WMOT

Last updated
WMOT
Broadcast area Nashville, Tennessee
Frequency 89.5 MHz (HD Radio)
BrandingROOTS RADIO
Programming
Format Americana
Subchannels HD2: Jazz
HD3: WMTS-FM simulcast
Ownership
Owner Middle Tennessee State University
WMTS-FM
History
First air date
April 9, 1969;55 years ago (April 9, 1969)
Call sign meaning
Middle Of Tennessee
Technical information
Facility ID 41997
Class C1
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 206 meters (676 ft)
Translator(s) See § Translators
Links
Webcast Listen live
Listen Live (HD2)
Website wmot.org

WMOT-FM (89.5 FM) is a public radio station serving the metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee market. Licensed to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, it is owned by the Middle Tennessee State University alongside WMTS-FM (88.3 FM), with studios for both stations located at the John Bragg Media and Entertainment Building on campus. WMOT's transmitter is located south of Gladeville, Tennessee. It broadcasts an Americana-based format branded as Roots Radio.

Contents

Due to its location, WMOT's signal is strongest and clearest in Nashville and surrounding counties.

History

Originally started in April 1969 [1] employing various forms of pop and rock music that was aimed at a student listenership, WMOT ran a full-time jazz music format between 1982 and 2009, aimed at a somewhat larger, more adult audience. By the late 2000s, WMOT was one of only a handful of U.S. public radio stations employing a jazz format full-time, without filling much of the broadcast day with news and other genres. At various times in the station's history, it has broadcast MTSU football and basketball games as well; WMOT has broadcast those athletic contests mainly because of the lack of interest from commercial stations in the immediate Murfreesboro or Nashville markets in doing so.

In 1995, the MTSU student government body started another college radio station, WMTS-FM, to serve the campus audience once served by WMOT.

In 2008, WMOT lost its annual grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), due to a number of factors. This loss of revenue, along with appropriations cuts by the state of Tennessee, prompted MTSU officials to consider discontinuing the station in early 2009. However, in late 2009, the university decided to instead merge WMOT's operations into a consortium with the other MTSU media (such as WMTS and the student newspaper) titled the Media Convergence Center, with consequent reductions in the station's subsidy, [2] in order to avoid closing it down.

Along with the reorganization, WMOT decided to make radical scheduling changes, notably discontinuing its exclusively jazz format in order to appeal to a wider audience in the Nashville market.[ citation needed ] In October 2009, WMOT added news and talk programming to the morning and afternoon "drive time" slots between 5 and 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. from the BBC and Public Radio International. However, after Nashville public radio outlet WPLN-FM discontinued classical music programming during the daytime on weekdays in 2009, WMOT decided in February 2011 to fill the void by replacing jazz with classical between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., formerly the hours when WPLN broadcast that format, in order to gain listeners seeking that format. WMOT also brought back, after many years' absence, National Public Radio's flagship program, All Things Considered , although it duplicated the program's carriage by WPLN (as did the NPR hourly news updates). ATC was dropped after the format change in 2016 (see below).

The situation among public broadcasters in the Nashville market became more complicated later that year when that WPLN's parent organization, Nashville Public Radio, acquired the Vanderbilt University student-run station WRVU in June, converting it into an all-classical format under the WFCL callsign, while the main WPLN signal became a full-time news-and-talk outlet. In November 2020, WFCL itself changed formats (and callsign to WNXP) to adult album alternative, intended partly to compete against the current WMOT format. [3]

On August 26, 2016, it was announced that WMOT would switch to an Americana-based format on September 2, 2016, in partnership with the syndicated music program Music City Roots. College of Media and Entertainment Dean Ken Paulson explained that the new format was meant to "truly [reflect] both Nashville's musical past and present", adding that they wanted WMOT's content to "become more tightly integrated with our educational opportunities at the college". The program's co-creator John Walker praised the partnership, stating that "We've always dreamed there would be a radio station that would fully embrace the Roots, Americana music going on all over the country, but centered right here in Middle Tennessee." The previous jazz format moved to WMOT-HD2, simulcasting on 92.3 W222BZ in Bluhmtown, and later also 104.9 W285FB in Bellevue. [4]

Programming currently includes the nationally syndicated shows Hangin' & Sangin', The String, and Bel-Aire Drive. [5] Webb Wilder, a Nashville-based alternative rock artist, serves as an afternoon disc jockey on WMOT as of late 2020.

HD Radio

WMOT carries two HD Radio subchannels: WMOT-HD2 carried "old-time radio" programs until September 2, 2016, when it switched to WMOT's former classical and jazz format (now carrying strictly jazz, as noted above), and WMOT-HD3 simulcasts WMTS-FM. [6]

Translators

Broadcast translators for WMOT HD1-HD2-HD3
Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) HAAT Class Transmitter coordinatesFCC infoNotes
W222BZ 92.3 FM Bluhmtown, Tennessee 1476532500  m (0  ft)D 35°51′56.2″N85°58′29.9″W / 35.865611°N 85.974972°W / 35.865611; -85.974972 (W222BZ) LMS Relays WMOT HD2
W230BX 93.9 FM Columbia, Tennessee 1452523840 m (131 ft)D 35°37′5.3″N87°2′32.0″W / 35.618139°N 87.042222°W / 35.618139; -87.042222 (W230BX) LMS Relays WMOT HD1
W234CD94.7 FM Hollywood, Tennessee 1450341030 m (98 ft)D 35°29′16.2″N87°1′30.0″W / 35.487833°N 87.025000°W / 35.487833; -87.025000 (W234CD) LMS Relays WMOT HD1
W237DY95.3 FM Chestnut Ridge, Tennessee 1449903010 m (33 ft)D 35°21′18.2″N86°31′26.9″W / 35.355056°N 86.524139°W / 35.355056; -86.524139 (W237DY) LMS Relays WMOT HD1
W285FB 104.9 FM Bellevue, Tennessee 1560002300 m (0 ft)D 36°2′59.0″N86°49′59.0″W / 36.049722°N 86.833056°W / 36.049722; -86.833056 (W285FB) LMS Relays WMOT HD2

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "'Campus FM station keeping it 'smart'". Murfreesboropost.com. 2007-10-30. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  2. ↑ [ dead link ]
  3. ↑ "Ways to Listen to Classical Music". 5 November 2020.
  4. ↑ "MTSU, Music City Roots launch Americana radio station". The Tennessean. Gannett. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  5. ↑ "PRX » Station » WMOT" . Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  6. ↑ "HD Radio station guide for Nashville, Tennessee". HDRadio.com. Retrieved October 4, 2017.

36°05′06″N86°26′20″W / 36.085°N 86.439°W / 36.085; -86.439

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