About WRR Classical 101.1 FM

The City of Dallas-owned radio station not only pioneered the local airwaves; WRR was the first licensed broadcast station in Texas and one of the nation's five inaugural stations.

City-owned radio stations may not be the norm in most broadcast markets, but WRR is not an average radio station. Licensed in August 1921, the station was originally housed in the Dallas Fire Department and touted as the latest in firefighter communications. When firemen had no blazing fires to battle, however, they blazed the broadcast trail by playing music or telling jokes.

WRR was the brainchild of inventor Henry Garrett, a Police and Fire Signal Superintendent for the City of Dallas who began tinkering with radio in his off-duty hours. Garrett envisioned radio as the modern way for firefighters in the field to communicate. And he sold city officials on the efficiency and safety value his concept could offer.

Attracting New Listeners

On-air antics during emergency downtimes sold local residents on a new genre of entertainment. Citizens began purchasing crystal radio sets in order to tune in. By 1926, WRR had moved to the Adolphus Hotel. And a year later, the station started marketing advertising commercials.

WRR made subsequent moves to the Jefferson Hotel and Hilton Hotel before settling at its present home on the State Fairgrounds in the late 1930s. The station debuted on the FM spectrum in 1948 and continued to broadcast at AM and FM frequencies until selling its AM station 30 years later.

Instead of operating at taxpayer expense, WRR is funded solely by advertising revenue. A portion of its profits is donated to the City's Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA Department) as a funding source for cultural arts groups.

Classical Music with Cutting-Edge Technology

Today, WRR is the only commercial station in Texas that plays classical music 24 hours a day and is the oldest same-owner station in the U.S. With a tower in Cedar Hill, the 100,000 watt station's listening area spans 100 square miles.

According to Arbitron ratings, WRR consistently ranks among Dallas-Fort Worth's top 20 most listened to stations. Anchored by Henry Garrett's legacy for cutting-edge mediums, WRR is likewise attracting a new breed of Internet listeners via terrestrial broadcast streaming on www.wrr101.com.

In 2006, WRR will begin broadcasting in an all-digital format for improved sonic fidelity.   Listeners can hear these benefits with an HD Radio receiver.

(Portions of this article were first published in Dallas Visions © 2005)