WABE (FM)
From Free net encyclopedia
WABE FM 90.1 is an Atlanta radio station and affiliate of National Public Radio. WABE has a mostly classical music format but airs newscasts from NPR as well. The station is owned and operated by the Atlanta Board of Education (hence the callsign "ABE"). The station's signal is transmitted from a tower in east Atlanta in DeKalb County; it reaches practically all of the northwestern and north central parts of the state. It is the dominant noncommerical station in metropolitan Atlanta; Georgia Public Broadcasting serves the remainder of the state with public radio programs.
WABE also broadcasts the Georgia Radio Reading Service and educational programming via subcarriers on its frequency.
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History
WABE has always been operated by the city school system; it started in 1948 and may well have been the first-ever noncommercial radio station in the Southern U.S., at least on the FM band. Its first studios were located in the former Atlanta city hall; the station moved, along with television station WETV (now WPBA), channel 30, into facilities in northeastern Atlanta in 1958, where both stations remain to this day.
The school board used WABE strictly as a medium for educational (i.e., in-school) broadcasts until sometime in the 1960s, when classical music broadcasts (and likely evening broadcasts also) premiered on the station. The early 1970s saw the beginnings of NPR network programming, an increase of transmission power, and the introduction of stereo broadcasting. By the early 1980s, the educational programs heard during school hours moved, thanks to the development of subcarrier technologies, to subchannels, leaving the main FM frequency free to broadcast music and news shows for adults. The station finally expanded its hours to around-the-clock service and established its tower on Stone Mountain, where a number of other Atlanta-area broadcast properties transmit from also.
WABE has since that time grown steadily in listeners served, mainly because Atlanta is one of the nation's fastest-growing metropolitan areas, and the fastest-growing of the top 15 or so.
Local Weekday Hosts
Jennifer Gates--"Morning Edition" local news anchor.
Lois Reitzes--the longtime host of morning classical program "Second Cup" and of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra broadcasts. She came to WABE in 1979 from WFIU-FM in Bloomington, Ind. Mrs. Reitzes served as a classical host for WFIU while at Indiana University working toward a double major in piano and musicology. Further, Mrs. Reitzes is quite an accomplished pianist.
Wanda Yang Temko--hosts the "Bach's Lunch" afternoon classical program. Like Mrs. Reitzes, Mrs. Temko graduated from IU-Bloomington's music school and announced on WFIU-FM. She sings in operatic performances in the Atlanta area and teaches voice. Ms. Temko also announces on Saturday afternoons and hosts the Sunday evening program "The Art of Song."
John Lemley--originally the host of the afternoon classical program, then called "Daytime." A nine-year veteran of the WABE staff, he was named local anchor of NPR's "All Things Considered" in 2005. Lemley also serves as producer and host of WABE's "Tapestry," a weekly program of choral music heard Sunday evenings. He also provides the voiceover for WPBA-TV (also operated by the city school board), during daytime broadcasts. Lemley came to WABE from WBHM-FM in Birmingham, Ala.
Robert Hubert--a 21-year veteran of WABE's staff, Hubert hosts the evening classical program "Nocturne" and serves as the station's music librarian and webmaster. He also hosts "Atlanta Music Scene", heard on Monday evenings during his regular program.
Local Specialty Program Hosts
H. Johnson--a legendary Atlanta broadcaster in his own right, he has hosted the Saturday-night "Jazz Classics" show since the early 1980s. Johnson, known only by his first initial, for many years was a disc jockey on WAOK-AM, one of Atlanta's heritage African-American stations.
Valerie Richardson Jackson--hosts the book-review program "Between the Lines," heard early Thursday evenings. She is the widow of the late Maynard Jackson, mayor of Atlanta during the mid- and late-1970s.
Pat Marcus--hosts during the Saturday morning broadcasts of "Weekend Edition".
Leah Fleming, Kate Sweeney, Ted Vigodsky--WABE news reporters, whose features are heard during "ME" and "ATC".
Miscellanea
The city school board had WABE's callsign changed to WPBA-FM for a month in 1984 to reflect the TV station's new callsign (from WETV), but audience disapproval and confusion prompted the board to quickly return it to WABE.
External links
| Atlanta metro area FM radio stations WJSP 88.1 | WRAS 88.5 | WBCX 89.1 | WRFG 89.3 | WABE 90.1 | WUWG 90.7 | WREK 91.1 | WWEV 91.5 | WCLK 91.9 | WZGC 92.9 | WVFJ 93.3 | WSTR 94.1 | WLTM 94.9 | WBTS 95.5 | WKLS 96.1 | WVWA 96.7 | WSRV 97.1 | WPZE 97.5 | WKCX 97.7 | WSB 98.5 | WNNX 99.7 | WNSY 100.1 | WWWQ 100.5 | WKHX 101.5 | WAZX 101.9 | WLKQ 102.3 | WAMJ 102.5 | WCKS 102.7 | WMJE 102.9 | WVEE 103.3 | WPUP 103.7 | WALR 104.1 | WFSH 104.7 | WBZY 105.3 | WWVA 105.7 | WNGC 106.1 | WHLE 106.3 | WYAY 106.7 | WTSH 107.1 | WJZZ 107.5 | WHTA 107.9 | WPCG 107.9 |