WPR To End HD Radio on Half of Stations

Wisconsin Public Radio has announced plans to end HD Radio broadcasts on seven of its stations, mostly in rural areas of the state, and suggested that the remaining HD signals may also be turned off in the future.

Beginning Oct. 19, WPR will turn off HD signals at KUWS/91.3 (Superior), WHSA/89.9 (Brule), WUWS/90.9 (Ashland), WHBM/90.3 (Park Falls), WHWC/88.3 (Menomonie-Eau Claire), WHAA/89.1 (Adams), and WHDI/91.9 (Sister Bay). The stations’ analog signals will remain on the air; WHSA carries WPR’s News and Music Network while the others carry the Ideas Network.

The shutdown means the end of the 24-hour Classical network available on the stations’ HD2 signals, but the service will remain available online and in other parts of the state. WPR’s announcement notes that few listeners have purchased HD radios and suggests that the HD2 signals being shut off have fewer than 500 listeners combined.

WPR and the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board had implemented HD broadcasts on 13 stations beginning in 2007 after receiving federal grants, but the network says the costs of maintaining the service are no longer justifiable based on audience use.

“We are always cautious about shutting down services,” WPR Director Mike Crane said in the announcement. “In this case, the resources we were spending to maintain HD Radio will be redirected to sustain other services that audiences clearly prefer,” he said.

HD broadcasts will continue on WHAD/90.7 (Delafield-Milwaukee), WERN/88.7 (Madison), WHHI/91.3 (Highland), WHLA/90.3 (La Crosse), WHRM/90.9 (Wausau), and WPNE/89.3 (Green Bay), though WPR’s announcement cautions that the signals will remain on the air “for now.”

The announcement did not specify how WPR decided which HD stations to shut down and which ones to keep on the air. WHAD and WHHI are in areas where WPR has only one signal, while WERN and WHRM use HD subchannels to feed translators.

In Superior, 24-hour Classical music is also available from Minnesota Public Radio’s WSCD/92.9 (Duluth). The shutdown of KUWS’ HD signal could benefit MPR’s W215CG/90.9 (Duluth), which appears to receive interference from KUWS’ sideband HD signal.