- This article is about a public radio station. For Washington Mutual bank, see Washington Mutual.
WAMU is a public radio station that services the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area. The station broadcasts on 88.5 FM; online at wamu.org; and on HD Radio at 88.5, Channels 1, 2, and 3. WAMU is on-air 24 hours a day. It is licensed to American University and its studios are located near the campus in northwest Washington, D.C. WAMU's HD Channel 2 broadcasts content from WTMD, a AAA station in Towson, Md.; Channel 3 broadcasts WAMU's BluegrassCountry, which is also available at bluegrasscountry.org.
![]() | |
Broadcast area | Washington, DC |
---|---|
Frequency | 88.5 (MHz) Also Available on HD Radio |
Programming | |
Format | Public radio/NPR |
Ownership | |
Owner | American University |
History | |
First air date | July 28, 1951 |
Call sign meaning | AMerican University |
Technical information | |
ERP | 5500 watts |
Links | |
Website | http://www.wamu.org/ |
WAMU is a National Public Radio affiliate, carrying content from NPR, American Public Media, Public Radio International and the BBC World Service. In addition, WAMU produces its own interview and bluegrass music shows, including The Diane Rehm Show, Hot Jazz Saturday Night, The Kojo Nnamdi Show, and Bluegrass Overnight.
WAMU-AM was a carrier current student radio station with limited range. It was only available on campus. The call letters of this station were changed to WVAU.
History
WAMU made its first AM broadcast on July 28, 1951, and the first FM broadcast was on October 23, 1961.
In 2004, the prominent Washington journalist Ellen Wadley Roper left WAMU a $250,000 bequest.
As of January 22, 2007 at 8:00 PM, WAMU became Washington, DC's only NPR full-time news station, when WETA, also in Washington, DC, changed to an all classical music format, filling the void of WGMS.
External links