Northwest Public Broadcasting

Expansion

In 1982, KFAE-FM 89.1 at Richland signed on, bringing public radio to the Tri-Cities for the first time. The next year, WSU activated a series of low-powered translators at Ellensburg, Goldendale/The Dalles, Yakima, Lewiston/Clarkston, Ephrata/Soap Lake, Wenatchee, Cashmere/Dryden, and Chelan/Waterville. In 1984, after budget cuts in Idaho, WSU assumed operation of KUID-FM 91.7 at the University of Idaho and renamed it KRFA-FM; this gave it its first FM service in the Pullman area and resulted in the new outlet assuming many of the classical programs on KWSU.

The launch of KNWR, a full-power transmitter at Ellensburg, in 1992 heralded the beginning of two decades of expansion. KNWY in the Yakima Valley went on air in 1993. In 1994, KNWO in Cottonwood, Idaho, was added; additionally, three new translators were commissioned and KRFA increased its power tenfold. KNWV went on air in Lewiston and Clarkston in 1995. KWWS in Walla Walla was added in 1997; the network also signed on KLWS at Mses Lake after a $500,000 donation from the estate of Ephrata rancher Paul Lauzier. Port Angeles—and Victoria, British Columbia—were added with the signing on of KNWP in 1998. KQWS at Omak began broadcasting in January 1999; the next year, a translator of KWSU was added in Pullman, giving the station its first FM presence. A translator at Forks was added in 2006. KSWS at Chehalis was built in 2010.^[1]

In several cases, the university acquired or began broadcasting over preexisting public radio stations. On January 6, 1997, Northern Sound Public Radio's KZAZ-FM in Bellingham, was merged into the network as its first station west of the Cascades. The license for KMWS at Mount Vernon was acquired from Skagit Valley College, which moved its KSVR to a new license; the university chose the call letters to honor Murrow, a Skagit County native.

In 2010, KVTI in Tacoma, owned by Clover Park Technical College, began broadcasting Northwest Public Broadcasting full-time after budget cuts prompted the closure of its radio broadcasting program.^[2] In 2012, the Yakima School District's KYVT began broadcasting NWPB's NPR News programming under an agreement in which the network provided the district's skills center and an HD2 subchannel for its student programming in exchange for studio space and a primary frequency for the news service, which had not been previously available in Yakima.^[3]

On November 1, 2013, WSU launched a third station in Pullman: KJEM (89.9 FM), broadcasting jazz music 24 hours a day to the Pullman and Moscow area and named for J. Elroy McCaw.^[4]

In 2018, Northwest Public Radio merged with Northwest Public Television to become Northwest Public Broadcasting.^[5] NWPB broadcasts KWSU-TV (channel 10) from Kamiak Butte to serve the eastern Washington and western Idaho covering Pullman to Spokane. KTNW (channel 31) broadcasts from Richland and covers the Tri-Cities area.

On April 19, 2022, the Sleeping Lady Foundation's KOHO-FM began broadcasting NWPB's Jazz programming based at KJEM under a programming and services agreement, bringing NWPB's Jazz network to Central Washington for the first time.^[6]

In 2024, Northwest Public Broadcasting launched Press A to Play, an original radio radio show featuring video game music.^[7]

WSU and NWPB announced in October 2025 that KWSU-TV would cease operations on December 31; the closure followed the loss of federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and a $1.8 million cut to NWPB's budget. NWPB's radio network and KTNW will continue operations; KWSU donors will retain access to PBS Passport via KTNW, and other PBS programming will remain available in the Pullman and Spokane areas via KSPS-TV and Idaho Public Television.^[8][9]

NPR News

NPR and Classical Music

KFAE-FM also broadcast the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library's Evergreen Radio Reading Service to blind and handicapped listeners on its 67kHz subcarrier until the service's closure on August 15, 2014.^[10] KFAE-FM was one of three major FM stations in Washington to do so; KPBX-FM in Spokane and KUOW-FM in Seattle were the others. However, this required a special FM radio capable of receiving such broadcasts; it could not be received on a standard FM radio.

Jazz

KJEM (89.9 FM), is NWPB's flagship jazz service. It broadcasts jazz music 24 hours a day to the Pullman and Moscow area and named for J. Elroy McCaw. Unlike the rest of the network, KJEM is largely student-run.^[4] In 2022, NWPB acquired KOHO-FM and began broadcasting NWPB's jazz programing to the Wenatchee Valley area.