About Us
The WKMS Mission:
Inspire and empower the people of our region, as a freely accessible, trusted and essential resource for news, culture, and community. An embodiment of the educational mission of Murray State University – the station helps students and our regional communities learn, grow, and thrive.
The Three Pillars: News, Culture, Community
As part of the educational mission of Murray State University, WKMS focuses on the cornerstone of public radio – a mission to serve and inform all people: an audience of inquisitive listeners of all socioeconomic backgrounds, generations, political persuasions, ethnicities, genders, ability levels, interests, and tastes.
Being in a predominantly rural region, WKMS is uniquely positioned to reflect the lived experiences of America’s rural populations. And to provide an outlet for global, national, and cultural news that is freely accessible to all, with no paywalls.
How do we do that?
News:
Reflect the voices of our region in our sources, stories, and non-partisan coverage. Tell stories that address important issues that impact our communities and human stories – with an eye to agriculture, economics, health, infrastructure, education, politics, the environment and more.
We can be a space for open conversations, while shining a light on injustice and providing a lens for solutions and understanding to emerge. Ethical, inclusive, thoughtful, and transparent journalism is a must.
Importantly, WKMS has also served as a hub for real-world experiential student learning since its inception – training hundreds in the next generation of journalists and helping to share their work regionally, statewide, and even nationally.
Culture:
WKMS offers cultural experiences that enhance the music landscape in our region, and introduces students, staff, and community members to new horizons that enrich their lives. By serving as a source of music discovery in genres not easily accessible elsewhere on the radio – from classical to bluegrass to jazz to alternative to world music and beyond – WKMS expands the cultural knowledge and understanding of our communities.
We also work to be a home to showcase the incredible talents of local musicians, and seek out bands from a variety of backgrounds and genres to highlight on our main and All-Music channels.
Finally, it’s also a place to share the other talents and voices of our region and begin thoughtful conversations – with artists, entrepreneurs, change-makers, professors, non-profit leaders and more.
Community:
WKMS is a community gathering place on-air and online; a place where all people are welcome. Our goal is for everyone to hear their voices reflected in the content on the air, whether it’s in the form of Poetry Minutes, essay recordings, Mental Health Awareness pieces, or even song choices. And to build relationships across our region to make listeners, the University community, and the community at large, feel more connected to each other.
Part of that is partnering with local organizations across the region to meet listeners where they are, gain knowledge of the issues that impact them, and give back to the communities we serve.
It is our goal for everyone on the team and everyone who listens to feel that their voice has value.
Your voice matters!
Background:
WKMS signed on May 11, 1970 as a non-commercial, educational FM station licensed to Murray State University.
The station now broadcasts in analog FM stereo and HD Digital on 91.3 MHz, with 100,000 watts. The station also operates translators 92.5 FM Paducah, 93.1 FM Madisonville, KY and 99.5 FM Murray, KY for classical music. In 2010 WKMS installed repeater services 90.9 FM WKMD and WKMD HD1, HD2 and HD3, Madisonville, KY, as well as 89.5 FM WKMT for Fulton, KY, Martin and Union City, TN.
The station offers 3 independent channels of programming on its digital signal: HD-1 simulcasts programming on analog 91.3 FM while HD-2 offers classical music programming 24 hours a day. HD-3 provides WKMS Music, a 24 hour music discovery AAA stream. WKMS has put its HD-2 signal on translators 92.5 FM, 93.1 FM and 99.5 FM. WKMS' HD-3 offerings are also available on 102.9 FM in Madisonville. WKMS has emergency auxiliary transmitters at its tower in Land Between the Lakes, and at its studios on the 8th floor of Price Doyle Fine Arts Center, Murray State University.
WKMS is authorized to receive annual Community Service Grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The station demonstrates through annual audits that it has significant funding from its listening communities to qualify for these grants. This funding from listening communities includes: appropriations from Murray State University, contributions from listeners, and investments from individual, business and organizational underwriters.
WKMS conducts fundraisers annually to encourage continuing and new contributions from listeners. For the past decade nearly 1,400 listeners contribute annually in a grassroots community effort.
WKMS broadcasts programming from National Public Radio, American Public Media, PRX, the BBC, the Associated Press, independent producers from around the nation and from producers who are either on staff or volunteers. WKMS News is a contributing member of Kentucky Public Radio and the Appalachian + Mid-South Newsroom.
As shown on the WKMS coverage map available at this website, our terrestrial listening communities are throughout southernmost Illinois, far western Kentucky, and northwest Tennessee. We also have listeners throughout the world who seek www.wkms.org for "home-away-from-home" listening experiences.
Without the generous support of listeners, we can't do any of this. Thanks!