Wisconsin Public Radio has announced plans to switch WLSU/88.9 (La Crosse) to its NPR News and Classical Music network full-time, dropping nighttime and weekend programming that varies from the statewide network.
Currently, WLSU carries the statewide network until 8 p.m. and then switches over to NPR’s World Cafe followed by Jazz and Blues programming from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. The programming is a legacy of WLSU’s format prior to joining WPR in the 1990s.
Beginning March 8, WLSU will switch full-time to the statewide network, adding its syndicated Classical music on Sunday through Thursday evenings and The Jazz Network on Friday and Saturday evenings. WLSU will also drop local Saturday afternoon Jazz programming and a block of national shows that had aired on Sunday evenings.
“Jazz has played an important role for WLSU over the past 50 years, so we didn’t make this change without careful consideration, but our listeners let us know that it was time to move in another direction,” Ezra Wall, WPR’s regional manager, said in a news release.
Wall said the change will allow WPR to redirect resources to “projects with a more noticeable impact on our listeners.”
WPR’s evening and overnight Classical programming comes from Classical 24, which is also heard on Minnesota Public Radio’s K201BW/88.1 (La Crescent-La Crosse).