will not air Classical anymore.
That is cool your mom maiden name is Marchand.