WXXI Public Broadcasting Council has finally brought Public News/Talk 1370 WXXI Rochester NY to a full-powered FM signal in the market.
105.9 WXXI-FM Rochester soft launched early this morning as a 24/7 simulcast of 1370 WXXI. WXXI acquired the former Jazz 105.9 WJZR last fall from Lee Rust’s North Coast Radio Inc. for $1.2 million.
WXXI anchor/reporter Scott Fybush, who served as broker of the deal, served as first voice heard on the FM this morning. Some of WXXI’s Talk programming including NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, plus their midday local talk show “Connections”, are still heard on AAA 88.5 WRUR Rochester.
With the move of the WXXI-FM call letters to 105.9, co-owned “WXXI Classical 91.5” has changed to WXXO.
davemasonsd 
Grant Taylor
How cool that Scott Fybush was the first voice on WXXI-FM. Anyone who knows Scott’s history knows that the towers of WXXI-AM were 4 of the catalysts that brought him to be a radio expert. Some might wonder what’s the future of WXXI-AM, arguably the second-best AM signal in Rochester. They just rebuilt the AM towers which might suggest that the AM signal will be around for a long time, or the new antenna system is a way to enhance the property for a sale. I hope it’s the former. The land surrounding the site is very valuable real estate, and there’s no doubt that someone would love to have that patch of earth for an office building or more homes/apartments. Kudos to Rochester’s Public Media in its continued growth.
Hopefully Now some of the news and talk on 88.5 WRUR can be replaced by more Counter Culture audio programming. Dave Kane with “Beatle Brunch” is a great addition to the Musical programming on WRUR. Now that 105.9 has been taken over by WXXI, some of the amazing Audio from the former 105.9, shows like “Jazz Trax”.. Echoes with John DeLiberto, as well as Hearts of Space normally on Sundays on 91.5 WXXO could all now be played on WRUR as well. WEOS Jake Longwell’s “Jazz Progressions” and other Jazz music programming would be a welcome addition to 88.5 for listeners who can no longer listen to 105.9’s amazing audio, and creates a way to compete with Rochester’s Public Jazz station 90.1 WGMC-FM.