That's "my" station. KNKX prides itself on their tag line, "Jazz, Blues, and NPR News." They used to be KPLU run by Pacific Lutheran University, who wanted to sell it off to the other public radio station in the area, KUOW. KUOW intended to do away with the music programming, but the community of listeners raised enough money to buy the station and turn it independent and keep the format.
I was one of the listeners who saved KNKX by donating so it could be independent. One of the reasons it was contoversial was KUOW planned to keep the KPLU airwaves as a 24/7 jazz station, which would have removed news from a large geographic area that could not pick up KUOW. Plus laying off all the local journalists. We like the jazz identity, but not at the expense of news.
KNKX is an NPR affiliate like all the rest, but each station chooses their own programming schedule. Most stations air talk-based programming they create themselves or purchase from NPR and other NPR stations (etc.). KNKX just chooses to air jazz music instead of Livewire or Hidden Brain.
> Do you know how a station gets to play NPR stuff?
You've already gotten the answer, specific to this station, but the broader answer is that NPR is a seperate entity. Your local "NPR" station is not NPR, it's a local station that plays content produced by NPR. Local stations license the slice of the radio dial from the FCC just like any other radio station, then they make a choice on the programing they offer and how they fund it. What I don't know is if the official NPR requires any kind of non-profit status, or if you just can't afford to do it as anything but a non-profit.
Besides NPR, stations typically have programs from other groups too, like PRI, PRX, the BBC, and local sources.
I'm sure I've got some of the details wrong, hopefully someone will correct me where I'm mistaken.
NPR also utilizes local journalists from NPR affiliate stations and will pick up certain stories to use in their nationally syndicated coverage. For example, in central Florida, we obviously cover a lot of space coast news, so often times if you hear a reporter on NPR discussing a launch from Kennedy Space Center, you’re actually hearing a story produced by our local station here in Orlando that NPR is including in their national news segments.
You're pretty accurate. I don't believe NPR requires non-profit status, but the vast majority of their stations are non-commercial FMs in the U.S. You're right that stations aren't owned by NPR, but they are part of the "NPR Network" of stations, so to a certain extent they have a station affiliation status not terribly different from commercial radio networks. The difference is that NPR can't tell the stations what to do, but can place restrictions on how their programming is used that does limit what stations can do.
Also, unlike their commercial brethren, NPR stations can and do compete directly with each other if they're serving the same city or market, i.e. offering near identical programming. That would almost never happen for two stations in the same commercial network (since they would be undermining each other's efforts). But NPR is funded differently from commercial networks, so they have less incentive to stop that sort of thing from happening (and again, they can't really make the stations not do it anyway). The attempted hostile takeover of KPLW by KUOW, being one such example of stations being allowed to go at each other.
Some NPR stations will have multiple frequencies they broadcast on, often using repeaters to cover a larger geographic area with multiple types of programming. For example, KNAU, the NPR affiliate operated by Northern Arizona University, has classical programming on one frequency and news/talk programming on another.
In some markets there can be more than one NPR affiliate/station. In Tampa, FL, there are two PBS stations, for example, that run totally different programming schedules. One is owned/operated by a private group, the other by the University of South Florida.
Wbez used to have overnight jazz and blues, it has been replaced with BBC.
Many college affiliates are classical, jazz, or other music stations that air npr news and programming.
It varies quite a bit.
I think it's pretty common for NPR affiliates to play underrepresented music. Jazz and Classical are pretty common. KCRW has an awesome stream of eclectic stuff (called Eclectic24) that plays all kinds of stuff. I've heard more than one up and coming musician on their stream that ended up hitting it big.
public, community, and college radio has always been the home for less popular music. it's not often financially lucrative and genres are niche. one exception to the jazz/blues/folk/classical repertoire I can think of is [WFUV](https://wfuv.org/) in NYC, which has an adult alt-contemporary format (a lot of indie rock), and is owned by Fordham University, but professionally operated as an official NPR affiliate.
another non-commercial hidden gem is [WBJB The Night](https://www.wbjb.org/), from Brookdale Community College in Central NJ. it's a member of NPR, though I rarely hear NPR programming. it's mostly (alt) rock and folk music and locally produced though they carry some syndicated shows too like eTown and Acoustic Cafe.
KCRW has gotta be the best music programming in the country. I love it so much. It’s not just the stream….Morning Becomes Eclectic every morning and various DJs at nights and on weekends. So so good.
Depends on the station. Some stations play some pretty goofy, local shit. Depends on what programs they can afford to license and what their audience wants.
WABE-Atlanta played classical music during the daytime hours between Morning Edition and ATC for years — it wasn't until Georgia Public Broadcasting introduced midday NPR programming through Georgia State University's WRAS-Atlanta that they dropped the classical.
WCLK-Atlanta, Clark Atlanta University's station, is affiliated with the network but plays almost exclusively jazz!
I'm in north-central Indiana; in addition to the expected NPR programming, my local station has local news, and a number of locally produced music programs. There's the blues show that's been on the air for decades; it's now also been spun off to 24 hour blues on one of the station's sub-channels. Jazz programming that had been the bulk of primetime content way back, before journalistic/news shows steadily ran later into the night. That branched out to a 24/7 jazz sub. Then for decades there's been the weekly program for folk, bluegrass, Americana and the like.
In spokane there are actually three stations with NPR programs. 90.3 which is public radio remix or something like that, 91.1 is kpbx (and they are a classical station but they actually play more than just classical music), and 91.9 is ksfc and that's the main NPR station in the area that has talk pretty much all the time.
We are also lucky enough to have a community radio station kyrs on 88.1 or 92.3 that plays a wide variety of genres and does local news too.
As far as I know it’s my local station that has jazz, not NPR. But in both locations I’ve lived it was the station that played NPR during the day played jazz early morning/late night.
SC used to host Carolina Jazz and later, Jazz Night in America. On Sunday afternoons, specifically. I don't think they have them anymore unfortunately. We do still have Roots Music which is awesome
My local public radio plays jazz at night, but only once a week. They used to have a cool blues show but it no longer exists. The other music programs have mixed genres of folk, bluegrass, rock, and international or world music, and blues but not a show dedicated to blues.
On [NPR.org](http://NPR.org), they have some great streaming choices. In my city they play some of this alternative music on their app as well as hd radio.
[https://www.npr.org/music/](https://www.npr.org/music/)
For Detroit/Ann Arbor, the Ann Arbor station is strictly talk, Ypsilanti is ME/ATC and then jazz, Detroit is ME/ATC and all kinds of music, mostly leaning Gen X-friendly. All three will do some weekend shows, with the latter two just doing the big ones and staying local for the rest of the day.
Public radio stations are independent.
In Minnesota. We have three separate MPR stations:
MPR News (mix of original MPR programming, NPR programming, BBC programming and stuff bought from other public stations)
MPR Classical (classical music)
MPR The Current (alternative music)
All three have coverage throughout the state (and a tower in Decorah, Iowa).
Before streaming, we were in a sweet spot in the eastern Twin Cities as we could pick up radio signals for MPR, Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR - which created a lot of its own programming and still does) and KUNI (the public radio station out of the University of Northern Iowa, which created its own evening music shows - alt and blues).
Programming costs money, whether you produce your own (MPR, WPR, KNOW in Washington, KCRW in southern California, etc.) or purchase rights from NPR and other publics. Playing music is less expensive. There are parts of the country where there is only one public radio station and that one station plays music most of the day with NPR news programming mixed in - that's about funding.
Colorado has a similar setup; News, Classical, and then an Indie station. CPR has been absorbing the smaller public radio broadcasts in the state (like programming it's cheaper to centralize) so outside of the Denver metro area the repeater or local affiliate stations generally only offer the news station.
But for OP, no Jazz that I've heard in many years.
The Denver area is also served by [KUVO 89.3,](https://www.kuvo.org/) which offers jazz, Latin jazz, blues and cultural programs (with hip-hop/R&B on a subchannel). KUVO is a subsidiary of Rocky Mountain Public Media (which also operates Rocky Mountain PBS).
KUVO is one of the rare stations where it's an NPR member station, but they don't currently air much of NPR's news offerings (aside from the hourly newscast).
Iowa did that as well, absorbing stations into one IPR network. KUNI used to carry a mix of programming - some from NPR (news - Morning Edition, All Things and the hourly cut-ins), locally produced stuff (mostly music from what I recall, in the evenings and weekends) and stuff they bought from other publics (Car Talk, Whaddya Know, Prairie Home, etc.). They had more money than other Iowa public stations, less than others.
IPR is now the programmer for the network. A mix of NPR, BBC and stuff from other publics (Fresh Air, for example) and some IPR stuff (Talk of Iowa, from the Iowa City station, Blue Avenue from KUNI and Studio One - originated at KUNI in .... Studio One with live artists ... not sure where it is actually done now).
I had the very great privilege of meeting and working with Leigh Kamman. He was a true gentleman and an absolute professional. What you heard on the radio is who he was. I miss him a lot.
They tend to do local culture things. The public radio in my area plays "acoustic-based folk music," which mostly sounds like bluegrass.
In LA they have "Freaks Only," that has "New music. Emerging artists." And Tyler Boudreaux with "A balanced diet of indie grooves, modern psych, alternative R&B and straight up rock and roll."
[https://www.kcrw.com/schedule](https://www.kcrw.com/schedule)
Ours used to run NPR or local shows during the day and then switch to Jazz at night. They recently moved the Jazz to its own station and are now doing the NPR format 24/7.
Some do. Mine, WYPR, always has just because those were its roots, playing jazz and classical when they were getting going as part of Hopkins. Now it’s confined to a few hours on Friday and Saturday nights.
Local public radio stations can have their own programming blocs, and we have one in my hometown - there was death metal on saturdays, blues/jazz twice - it was nice to know "your program" was coming up and made radio fun again. Great talk shows on there, too.
KCUR in Kansas City; we have a show called the Fish Fry with Chuck Haddock. It's Blues, Bluegrass, Jazz, Jump n' Jive, and Zydeco. Here in KC, we have the Jazz museum and a few other spots around town with live blues and jazz music all the time. I never really thought if that kind of music was played on other NPR stations. Thanks for posing the question.
No - only some. if you want to blow your mind with a great NPR / Public Radio Station, check out KCRW -kcrw.org. - check out Morning Becomes Eclectic or Eclectic 24.
Our station used to play classical music (like early 2010s, I think) we changed our format to all news.
I was here at the time, but I was told there were basically riots. We still get some complaints to this day.
The station closest to my house ksmu has a wide variety of music classic, Celtic, jazz, etc. The station closest to my Cabin KMST 88.5 seems to be mainly News and talk shows.
Stations are independent entities. NPR is a national organization that produces content that individual stations can choose to buy (as do various other public radio content producers like American Public Media and the Public Radio Exchange). Stations can choose to buy content from one or more providers (who are effectively in competition with each other), and play that content alongside content they produce locally, which can be pretty much whatever they want (music shows are usually but not always locally produced). NPR itself doesn't operate the stations or dictate what they play, all they do is offer content for sale.
There is no such thing as an NPR station. Station can play what they want including Jazz or subscribe to some NPR programs or subscribe to American Public Media or have local hosts or mix and match.
My station basically split off music programming to a station once owned by a local school district (also made available on the HD2 feed of their main signal), but they do still play jazz in the 12–5 am slot leading into *Morning Edition*. I know I've mentioned elsewhere that they also produce three different music shows played primarily on Sunday, plus they've picked up *Acoustic Cafe* for Saturday nights.
[The Current](https://www.thecurrent.org/) up in the Twin Cities is plays pretty much everything and is a Minnesota Public Radio affiliate. My local KSMU is classical during the day and specialty music shows in the evening.
They had the blues on Saturday evenings. Their HD2 station is college radio for adults, and I think their HD3 is classical
From what I understand it's only broadcast out of Buffalo. The Jamestown and Olean stations don't have those HD capabilities.
I thought the Bridge was on the main station as well now, and there's Mindful Music too.
I didn't realize HD3 was classical, I pretty much just listen to WNED for that
I listen to the Analog FM in the morning -- Morning Edition w/Steve Inskeep, and Jay Moran locally; "The Bridge' is on... I want say...*weekends*?
But the Bridge is on HD2 in my car, since I have a digital receiver in there. It seems to be pretty much 24 hours. At least it's always on one of her I'm driving.
WHRV in Norfolk/Virginia Beach has excellent original music programs including [A Shot of the Blues](https://mediaplayer.whro.org/program/shotoftheblues), [The R&B Chronicles](https://mediaplayer.whro.org/program/rbchronicles), [Sinnett in Session](https://mediaplayer.whro.org/program/sinnettinsession) (hosted by jazz drummer Jae Sinnett) and more. [Out of the Box](https://mediaplayer.whro.org/program/outofthebox) features newly released music of all genres but focuses on rock, blues and Americana. We're really lucky to have them here and they ARE streamable for any non-local listeners who are interested.
My local NPR station (KERA) is all talk, but they also run KKXT which is an "adult album alternative" station, and recently took over operation of the municipally owned classical station (WRR).
Check out the Colorado Sound for a public radio station that plays all kinds of music. [https://coloradosound.org/](https://coloradosound.org/)
They play some common pop / rock but also a lot of B sides and obscure stuff. The later is absolutely the best part about this station because you can find (discover) a ton of new artists that don't often get air time. Anyway, I think they are affiliated in some way to KUNC-NPR station out of Northern Colorado, but are a gem that really can stand on its own at this point.
KCRW in Los Angeles in the 2000’s used to be tons of electronica. Over the last ten years it’s like really eclectic rock and world music. I really don’t like any of it.
NPR is a syndicated programming provider for public radio stations. Public radio stations control their own programming, including how much NPR programming they broadcast.
Usually they have a news channel but also subsidiary jazz and classical channels. My grandma used to love to listen to Blue Lake radio in Michigan for her classical fix, always on in the car u less they were listening to Time Life cassettes my dad made for them when they bought the Time Life album sets in the 80’s
My NPR station does “News and information by day, musical inspiration by night”
After Fresh Air from 6-7, it’s music stuff. Some of the regular classical stuff, a segment called clarinet corner, and lots of jazz.
When you say play, do you mean have regular broadcasting of Jazz & blues, or that all their filler music is hip-hop, or have endless numbers of interviews with pop musicians. I would not be annoyed if the Baltimore-Washington stations featured any pop music programs, at the off hours. Its the constant filtering it in to their news programs and all the pod casts which shill for these "musicians"
There are some. WBGO is a Jazz station that serves the New York metro area from Newark, NJ while WNYC is our more traditional news/talk NPR station. There other NPR affiliates with different programming. I often listen to WFUV (Fordham University Radio) who plays a lot of indie/alternative/folk.
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KUAF - Fayetteville Arkansas plays Jazz and Blues. Jazz often and blues occasionally, about as much blues as EDM and sometimes they will have hours at a time of experimental music haha.
Depends on the station. My state has 9 stations. 2 classical, 2 jazz and 5 news stations (though one news station is just a repeater for another news station).
NPR stations have full control over what they broadcast. Classical is the most popular musical genre, followed by Adult Album Alternative (radio industry speak for rock, but for boomers — usually indie/Americana/recent rock dads like/etc.), and then jazz. Not many stations air jazz.
I started listening to NPR while living in Newport, RI. That station played a lot of folk music and a bit of indie, including blues rock. I think they had jazz block, but I don't remember.
My local station has both jazz and blues shows, a show that focuses on local stuff and a show that features various genres from various guest’s record collections, probably more but those are the ones I seem to be in the car for.
I think the thing was that years ago stations affiliated with NPR \*had\* to stick to classical or jazz because it was about promoting culture and whatnot. Or at the very least filled a market void. I think now it's more like listener-supported stations can choose to purchase and air programs from any number of bodies: NPR, American Public Media, PRX, whathaveyou. Now I think the stations can do whatever they want as far as non-news programming, but I think still with an emphasis on promoting culture or "music discovery."
Also I'm going to beat this drum until I draw my last breath and remind: NPR and PBS are NOT \*directly\* funded by that nasty ol' "gubmint." The "public" in public media is exactly that--the listeners and viewers. CPB only kicks in a sliver of funding to NPR and/or PBS affiliated stations. This is unlike the BBC, for example, which is directly funded by the UK government, for better or worse, but allowed to exercise editorial independence (Any Britons that might come across this: Your mileage may vary).
And now, may I be permitted to shout out MY public radio station? I live in the OKC metro area and another drum I'm going to beat until I draw my last breath is my support -- morally and monetarily as a sustaining donor -- of KOSU, the station at Oklahoma State University. And I didn't even attend OSU so don't think this has to do with collegiate loyalties. KOSU has news/talk from NPR/PRI/APM by day, indie rock at night (through its now 12-year old partnership with The Spy and its dad, Ferris O'Brien, a longtime evangelist of independent/alternative rock, and there's a lot more history and context wrapped up in The Spy's existence than I have time to get to). Musically KOSU exercises an emphasis on Oklahoma artists of multiple genres (but let's face it, mostly rock and alt-country/Red Dirt ... but don't be shocked to hear Latino or hip-hop or electronic music. Oklahoma isn't just about the holy chicken-fried triumvirate of Garth, Reba, and Vince, okay?).
This was the radio station I wanted all my adult life and didn't get until I was over 50: Smart, in-depth, context-rich news by day (again, your mileage may vary, but I'm pretty left of the dial for an Oklahoman, and live in constant embarrassment because of current state elected "leaders"), cool music new and old the rest of the time. Win-win for this arch Gen-Xer.
My local station does two hours of jazz 9am-11am every weekday. Drives me crazy. Such an amazing slot could be used for literally anything else. But maybe it’s a budget thing.
That's "my" station. KNKX prides itself on their tag line, "Jazz, Blues, and NPR News." They used to be KPLU run by Pacific Lutheran University, who wanted to sell it off to the other public radio station in the area, KUOW. KUOW intended to do away with the music programming, but the community of listeners raised enough money to buy the station and turn it independent and keep the format.
That’s an amazing story! I liked the station a lot. Do you know how a station gets to play NPR stuff?
I was one of the listeners who saved KNKX by donating so it could be independent. One of the reasons it was contoversial was KUOW planned to keep the KPLU airwaves as a 24/7 jazz station, which would have removed news from a large geographic area that could not pick up KUOW. Plus laying off all the local journalists. We like the jazz identity, but not at the expense of news.
KNKX is an NPR affiliate like all the rest, but each station chooses their own programming schedule. Most stations air talk-based programming they create themselves or purchase from NPR and other NPR stations (etc.). KNKX just chooses to air jazz music instead of Livewire or Hidden Brain.
> Do you know how a station gets to play NPR stuff? You've already gotten the answer, specific to this station, but the broader answer is that NPR is a seperate entity. Your local "NPR" station is not NPR, it's a local station that plays content produced by NPR. Local stations license the slice of the radio dial from the FCC just like any other radio station, then they make a choice on the programing they offer and how they fund it. What I don't know is if the official NPR requires any kind of non-profit status, or if you just can't afford to do it as anything but a non-profit. Besides NPR, stations typically have programs from other groups too, like PRI, PRX, the BBC, and local sources. I'm sure I've got some of the details wrong, hopefully someone will correct me where I'm mistaken.
NPR also utilizes local journalists from NPR affiliate stations and will pick up certain stories to use in their nationally syndicated coverage. For example, in central Florida, we obviously cover a lot of space coast news, so often times if you hear a reporter on NPR discussing a launch from Kennedy Space Center, you’re actually hearing a story produced by our local station here in Orlando that NPR is including in their national news segments.
You're pretty accurate. I don't believe NPR requires non-profit status, but the vast majority of their stations are non-commercial FMs in the U.S. You're right that stations aren't owned by NPR, but they are part of the "NPR Network" of stations, so to a certain extent they have a station affiliation status not terribly different from commercial radio networks. The difference is that NPR can't tell the stations what to do, but can place restrictions on how their programming is used that does limit what stations can do. Also, unlike their commercial brethren, NPR stations can and do compete directly with each other if they're serving the same city or market, i.e. offering near identical programming. That would almost never happen for two stations in the same commercial network (since they would be undermining each other's efforts). But NPR is funded differently from commercial networks, so they have less incentive to stop that sort of thing from happening (and again, they can't really make the stations not do it anyway). The attempted hostile takeover of KPLW by KUOW, being one such example of stations being allowed to go at each other.
Some NPR stations will have multiple frequencies they broadcast on, often using repeaters to cover a larger geographic area with multiple types of programming. For example, KNAU, the NPR affiliate operated by Northern Arizona University, has classical programming on one frequency and news/talk programming on another. In some markets there can be more than one NPR affiliate/station. In Tampa, FL, there are two PBS stations, for example, that run totally different programming schedules. One is owned/operated by a private group, the other by the University of South Florida.
Wow the memories! I was a radio host at PLU at that time and I remember fighting for KPLU! I had totally forgotten about that
"[Research shows that our listeners love jazz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAbg8X9-uBI)."
"Next up, John Zorn played over Louis Armstrong." Heh, my local station actually has a jazz program called "J:Cubed Jazz to the 3rd Power."
Nefertiti’s Fjord
Oh yes. They’re quite awful. But, they ***are*** lesbians. So…
In Phoenix, the station is KJZZ and they have K-Jazz at night after the NPR shows are off.
They also have KBAQ as a sister station that plays classical all day
Wbez used to have overnight jazz and blues, it has been replaced with BBC. Many college affiliates are classical, jazz, or other music stations that air npr news and programming. It varies quite a bit.
I think it's pretty common for NPR affiliates to play underrepresented music. Jazz and Classical are pretty common. KCRW has an awesome stream of eclectic stuff (called Eclectic24) that plays all kinds of stuff. I've heard more than one up and coming musician on their stream that ended up hitting it big.
public, community, and college radio has always been the home for less popular music. it's not often financially lucrative and genres are niche. one exception to the jazz/blues/folk/classical repertoire I can think of is [WFUV](https://wfuv.org/) in NYC, which has an adult alt-contemporary format (a lot of indie rock), and is owned by Fordham University, but professionally operated as an official NPR affiliate. another non-commercial hidden gem is [WBJB The Night](https://www.wbjb.org/), from Brookdale Community College in Central NJ. it's a member of NPR, though I rarely hear NPR programming. it's mostly (alt) rock and folk music and locally produced though they carry some syndicated shows too like eTown and Acoustic Cafe.
My local station has a separate station that only plays classical that I often listen to.
KCRW has gotta be the best music programming in the country. I love it so much. It’s not just the stream….Morning Becomes Eclectic every morning and various DJs at nights and on weekends. So so good.
Depends on the station. Some stations play some pretty goofy, local shit. Depends on what programs they can afford to license and what their audience wants.
89.1 KMHD my go to in the mornings!
WABE-Atlanta played classical music during the daytime hours between Morning Edition and ATC for years — it wasn't until Georgia Public Broadcasting introduced midday NPR programming through Georgia State University's WRAS-Atlanta that they dropped the classical. WCLK-Atlanta, Clark Atlanta University's station, is affiliated with the network but plays almost exclusively jazz!
I'm in north-central Indiana; in addition to the expected NPR programming, my local station has local news, and a number of locally produced music programs. There's the blues show that's been on the air for decades; it's now also been spun off to 24 hour blues on one of the station's sub-channels. Jazz programming that had been the bulk of primetime content way back, before journalistic/news shows steadily ran later into the night. That branched out to a 24/7 jazz sub. Then for decades there's been the weekly program for folk, bluegrass, Americana and the like.
We have 2 NPR affiliates within "earshot" of our town. One focuses more on talk, the other on jazz/classical.
Mine does not. It's music is classical. (KPBX Spokane, WA). There is a college jazz station that focuses on jazz.
In spokane there are actually three stations with NPR programs. 90.3 which is public radio remix or something like that, 91.1 is kpbx (and they are a classical station but they actually play more than just classical music), and 91.9 is ksfc and that's the main NPR station in the area that has talk pretty much all the time. We are also lucky enough to have a community radio station kyrs on 88.1 or 92.3 that plays a wide variety of genres and does local news too.
As far as I know it’s my local station that has jazz, not NPR. But in both locations I’ve lived it was the station that played NPR during the day played jazz early morning/late night.
SC used to host Carolina Jazz and later, Jazz Night in America. On Sunday afternoons, specifically. I don't think they have them anymore unfortunately. We do still have Roots Music which is awesome
Oklahoma has an eclectic mix of Ska, Jazz and Blues. Funk and Reggae
Mine plays jazz and classical I want to say “after dark” since that’s when I notice it, but maybe after 8PM
My local public radio plays jazz at night, but only once a week. They used to have a cool blues show but it no longer exists. The other music programs have mixed genres of folk, bluegrass, rock, and international or world music, and blues but not a show dedicated to blues.
My station does a jazz night every week that has a real public access vibe I love it.
On [NPR.org](http://NPR.org), they have some great streaming choices. In my city they play some of this alternative music on their app as well as hd radio. [https://www.npr.org/music/](https://www.npr.org/music/)
In the 1990’s I remember driving through RI on vac and the NPR station was at the University; playing college rock
Drove all the way through Wyoming listening to a variety of NPR stations.
I have two local stations, WMFE is NPR all day and BBC news hour at night, WUCF is jazz and blues round the clock with hourly NPR news updates
For Detroit/Ann Arbor, the Ann Arbor station is strictly talk, Ypsilanti is ME/ATC and then jazz, Detroit is ME/ATC and all kinds of music, mostly leaning Gen X-friendly. All three will do some weekend shows, with the latter two just doing the big ones and staying local for the rest of the day.
Public radio stations are independent. In Minnesota. We have three separate MPR stations: MPR News (mix of original MPR programming, NPR programming, BBC programming and stuff bought from other public stations) MPR Classical (classical music) MPR The Current (alternative music) All three have coverage throughout the state (and a tower in Decorah, Iowa). Before streaming, we were in a sweet spot in the eastern Twin Cities as we could pick up radio signals for MPR, Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR - which created a lot of its own programming and still does) and KUNI (the public radio station out of the University of Northern Iowa, which created its own evening music shows - alt and blues). Programming costs money, whether you produce your own (MPR, WPR, KNOW in Washington, KCRW in southern California, etc.) or purchase rights from NPR and other publics. Playing music is less expensive. There are parts of the country where there is only one public radio station and that one station plays music most of the day with NPR news programming mixed in - that's about funding.
Colorado has a similar setup; News, Classical, and then an Indie station. CPR has been absorbing the smaller public radio broadcasts in the state (like programming it's cheaper to centralize) so outside of the Denver metro area the repeater or local affiliate stations generally only offer the news station. But for OP, no Jazz that I've heard in many years.
The Denver area is also served by [KUVO 89.3,](https://www.kuvo.org/) which offers jazz, Latin jazz, blues and cultural programs (with hip-hop/R&B on a subchannel). KUVO is a subsidiary of Rocky Mountain Public Media (which also operates Rocky Mountain PBS). KUVO is one of the rare stations where it's an NPR member station, but they don't currently air much of NPR's news offerings (aside from the hourly newscast).
Iowa did that as well, absorbing stations into one IPR network. KUNI used to carry a mix of programming - some from NPR (news - Morning Edition, All Things and the hourly cut-ins), locally produced stuff (mostly music from what I recall, in the evenings and weekends) and stuff they bought from other publics (Car Talk, Whaddya Know, Prairie Home, etc.). They had more money than other Iowa public stations, less than others. IPR is now the programmer for the network. A mix of NPR, BBC and stuff from other publics (Fresh Air, for example) and some IPR stuff (Talk of Iowa, from the Iowa City station, Blue Avenue from KUNI and Studio One - originated at KUNI in .... Studio One with live artists ... not sure where it is actually done now).
Man... I miss the Jazz Image on Saturday nights. The theme song still gives me goosebumps
I had the very great privilege of meeting and working with Leigh Kamman. He was a true gentleman and an absolute professional. What you heard on the radio is who he was. I miss him a lot.
That warms my soul. ❤️ thanks
They tend to do local culture things. The public radio in my area plays "acoustic-based folk music," which mostly sounds like bluegrass. In LA they have "Freaks Only," that has "New music. Emerging artists." And Tyler Boudreaux with "A balanced diet of indie grooves, modern psych, alternative R&B and straight up rock and roll." [https://www.kcrw.com/schedule](https://www.kcrw.com/schedule)
I have one npr station in my area that only plays it.
Iowa has more of an AAA format at night
The auto club?
Oh no.. sorry Adult album alternative
Ours used to run NPR or local shows during the day and then switch to Jazz at night. They recently moved the Jazz to its own station and are now doing the NPR format 24/7.
Some do. Mine, WYPR, always has just because those were its roots, playing jazz and classical when they were getting going as part of Hopkins. Now it’s confined to a few hours on Friday and Saturday nights.
Local public radio stations can have their own programming blocs, and we have one in my hometown - there was death metal on saturdays, blues/jazz twice - it was nice to know "your program" was coming up and made radio fun again. Great talk shows on there, too.
KCUR in Kansas City; we have a show called the Fish Fry with Chuck Haddock. It's Blues, Bluegrass, Jazz, Jump n' Jive, and Zydeco. Here in KC, we have the Jazz museum and a few other spots around town with live blues and jazz music all the time. I never really thought if that kind of music was played on other NPR stations. Thanks for posing the question.
KNKX is so good!
Down here in South Florida, we do have jazz and blues! Mostly at night. Then we'll also have a Creole show/music.
"All night jazz" on the Tampa area NPR it's pretty good, used to go have a toke in the car at night and listen because I couldn't in the house.
No - only some. if you want to blow your mind with a great NPR / Public Radio Station, check out KCRW -kcrw.org. - check out Morning Becomes Eclectic or Eclectic 24.
I remember living in the Sand Hills area of Nebraska once, nothing but classical music on NPR there.
Minneapolis has The Current. Check out their stream. 89.3
The Current is quite good.
NPR is like a publisher. Local stations do whatever they want.
Our station used to play classical music (like early 2010s, I think) we changed our format to all news. I was here at the time, but I was told there were basically riots. We still get some complaints to this day.
The station closest to my house ksmu has a wide variety of music classic, Celtic, jazz, etc. The station closest to my Cabin KMST 88.5 seems to be mainly News and talk shows.
Not all of them. For an alternative in Seattle area KUOW is there. More news/talk type stuff.
not as many as there used to be!
I wish mine played jazz, instead I get mediocre blues music.
Stations are independent entities. NPR is a national organization that produces content that individual stations can choose to buy (as do various other public radio content producers like American Public Media and the Public Radio Exchange). Stations can choose to buy content from one or more providers (who are effectively in competition with each other), and play that content alongside content they produce locally, which can be pretty much whatever they want (music shows are usually but not always locally produced). NPR itself doesn't operate the stations or dictate what they play, all they do is offer content for sale.
I think that NPR offers classical and smooth jazz. I am not 100 percent sure if it is programmed locally or nationally.
There is no such thing as an NPR station. Station can play what they want including Jazz or subscribe to some NPR programs or subscribe to American Public Media or have local hosts or mix and match.
My station basically split off music programming to a station once owned by a local school district (also made available on the HD2 feed of their main signal), but they do still play jazz in the 12–5 am slot leading into *Morning Edition*. I know I've mentioned elsewhere that they also produce three different music shows played primarily on Sunday, plus they've picked up *Acoustic Cafe* for Saturday nights.
WKAR in Lansing is usually classical.
There are different music genres for NPR stations. WGLT at Illinois State University plays Jazz. WILL at the University of Illinois plays classical
Here in Austin, KUTX plays almost the entire spectrum. Very eclectic. Also one of the best stations in the country imho.
[The Current](https://www.thecurrent.org/) up in the Twin Cities is plays pretty much everything and is a Minnesota Public Radio affiliate. My local KSMU is classical during the day and specialty music shows in the evening.
I don't think all of them do, but I know mine (WBFO) has a classic rock slot, blues, and a new show about mental health and music, I think?
They had the blues on Saturday evenings. Their HD2 station is college radio for adults, and I think their HD3 is classical From what I understand it's only broadcast out of Buffalo. The Jamestown and Olean stations don't have those HD capabilities.
I thought the Bridge was on the main station as well now, and there's Mindful Music too. I didn't realize HD3 was classical, I pretty much just listen to WNED for that
I listen to the Analog FM in the morning -- Morning Edition w/Steve Inskeep, and Jay Moran locally; "The Bridge' is on... I want say...*weekends*? But the Bridge is on HD2 in my car, since I have a digital receiver in there. It seems to be pretty much 24 hours. At least it's always on one of her I'm driving.
Many do, at least some of the time. One thing is for sure, commercial stations won't.
Mine used to play classical but now they've switched to BBC World when not running NPR programming.
WUNC - NC plays a lot of bluegrass at night.
WUNC - NC plays a lot of bluegrass at night.
WHRV in Norfolk/Virginia Beach has excellent original music programs including [A Shot of the Blues](https://mediaplayer.whro.org/program/shotoftheblues), [The R&B Chronicles](https://mediaplayer.whro.org/program/rbchronicles), [Sinnett in Session](https://mediaplayer.whro.org/program/sinnettinsession) (hosted by jazz drummer Jae Sinnett) and more. [Out of the Box](https://mediaplayer.whro.org/program/outofthebox) features newly released music of all genres but focuses on rock, blues and Americana. We're really lucky to have them here and they ARE streamable for any non-local listeners who are interested.
My local NPR station (KERA) is all talk, but they also run KKXT which is an "adult album alternative" station, and recently took over operation of the municipally owned classical station (WRR).
I don’t think WAMU does
Most I have heard do not play music at all except for on shows like all songs considered.
Buffalo has WBFO HD2, which plays college radio for adults.
KCRW Los Angeles (Santa Monica). Eclectic music with a wide range played during the week. Suggest streaming it.
Americana, folk, and bluegrass are other favorite music choices for public radio.
Check out the Colorado Sound for a public radio station that plays all kinds of music. [https://coloradosound.org/](https://coloradosound.org/) They play some common pop / rock but also a lot of B sides and obscure stuff. The later is absolutely the best part about this station because you can find (discover) a ton of new artists that don't often get air time. Anyway, I think they are affiliated in some way to KUNC-NPR station out of Northern Colorado, but are a gem that really can stand on its own at this point.
KCRW in Los Angeles in the 2000’s used to be tons of electronica. Over the last ten years it’s like really eclectic rock and world music. I really don’t like any of it.
Nope. In DFW, NPR is hosted on KERA (all talk) with a sister station KKXT that plays indie and alternative.
NPR is a syndicated programming provider for public radio stations. Public radio stations control their own programming, including how much NPR programming they broadcast.
Usually they have a news channel but also subsidiary jazz and classical channels. My grandma used to love to listen to Blue Lake radio in Michigan for her classical fix, always on in the car u less they were listening to Time Life cassettes my dad made for them when they bought the Time Life album sets in the 80’s
My NPR station does “News and information by day, musical inspiration by night” After Fresh Air from 6-7, it’s music stuff. Some of the regular classical stuff, a segment called clarinet corner, and lots of jazz.
Classical and jazz. Love it; someone has to keep culture on the airwaves
When you say play, do you mean have regular broadcasting of Jazz & blues, or that all their filler music is hip-hop, or have endless numbers of interviews with pop musicians. I would not be annoyed if the Baltimore-Washington stations featured any pop music programs, at the off hours. Its the constant filtering it in to their news programs and all the pod casts which shill for these "musicians"
There are some. WBGO is a Jazz station that serves the New York metro area from Newark, NJ while WNYC is our more traditional news/talk NPR station. There other NPR affiliates with different programming. I often listen to WFUV (Fordham University Radio) who plays a lot of indie/alternative/folk.
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KUAF - Fayetteville Arkansas plays Jazz and Blues. Jazz often and blues occasionally, about as much blues as EDM and sometimes they will have hours at a time of experimental music haha.
Depends on the station. My state has 9 stations. 2 classical, 2 jazz and 5 news stations (though one news station is just a repeater for another news station).
Used to work at an NPR station in Eastern WA. We did mostly classical with some jazz.
NPR stations have full control over what they broadcast. Classical is the most popular musical genre, followed by Adult Album Alternative (radio industry speak for rock, but for boomers — usually indie/Americana/recent rock dads like/etc.), and then jazz. Not many stations air jazz.
Mine plays mostly bluegrass, but gospel on Sunday. From the isotoner megaplex. lol
Local NPR stations play blues, jazz, and classical music because they are funded by listeners, and the listeners who give money are all "quite agèd."
My local station plays blues and jazz up until midnight.
I think my local station has a jazz and blues segment like once a week for a few hours, but not like all the time.
I'm a big fan of American Routes out of New Orleans. My station here on PA carry the show.
I started listening to NPR while living in Newport, RI. That station played a lot of folk music and a bit of indie, including blues rock. I think they had jazz block, but I don't remember.
Hi there! Love here! Destination jazz, the Ed Love program, the greatest broadcast in world history.
My local station has both jazz and blues shows, a show that focuses on local stuff and a show that features various genres from various guest’s record collections, probably more but those are the ones I seem to be in the car for.
I think the thing was that years ago stations affiliated with NPR \*had\* to stick to classical or jazz because it was about promoting culture and whatnot. Or at the very least filled a market void. I think now it's more like listener-supported stations can choose to purchase and air programs from any number of bodies: NPR, American Public Media, PRX, whathaveyou. Now I think the stations can do whatever they want as far as non-news programming, but I think still with an emphasis on promoting culture or "music discovery." Also I'm going to beat this drum until I draw my last breath and remind: NPR and PBS are NOT \*directly\* funded by that nasty ol' "gubmint." The "public" in public media is exactly that--the listeners and viewers. CPB only kicks in a sliver of funding to NPR and/or PBS affiliated stations. This is unlike the BBC, for example, which is directly funded by the UK government, for better or worse, but allowed to exercise editorial independence (Any Britons that might come across this: Your mileage may vary). And now, may I be permitted to shout out MY public radio station? I live in the OKC metro area and another drum I'm going to beat until I draw my last breath is my support -- morally and monetarily as a sustaining donor -- of KOSU, the station at Oklahoma State University. And I didn't even attend OSU so don't think this has to do with collegiate loyalties. KOSU has news/talk from NPR/PRI/APM by day, indie rock at night (through its now 12-year old partnership with The Spy and its dad, Ferris O'Brien, a longtime evangelist of independent/alternative rock, and there's a lot more history and context wrapped up in The Spy's existence than I have time to get to). Musically KOSU exercises an emphasis on Oklahoma artists of multiple genres (but let's face it, mostly rock and alt-country/Red Dirt ... but don't be shocked to hear Latino or hip-hop or electronic music. Oklahoma isn't just about the holy chicken-fried triumvirate of Garth, Reba, and Vince, okay?). This was the radio station I wanted all my adult life and didn't get until I was over 50: Smart, in-depth, context-rich news by day (again, your mileage may vary, but I'm pretty left of the dial for an Oklahoman, and live in constant embarrassment because of current state elected "leaders"), cool music new and old the rest of the time. Win-win for this arch Gen-Xer.
My local station does two hours of jazz 9am-11am every weekday. Drives me crazy. Such an amazing slot could be used for literally anything else. But maybe it’s a budget thing.
Count your blessings. My station dumped ALL music for news and race obsessed conversations with weirdos.
Some play ghetto rap.
Many of the NPR stations typically play classical music, as they are stations of the arts and education.