WPKN Community Radio

WPKN is a 10,000-watt non-commercial radio station located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, founded in 1963, established as an independent, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in 1989. Over the last 60+ years, WPKN is known for broadcasting ideas and sounds more human-oriented and vibrant than most offerings on the radio dial. WPKN’s volunteers and programmers have created an institution with depth, importance, and passion, and the listeners have made its continued existence possible.

WPKN broadcasts on frequency 89.5 FM from a 10,000-watt transmitter located on Booth Hill in Trumbull, Connecticut, reaching a potential listenership of 1.5 million people. WPKN’s signal reaches most of Connecticut (Fairfield, New Haven, and New London counties), the eastern portion of Long Island (Suffolk County), southeastern New York State, southwestern Massachusetts, and southwestern Rhode Island. The wpkn.org stream allows for an unlimited number of global listeners.

Operating 24/7 and largely run by volunteers, WPKN offers a unique and eclectic mix of live and recorded music, news, public affairs, spoken word, arts & culture, and other freeform programming that defies genre. WPKN is proud to be listener-supported, non-commercial, community-driven radio available to the public at no cost, any time, day or night.

WPKN is a community organization that amplifies tri-state area nonprofit organizations, businesses, events, artists, musicians,  organizers, and more. WPKN’s downtown Bridgeport station presence allows volunteers interested in broadcast radio, podcasting, video, and community outreach, to explore and build on their creative interests for free, with all levels of backgrounds and training accepted.

WPKN Mission: to strengthen and enrich our community through programming that is provocative, innovative, and free from commercial influence and promotes diversity, tolerance, and freedom of expression.

WPKN Vision: to build community, a loyal and growing audience, and an engaged and educated citizenry by providing the highest quality of freeform programming that broadcasts entertainment, music, news, thoughts, sounds, ideas, and event listings that support free speech, diversity, and the interests of the local and global communities WPKN serves. The ongoing ripple-effect of sustaining WPKN is to expand a dedicated listener-base who embrace and support WPKN because they feel that the station enriches and improves their lives, strengthens their communities, and makes the world a better place.

History

WPKN is a non-commercial, independent radio legacy that began in 1963, shaped and evolved by the ethos, and values of the freeform FM radio revolution of the 60s and 70s.

WPKN’s first headquarters were in a large space on the top floor of Old Alumni Hall at the University of Bridgeport; a mansion-like wooden structure that had once belonged to J.P. Barnum. Some clever carpenters from the buildings and grounds organization built a studio designed for optimum acoustics. With the help of mentors from WNAB in Bridgeport, as well as UCONN’S student-run WHUS, in 1963 WPKN-FM began broadcasting as a 100 Watt station on 88.1 MHz licensed to the University of Bridgeport. The station carried news from United Press International (UPI) and also had an AM signal that broadcast directly to the University.

A contest was held to determine the call letters of the new station. WPKN was chosen to represent the “Purple Knights”, the name of the UB sports teams, and the “Purple Knight Network” (WPKN) was born.

In 1965 the addition of a new wing to the Student Center was planned. WPKN’s students consulted with Jeff Tellis who had started at WHUS at UCONN in Storrs, and had worked at ABC Radio Network in New York City, as well as several commercial stations. Tellis contributed his expertise to the design of WPKN’s new studios and was subsequently hired as WPKN’s first paid General Manager by the University.

Jeff Tellis’ tenure included a change in frequency to 89.5 and an increase to 700 watts in 1967, 2400 watts in 1972, and the application for 10,000 watts. The new broadcast area encompassed most of Connecticut with exception of lower Fairfield County (Stamford and west) and New York City (to protect the antenna pattern of WSOU in New Jersey), as well as significant portions of Long Island.

Tellis felt that college radio ought not to restrict itself to serving its campus population. Tellis envisioned a station which would serve its larger community in a meaningful way. He fostered diversity in programming and he closely observed the FCC’s requirement that all stations serve “the public interest, convenience, and necessity.”

In 1969, Bill Nolan (Antique Blues) became the first “non-student” to become a programmer, paving the way for community hosts and DJs. The all-volunteer WPKN membership began to be populated by a mix of UB students and community members.

In 1976, the University of Bridgeport threatened to sell WPKN’s license to a private corporation. The station, however, had already established a loyal and active following, and a blue-ribbon panel was established to study the potential sale. It concluded that WPKN was a valuable community resource that ought to be left alone and the offer was withdrawn.

Soon after, in 1978, Jeff Tellis left his General Manager position in order to become the full-time President of Intercollegiate Broadcasting System. Harry Minot, who had a background in commercial radio, and was then a producer at Compton Advertising in New York, was hired by UB as his successor.

WPKN produced UB’s radio commercials, prepared narration tracks for promotional videos, disseminated news feeds of significant on-campus events, recorded many concerts and lectures, and once again became well-regarded within the UB organization. However, in the mid-1980s the University of Bridgeport began to experience severe financial difficulties. In July of 1989, Minot was informed that WPKN would have to become self-supporting.

In 1989 the University relinquished and transferred the license to WPKN, Incorporated, after WPKN became a registered (501 c-­‐3) non-profit corporation. This is also the time WPKN became listener-supported. The majority of WPKN sounds and ideas you hear 24/7 are sustained by listeners like you.

In the fall of 1991, the Professors World Peace Academy, a creation of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, (nicknamed “Moonies”) proposed an alliance with UB. Although this offer was initially rejected the University was soon forced into bankruptcy and the PWPA gained control of its board.

In 1992, the WPKN staff, fearing loss of the station’s independent voice, hurried to effect a transfer of the station’s license from the University of Bridgeport, and a filing was made with the FCC. It included the transfer of the license and all of the physical assets to WPKN, Inc. It also included a rent-free lease for the station’s current studio space in the Student Center, for $10 a year.

WPKN continued in its evolution and listener support. It sought to add a satellite, full-facility transmitter at Montauk, NY, simulcasting at 88.7 FM. That effort, which took seven years, was fraught with complications and delays. WPKM/Montauk went on the air only one day before its Construction Permit would have expired. Citing growing expenses, the facility was eventually sold to Hamptons Radio group.

Minot departed as General Manager as of June 2008, having served almost thirty years in that capacity. He was succeeded by interim GM Jeep Ward and then by Peter Bochan, who came from WBAI, a Pacifica Network station in NYC. In 2011 Steve DiCostanzo became GM. In 2024, The WPKN membership voted in a dual leadership team of General Manager, Valerie Richardson, and, Director of Operations and New Initiatives, Brendan Toller.

In an age of pervasive media corporate takeover, WPKN continually represents sounds and ideas not often found across the dial. In 2021, David Owen of The New Yorker decreed that WPKN is, “the greatest radio station in the world.” WPKN’s FM signal broadcasts in Connecticut, New York State, and Long Island with a potential audience of 1.5 million. The online stream at wpkn.org, and various radio phone apps, allow an infinite number of global listeners.

In 2021, WPKN moved into its new home at 277 Fairfield Ave in downtown Bridgeport, joining the emerging Bijou Square arts scene.

The story continues on…