ITHACA/CORTLAND -- While your editor was away on vacation, the long-awaited debut of new radio station WITH 90.1 took place on Monday. The joint venture between Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva and WXXI in Rochester also offers an HD2 channel.
Since we're battling a pretty nasty cold here at the CNYRadio.com newsroom, we'll sit back and let the WITH website do the talking about what's being offered on WITH-FM and WITH-HD2:
WITH-FM 90.1, a new public radio station in Ithaca, New York, launched May 24, 2010. This station offers a mix of eclectic music programs including World Café with David Dye and Open Tunings with Scott Regan, along with alternative news programs including PRI’s The Takeaway and Democracy Now with Amy Goodman. WITH-FM is a broadcast partnership between WXXI and Hobart & William Smith Colleges (HWS).
Coinciding with the May 24th launch of WITH-FM, WXXI and HWS introduced WITH-HD2, a 24-hour HD radio service dedicated to Classical music. The partners also launched Reachout Radio, a radio reading services that provides 24-hour per day readings of local and national newspapers, magazines, and books for people who are print-handicapped. The service is closed-circuit and is accessible through a specially-tuned radio which is provided free of charge to eligible applicants.
WITH-FM listeners can stream the station online at: withradio.org/listen. WITHradio.org also posts the schedule, program information and radio hosts’ playlists, with future plans to launch a music blog.
In April 2010 WXXI and HWS announced a partnership between the Colleges' radio station, WEOS 89.7 FM, and WXXI, that would provide WEOS listeners access to increased local and regional news coverage through WXXI’s Center for Public Affairs. WXXI also agreed to assist WEOS in fulfilling its commitment to introduce a new radio service in the Ithaca region.
The launch of WITH-FM supports WXXI and HWS’s pledge to build a solid public radio foundation in the Finger Lakes area. The additional station helps to strengthen the reach and diversity of public radio in the region that also includes WSKG and Ithaca Community Radio. Future plans involve the addition of local Ithaca program hosts and live music performances from the region.
With more than forty years of supporting the Greater Rochester area, WXXI has established itself as a vital community resource in areas of education, culture and public affairs. This new radio service strengthens WXXI’s on-going commitment to the region. For years, audiences have enjoyed tuning in to Classical 91.5, AM 1370, WRUR-FM 88.5 and WXXI-TV. PBS viewers across the country have discovered the beauty of the region by watching WXXI’s award-winning seriesNew York Wine and Table, and documentary productions such as 15 Miles on the Erie Canal, Seneca Falls, and Great Homes of Canandaigua Lake.
Thanks to an anonymous CNYRadio.com reader who emailed to let us know WITH is on the air. Send your news tips to cnyradio@cnyradio.com or use the handy Contact Form.