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Michel Martin’s NPR show now airs weekdays on WYBC-AM
Monday, having entered into a “Time Brokerage Agreement (TBA) with the Yale Broadcasting Company,” WSHU Public Radio Group began providing “programming services for WYBC-AM (1340 AM),” as indicated in a March 30 press release.
The press release reads, in part: “The WYBC-AM program schedule will not duplicate programming that currently exists on WSHU-FM. Instead, WYBC-AM will provide an alternative stream of high-quality public radio programs …”
On Thursday, Janice Portentoso, WSHU’s communications director, said there are “one or two programs that do cross over,” but that “most of the programs that we’re offering on WYBC-AM … are programs that we haven’t had the opportunity to air.”
The WSHU-FM program schedule can be seen here. The WYBC-AM program schedule can be seen here.
George Lombardi, WSHU’s general manager, was quoted in the above-mentioned press release as saying: “New Haven already has one of the highest concentrations of WSHU listeners, and we’re looking forward to offering them even more listening options. We also plan to take advantage of the YBC broadcast studios on the Yale campus to expand our news gathering and Local News Initiative efforts.”
With regard to the Yale Broadcasting Company, Portentoso said, “The AM [frequency] was being almost not utilized.”
That frequency — WYBC-AM (1340 AM) — is “entirely our program schedule now,” Portentoso said.
WSHU Public Radio Group’s new programming on WYBC-AM does not affect programming on WYBC-FM (94.3 FM), which is operated by Cox Radio.
Asked about programming overlap with WNPR-Connecticut Public Radio, Portentoso said that while WNPR is “present in New Haven … our goal is to serve our listeners the best that we can.”
Dean Orton, senior vice president of development and media services at the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network, said on Thursday that WSHU Public Radio Group’s arrangement with the Yale Broadcasting Company “sounds like a good relationship.”
“We certainly can appreciate what their partnership is trying to do,” Orton said.