KERA (90.1 FM) is a public radio station based in Dallas, Texas that is the National Public Radio member for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Its main transmitter is located in Cedar Hill, Texas, and translators serve Tyler (K261CW, 100.1 FM) and Wichita Falls (K202DR, 88.3 FM). The station was established on July 11, 1974. The station's call letters, which are said to represent a "new era in broadcasting," are shared with Dallas public television station KERA-TV; both are owned by North Texas Public Broadcasting Inc., a non-profit corporation registered in the state of Texas. While there is cross-promotion between stations, each operates its own pledge drives.
| Broadcast area | Denton/Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 90.1 MHz |
| Branding | KERA 90.1 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Public Radio |
| Affiliations | NPR |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | North Texas Public Broadcasting, Inc. |
| History | |
First air date | 1973 (as KZAG) |
Former call signs | KZAG (1973-1974) |
Call sign meaning | New era of broadcasting |
| Links | |
| Website | kera.org |
Programming format
KERA's format is primarily talk shows and other programming from National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Radio International (PRI), with BBC World Service broadcasts airing overnight. Until the autumn of 2005, locally produced shows included Abby Goldstein's Lone Star Saturday Night, a show highlighting Texas music and musicians; and a weekday talk show, The Glenn Mitchell Show. But the cancellation of Goldstein's show and Glenn Mitchell's death on November 20, 2005 reduced regular local programming to the Sunday-night music program 90.1 at Night. Soon after, Mitchell's two hour talk-show slot was revived as a one-hour show entitled The Talk Show and is produced in a similar manner to Glenn's version, with a team of new hosts.
Mitchell had held each year a multi-hour Glenn Mitchell's Christmas Spectacular, which featured the host's archive of holiday-related interviews, stories and songs. A special version of the Christmas show was produced in 2005. It is unclear what will now become of the Christmas show after 2005.
Following the demise of Mitchell the amount of original programming produced by KERA has continued to shrink and the station now fills much of his former time slot with network programming. Many of the replacement programs are relays of the BBC World Service.
Funding
Like other public radio stations in the United States, KERA broadcasts extensive on-air pledge drives in order to raise monetary contributions from listenership to part-pay for programs and operations. The remainder comes from government and corporate sponsorship. Sponsors are noted on air in the form of abbreviated commercials.
Station Slogans
Radio Worth Listening To (1990s)
Radio Unlimited (2001- )
External links
- Template:FMQ
- KERA Radio
- Listen to KERA online via Windows Media Audio and MP3 streams.
- Template:FMQ; see also listing with map and translators at Recnet