Rhode Island Public Radio, doing business as The Public's Radio, is the NPR member radio network for the state of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. Its studios are in the historic Union Station in downtown Providence. The network airs a format of news and talk from NPR, APM, PRX and other sources, such as Morning Edition, On Point, KERA's Think and All Things Considered, as well as extensive local news coverage.
Local programming
In addition to NPR, APM and other public radio programming from national sources, RIPR has dedicated reporters covering specific beats, including Politics, Health Care, Education, the Environment, and Arts & Culture. RIPR also produces local segments including: Political Roundtable with Ian Donnis & Maureen Moakley every Friday Artscape, a weekly look at the arts & culture scene in Rhode Island. One Square Mile, an annual special week-long series, taking an in-depth look at one city or town in Rhode Island. Previous OSM series include: Central Falls, Bristol, Woonsocket, West Warwick, Block Island, Narragansett Bay itself, and Newport
Previously produced series include: This I Believe: New England with Frederic Reamer, a local take on the famous This I Believe series of essays Mosaic, a weekly deep-dive into the stories from, of and by, immigrants to Rhode Island. Made in Rhode Island, an ongoing occasional series looking at manufacturing in the state Policy & Pinot, an ongoing occasional series taped live at the Providence Athenaeum Library focusing on various topics
Local news bureaus
In addition to the "main studio" located in 1 Union Station in downtown Providence, TPR also operates three local news bureaus: South Coast, located in the UMass Dartmouth CVPA Star Store at the corner of Union and Purchase Streets in downtown New Bedford, covering the South Coast region. Newport, located at Washington Square in downtown Newport, covering Aquidneck Island and Jamestown. South County, located in the United Theatre in Westerly, covering Washington County and Block Island.
Each bureau has a permanently-assigned, full-time bureau reporter, and a fully-soundproofed recording booth for interviews, live broadcasts, and similar projects.
Broadcast stations
The network's primary signal, WNPN (89.3 FM) in Newport, broadcasts from the old WLNE-TV tower in Tiverton and covers most of Rhode Island and the Massachusetts South Coast. It is the tallest active FM broadcast transmitter in Rhode Island (measured in height above sea level).
Smaller repeater signals provide additional coverage in Providence (W275DA, WPVD), Portsmouth (WNPH) and South County (WNPE).
From October 2011 until September 2021, RIPR's content was simulcast on WELH (88.1 FM) in Providence, RI.
From April 2011 until April 2021, RIPR's content was simulcast on WCVY (91.5 FM) in Coventry, RI.
The network's programming is also available on Full Channel Digital Cable channel 799 in Bristol, Warren and Barrington.
Technology
WNPN transmits using a Nautel GV15 transmitter with 10,187 watts transmitter power output (TPO) to make 7,000 watts effective radiated power (ERP). A Shivley Labs 6016 four-panel antenna array is used; the antenna is fairly directional, with nulls to avoid prohibited interference to/from WQPH (89.3 FM) Shirley, Massachusetts, to the north-northwest, and to WPKT (89.1 FM) Norwich, Connecticut, to the west-southwest. An Omnia 9 FM/HD processor from The Telos Alliance is used to keep audio levels consistent. The station broadcasts in digital HD Radio, and the BBC World Service is transmitted on the HD2 of WNPN. A 67 kHz subcarrier is transmitted for the Massachusetts Radio Reading Service Audible Local Ledger.
HD Radio
WNPN and WNPE broadcast in HD Radio, simulcasting the analog signal on the HD1 channel.
WNPN 89.3-HD2 has broadcast the BBC World Service since March 2020.
WNPH, WPVD and W275DA do not broadcast in HD Radio.
From March 2013 until February 2018, MVYradio leased the HD2 multicast channel of WNPE to broadcast a modified content stream of WMVY (88.7 FM) on Martha's Vineyard, which could also be heard on W243AI (96.5 FM), a lower powered FM translator transmitting from the roof of Newport Hospital. Afterwards, WNPE discontinued the HD2 broadcast, but continued HD Radio operations for its main HD1 channel.