Newark Public Radio, WBGO Jazz88.3FM was the brainchild of an urban think tank whose members came together in Newark in the 1970s to affect change after the riots of 1967. Marshalling an extraordinary group of city activists, and with the help of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, they established the first public radio station in New Jersey in 1979 by convincing the Newark Public School System board to transfer its underutilized broadcast license to them.
WBGO was born as an independent, community-based, not-for-profit, public radio station that would champion jazz-an American art form that is also an important chapter in Newark's cultural history. WBGO affiliated with NPR and went to a 24-hour broadcast day in 1980 when the only other full-time jazz station in the New York Metro market, WRVR (a commercial station), changed its format to country-western music.
In 1985, WBGO became a producer of syndicated programming for the nation's radio stations, and has a significant history of success. The most recent chapter in that history debuted this October with Jazz Night in America, a ground-breaking new program hosted by Grammy-award winning bassist Christian McBride. Co-created with NPR Music and Jazz at Lincoln Center, the program is the most significant public media partnership in history. While each episode presents a live jazz concert recorded across the country, Jazz Night in America is about storytelling. It invites the audience to listen and engage with the most important jazz musicians of today, while giving insight to the music through intimate conversations and rare archival tape woven throughout. The program may be heard on over 150 public radio stations across the country—from Anchorage, Alaska to Miami, Florida, and around the globe on wbgo.org and npr.org.
WBGO’s dedication to preserving the uniquely American art form of jazz for future generations spawned the WBGO Kids Jazz Concert Series, launched in 1994, and Kids Jazz @ Play, which began this February. WBGO’s new, in-school engagement program, Kids Jazz @ Play, brings live jazz into public schools across Newark. Created for grades 2 – 4 the program is a fun, literacy-based multi-media program that uses books such as When Louis Armstrong Taught Me to Scat to teach children the basics of music education and jazz history. Led by WBGO on-air hosts, Kids Jazz @ Play gets young toes tapping and feet stomping, while creating a personal connection to the rich history of jazz and Newark. Over 4,500 students in 12 Newark public schools will attend a Kids Jazz @ Play assembly program in 2015!
WBGO’s daily broadcast can be easily identified by the passionate, extremely knowledgeable and idiosyncratic on-air announcers, live broadcasts and on-air interviews with today's hottest jazz and blues artists, and a news department whose drive time news reports and weekly magazine program, the WBGO Journal, are frequently recognized for reporting excellence.
The WBGO Community Arts Calendar, which launched in March, is now the definitive location for all the cultural offerings Newark has to offer. From the largest arts organizations to the smallest gallery spaces, listeners in Newark, and around the globe can hear about the many cultural offerings of New Jersey’s largest city. The calendar is a vital community service, working to sustain the local creative economy by supporting arts organizations, artists, and patrons, and projecting a positive view of Newark around the globe not often found in the mainstream media.
WBGO’s studios are located at 54 Park Place in the heart of downtown Newark, New Jersey. The transmission antenna and tower are located at 4 Times Square. Since 1996, Jazz88 has streamed its signal over the Internet on wbgo.org and has become a true oasis to thousands of listeners worldwide. Starting in 2009, the WBGO mobile app became available for download. Members from as far away as Malaysia, Turkey, Germany, Japan, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Taiwan, Brazil, Great Britain and each of the 50 states echo a South Africa listener’s e-mail to us, "You are so inspiring."
There is more than 50 full and part-time staff at the station. Operating as a 501c3 organization. WBGO is funded by more than 17,000 members each year, and by a combination of corporate, business, foundation, and governmental grants.
