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WSUI
WSUI (910 AM) is a public radio station in Iowa City, Iowa. It is owned by Iowa Public Radio, Inc. and is a member of Iowa Public Radio's news network. Its signal serves most of eastern Iowa. WSUI is one of two National Public Radio member stations in the region, along with 90.9 KUNI in Cedar Falls. WSUI's sister station is classical music outlet 91.7 KSUI.
WSUI's studios and offices are on Grand Avenue in Des Moines. The transmitter is off Sand Road SE in Hills, Iowa.
WSUI got its start in 1911, prior to the era of broadcast radio, operating a "wireless telegraph" transmitter under the experimental radio call sign 9YA. It began airing voice broadcasts in 1919, and was granted a full license on June 26, 1922, originally as WHAA. The call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call signs.
WSUI may be the oldest educational station west of the Mississippi River. It was one of several AM stations opened by Midwestern universities in the early days of radio, along with Iowa State University's WOI, which also began Morse code transmissions in 1911, the University of Minnesota's KUOM and St. Louis University's WEW in 1912 and the University of Wisconsin's WHA in 1915.
The station's call sign, 9YA (the "Y" in the call sign indicating operation under a Technical and Training School license) was in use by the State University of Iowa—now the University of Iowa—since 1915, starting sometime after the installation of the university's first Morse code transmitter in 1913. As of 1916, university electrical engineering students were operating a 2,000 watt spark gap transmitter at a 750-meter wavelength that could be heard 1000 miles away, with two-way communications taking place within a 500-mile radius. The station aired 300-word lessons on a regular schedule that dealt with wireless communication.
Carl Menzer, whose interest in wireless began at his high school in Lone Tree, entered the State University of Iowa as a freshman in 1917, and later became station director for WHAA/WSUI, a position he held until his retirement in 1968. After the World War I moratorium on radio transmission was lifted in 1919, Menzer brought vacuum tube technology to 9YA, signaling the start of regularly scheduled voice and music broadcasts.
The first "radio telephone" station, built using two donated experimental vacuum tubes, required use of two microphones for voice and for pickup of a windup phonograph. The microphones were swapped frequently when the one in use became too hot to touch due to high current. In spite of audio quality and technical issues, the station gained a following among a collection of crystal radio enthusiasts. Within two years, it had inspired sufficient interest to cause State University of Iowa President Walter A. Jessup and other educators to envision the feasibility of advanced study in broadcasting. That led to an application for a university broadcast license. On June 26, 1922, the call sign WHAA was assigned. By the end of September, test transmissions were complete, and on October 17, 1922, the station was officially on the air. A gala on-air commemoration included a talk by President Jessup.
WHAA changed its call sign to WSUI in 1925. WSUI represents the initials of State University of Iowa, the legal name of the University of Iowa. New radio stations in Iowa today have call signs beginning with a K. In the earliest days of broadcasting, stations in Iowa, such as WHO Des Moines and WOI in Ames, were given call letters starting with a W. In 1923, the boundary between K and W stations moved from the western border of Nebraska and South Dakota to the Mississippi River, putting Iowa in K territory. Despite this change, stations in Iowa that already had W call signs were apparently allowed to request new ones: besides WSUI, WJAM became WMT in 1928, and WKBB became WDBQ in 1952.
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WSUI
WSUI (910 AM) is a public radio station in Iowa City, Iowa. It is owned by Iowa Public Radio, Inc. and is a member of Iowa Public Radio's news network. Its signal serves most of eastern Iowa. WSUI is one of two National Public Radio member stations in the region, along with 90.9 KUNI in Cedar Falls. WSUI's sister station is classical music outlet 91.7 KSUI.
WSUI's studios and offices are on Grand Avenue in Des Moines. The transmitter is off Sand Road SE in Hills, Iowa.
WSUI got its start in 1911, prior to the era of broadcast radio, operating a "wireless telegraph" transmitter under the experimental radio call sign 9YA. It began airing voice broadcasts in 1919, and was granted a full license on June 26, 1922, originally as WHAA. The call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call signs.
WSUI may be the oldest educational station west of the Mississippi River. It was one of several AM stations opened by Midwestern universities in the early days of radio, along with Iowa State University's WOI, which also began Morse code transmissions in 1911, the University of Minnesota's KUOM and St. Louis University's WEW in 1912 and the University of Wisconsin's WHA in 1915.
The station's call sign, 9YA (the "Y" in the call sign indicating operation under a Technical and Training School license) was in use by the State University of Iowa—now the University of Iowa—since 1915, starting sometime after the installation of the university's first Morse code transmitter in 1913. As of 1916, university electrical engineering students were operating a 2,000 watt spark gap transmitter at a 750-meter wavelength that could be heard 1000 miles away, with two-way communications taking place within a 500-mile radius. The station aired 300-word lessons on a regular schedule that dealt with wireless communication.
Carl Menzer, whose interest in wireless began at his high school in Lone Tree, entered the State University of Iowa as a freshman in 1917, and later became station director for WHAA/WSUI, a position he held until his retirement in 1968. After the World War I moratorium on radio transmission was lifted in 1919, Menzer brought vacuum tube technology to 9YA, signaling the start of regularly scheduled voice and music broadcasts.
The first "radio telephone" station, built using two donated experimental vacuum tubes, required use of two microphones for voice and for pickup of a windup phonograph. The microphones were swapped frequently when the one in use became too hot to touch due to high current. In spite of audio quality and technical issues, the station gained a following among a collection of crystal radio enthusiasts. Within two years, it had inspired sufficient interest to cause State University of Iowa President Walter A. Jessup and other educators to envision the feasibility of advanced study in broadcasting. That led to an application for a university broadcast license. On June 26, 1922, the call sign WHAA was assigned. By the end of September, test transmissions were complete, and on October 17, 1922, the station was officially on the air. A gala on-air commemoration included a talk by President Jessup.
WHAA changed its call sign to WSUI in 1925. WSUI represents the initials of State University of Iowa, the legal name of the University of Iowa. New radio stations in Iowa today have call signs beginning with a K. In the earliest days of broadcasting, stations in Iowa, such as WHO Des Moines and WOI in Ames, were given call letters starting with a W. In 1923, the boundary between K and W stations moved from the western border of Nebraska and South Dakota to the Mississippi River, putting Iowa in K territory. Despite this change, stations in Iowa that already had W call signs were apparently allowed to request new ones: besides WSUI, WJAM became WMT in 1928, and WKBB became WDBQ in 1952.