WUTC-FM changing weekday programming schedule

“Wait! Wait! Don’t Tell Me,” “This American Life” and “TED Radio”—among National Public Radio’s most popular news and entertainment programs—in January will join the weekday broadcast schedule on WUTC-FM, the NPR affiliate on the UTC campus.

Current shows such as “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered,” “Fresh Air” and “Marketplace” will still be aired daily, although “Here and Now” will no longer be on the schedule.

Programming changes effective Jan. 3 are in response to listener feedback, according to station manager Bryan Lane.

“We’re trying to deliver what listeners really want,” Lane said. Based on surveys done during the twice-a-year pledge drives, “less than 10 percent want music shows. Newstalk is more highly rated.”

The new lineup for the station, which serves Chattanooga, Southeastern Tennessee and North Georgia, will offer NPR newstalk programming from 6 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. That’ll be followed by local and popular music host Richard Winham on air from 7-10 p.m. weekday evenings. Music will air on the station from 7 p.m.-6 a.m. seven days a week.

In March, the station welcomes StoryCorps, the public radio series that travels the country recording conversations between everyday people about their lives, beliefs and histories. StoryCorps’ airstream trailer—the mobile broadcast booth—will set up shop in Chattanooga for a month-long stay to recruit, record and prepare stories for broadcast. These stories will be shared locally, some nationally via NPR, and all will be archived by WUTC.

Most WUTC programming will be automated for the time being, Lane said. Plans are to offer more live content once funding is available to do so.

WUTC’s HD2 station, which can be accessed on the WUTC.org website, will be all-music and an eclectic mix that does not fit a particular music genre, Lane said. Replays of Winham’s shows and the student-run MocsMix also are on the HD2 station.

Here is a complete listing of all WUTC-FM weekday programming: