Northwest Public Radio (NWPR) Audio Recordings, 1973-1999

Radio services at Washington State University date to 1922, when station KFAE began in December, 1922; that subsequently became KWSC and then KWSU in 1969 (after Washington State College had become Washington State University ten years earlier in 1959). In about 1950, it instituted a "tape network," locally produced programs which were distributed on recording tape to commercial and non-commercial broadcasters in the state. When the National Public Radio network began in 1971, KWSU was one of the initial members. Through the 1980s, translator stations were established throughout parts of the Washington, and in adjacent Idaho and Oregon, and a network of stations based out of WSU and soon including Tri-Cities (KFAE), University of Idaho (KUID) and others began to form. This network of stations took the name Northwest Public Radio. Programming for these radio stations has long been a mix of local programming and programming acquired from the various public broadcasting networks and program distribution services.

For a fuller history of Washington State University radio, please see Burt Harrison's 1993 "Washington State On The Air".