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This is an unofficial web page for listeners of WSUI radio—910 AM in Iowa City.
This website is not controlled by the University of Iowa or Iowa Public Radio.

Click here for WSUI stream audio.

How WSUI got its start

"Our first broadcast transmitter incorporated two experimental vacuum tubes sent to me by a friend and Iowa graduate who is employed by a large electrical firm which was then just starting experimental work with vacuum tubes. They required 500 volts direct current which, in those days, was hard to come by. We drove four direct current motors as generators. With all the attendant difficulties, we did get our 500 volts until the transfer circuits in the Physics Building broke down. ... [T]he microphone after 5 minutes' use used to become too hot to touch so we switched to a second microphone to allow the first to cool off. The quality must have been terrible but those who listened with earphones and cat-whisker detectors thought it was excellent." — Carl Menzer, "Fifty Years of Broadcasting"—The Transit, vol. LXXIII No. 2, November, 1968, p. 21

History of WSUI, 1919-1999Sara Epstein, FYI, 04/09/1999


Official website: Iowa Public Radio

Browse WSUI historic archives

WSUI Transmitter—Location & Specifications

WSUI broadcast schedule

About Live from Prairie Lights

Contact wsui.net
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103 years of educational broadcasting and programming excellence
WSUI historic photos
Kent, Frederick W. (Frederick Wallace), 1894-1984
Iowa Digital Library University of Iowa Libraries Iowa City
For educational purposes only. Not intended for reproduction or redistribution.
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