WOI (AM)

WOI (640

Historically, WOI is one of the oldest radio stations in the United States, having begun experimental transmissions in 1911.

History

Historical broadcasts

The history of WOI can be traced back to 1911. Iowa State physics professor "Dad" Hoffman installed a transmission line between the Campus Water Tower and the Engineering Building and set up a wireless

The first sound broadcast was an hour of concert music on November 21, 1921. The Commerce Department issued a full radio license for station WOI in April 1922. The first regular broadcast took place on April 28, 1922; 102 years ago (April 28, 1922). The original call sign 9YI is now W0YI and is retained by the ISU Campus Radio Club, with the amateur radio station in the Electrical Engineering building.

WOI may be the oldest fully licensed non-commercial station west of the

The first regular programming on WOI was farm market reports gathered by ticker tape and Morse code, broadcast throughout the state. Another early staple was sporting events by Iowa State's athletic teams. In 1925, "The Music Shop" aired for the first time. One of the longest-running programs in the history of radio, it moved to WOI-FM in the 1970s before going off the air in 2006. In 1927. another longtime favorite, "The Book Club" was added; it also aired until 2006.

On December 1, 1949, Iowa State launched an FM

NPR affiliate

WOI-AM-FM became a charter member of

Today WOI's programming consists of both NPR and locally produced talk shows along with local news reports and BBC news updates. The classical music of the early years migrated exclusively to 90.1 WOI-FM in the 1960s. When the radio services of Iowa's state universities were merged into Iowa Public Radio in 2004, WOI became the flagship of IPR's Operations and IT services.

FM translator

References

External links

• Official website
• WOI in the FCC AM station database
• WOI in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• Iowa Public Radio – IPR News
• Spark to Voice - History of 9YI and early WOI