Company Profile
WRTI
Company Overview
WRTI is a non-commercial classical music and jazz station. Our mission is to champion music as a vital cultural resource. We pursue that mission through our core values of discovery, curation, performance, community, education, and preservation.
Our broadcast signal in Pennsylvania extends west to Harrisburg and York, and north to Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. We reach listeners as far south as Dover, DE, and east in Atlantic City, NJ.
Company History
WRTI was founded in 1948 as a campus-limited AM radio station at Temple University. The station was originally intended to be a student laboratory, and its call letters - RTI - stand for "Radio Technical Institute."
In 1953, WRTI became a licensed FM radio station operating at 10 watts from Temple University's main campus in Philadelphia.
WRTI adopted an all-jazz format in 1969.
In 1989, WRTI's antenna was relocated to a higher tower which resulted in WRTI operating as a 50 kW class B facility.
Starting in the late '80s, WRTI began an expansion program that resulted in repeater stations WJAZ, WRTQ, WRTX, WRTL, WRTJ, and WRTY, along with six translators, all of which extend coverage of the network into central and northeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Although the network includes multiple stations and translators, it is often referred to colloquially as WRTI, the network's flagship station.
In 1997, WRTI split its programming format to include classical music during the day and jazz at night after Philadelphia's classical music radio station, WFLN, was sold. WRTI has successfully pioneered this format and is now a leading cultural institution championing classical music and jazz on-air, online, on stages, and in classrooms throughout our community.