WOSU Public Media history

1922 (June 3): Ohio State is assigned the call letters WEAO and begins regular broadcasts.

1927: Robert Higgy becomes the first full-time director of the radio operations.

1929: The innovative Ohio School of the Air begins broadcasts from the WEAO studios, with transmissions over the powerful WLW in Cincinnati to classrooms across the Midwest.

1930: The first Institute of Radio Education was held at OSU. For the first time in the history of American education, the leaders in educational broadcasting spent 10 days in discussing the problems of education by radio.

1931: Ohio State is granted new call letters: WOSU.

1934: The Radio Junior College is developed to offer radio courses during the depression years.

1938: The tower and transmitter for the station are moved to the Ohio State University Golf Courses.

1941: WOSU changes its frequency from 570 to 820 AM and begins transmitting at 5,000 watts daytime only.

1943: Doctor I. Keith Tyler, a leading researcher in educational radio and a key national leader responsible for the reservation of educational television channels, is named director of radio education.

Ohio State first sought an educational license in 1950, for channel 12.

WOSU-TV first broadcast on February 20, 1956.

1957: WOSU-AM and FM originated the first live “stereophonic” music program in this area.

In 1959, a grant from the Ford Foundation allowed the station to purchase the first video tape recorder in Ohio.

1960: AM and FM begin to operate 365 days a year.

WOSU-TV began broadcasting in color in 1968, telecasting the football game between Ohio State and Michigan.

1970: During the campus riots at Ohio State, a WOSU student reporter was knocked out after being hit on the head by a tear gas container.

1972: WOSU-TV moves to the Fawcett Center and starts regular local broadcasts in color for the first time.

1973: The Friends of WOSU Board is formed after reductions in governmental and Ohio State funding.

1975: Using a subcarrier channel on 89.7 FM, the first radio reading service for the blind in Ohio is created – the Central Ohio Radio Reading Service.

Since 1980 WOSU has been a big part of the bluegrass music scene in central Ohio.

1982: A new radio call-in program called Open Line premieres and would become a staple of the 820 AM station with long-time host Fred Andrle.

Both stations began broadcasting in stereo in 1986; WOSU-TV was the first in Columbus to do so.

2002: GM Dale Ouzts retires after 23 years and Thomas Rieland becomes general manager of The WOSU Stations.

2003: WOSU-TV goes digital and provides the first multi-channel digital signal in Columbus.

2004: WOSU-FM becomes the first radio station in central Ohio to broadcast in HD Radio technology.

2009: All Sides with Ann Fisher debuts, taking over the spot in the day where Fred Andrle’s Open Line aired for over two decades.

2010: Around-the-clock classical programming begins with the purchase of 101.1 FM and creation of WOSA-FM.

2011: WOSU offers the first all-day NPR News FM service in central Ohio on 89.7 NPR News.

WOSU produced Jesse Owens: Enduring Spirit back in 2012.

2016: WOSU announces its intention to build a new headquarters at 15th & High Streets as part of the OSU arts district east of campus.

Ohio State University announced on March 3, 2017 that it had sold the license for WPBO for $8.8 million in the FCC's spectrum auction.

The new headquarters and office building, designed by Meyers + Associates Architecture, is scheduled to open in 2021.