WUFT-FM converts second station, WJUF-FM, to HD

June 16, 2008

Gainesville, Fla. — Public radio station WJUF-FM, Nature Coast 90.1 has entered the digital HD era. The 21,000 watt public radio station serves the Citrus, Hernando and Sumter County region with a simulcast of the WUFT-FM, Classic 89.1 signal. The stations are a public service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communication in Gainesville.

WUFT-FM was the first radio station in the Alachua County/Marion County region to begin broadcasting in HD in January 2006, providing a clearer, better quality signal as well as the ability to broadcast multiple channels on the same signal. The HD-2 signal signed on in May 2006 and features popular public radio programs including Talk of the Nation, Science Friday, This American Life, Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, The Diane Rehm Show, and Marketplace . In June 2006, the HD-3 signal launched with programs from Radio’s Golden Age — 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week.

Until recently, WUFT-FM struggled with the logistics necessary to allow WJUF-FM to broadcast in HD. After receiving a Corporation for Public Broadcasting HD conversion grant in early 2008, the new transmitter and equipment was installed and a method to transmit the programming for HD 2 and HD 3 to the WJUF transmitter was devised. WJUF currently receives the WUFT-FM on-air signal by microwave from an antenna located at the State of Florida Highway Patrol Tower in Inglis. It is then amplified and microwaved to the Lecanto tower site and rebroadcast.

The WJUF-FM HD signal is available in the southern portions of Ocala along I-75 down to the Wildwood exit during the day. The signal also reaches south to Springhill and into Bushnell and Webster.

The HD signals for WUFT-FM and WJUF-FM offer a variety of program options for public radio listeners throughout North Central and Mid-Florida. For more information on the broadcast schedule go to www.wuftfm.org.