WAMU 88.5 in Washington launches 88.3 FM on Delmarva Peninsula

Station to provide listeners with NPR news, information and local content

WAMU 88.5 announced today the launch of WRAU 88.3 FM, "NPR news and information on the Delmarva Peninsula." The station will be known on-air as "Eighty-eight three Ocean City," and its program schedule will largely mirror the current WAMU 88.5 schedule, including the WAMU-produced, Peabody award-winning The Diane Rehm Show and NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Wait Wait…Don't Tell Me! and Car Talk. 88.3 Ocean City is also slated to include local content, including news, traffic, and weather. 88.3 Ocean City will expand the reach of the station's signature brand of civil discussion of public affairs to a new audience on the peninsula, as well as serve existing Washington listeners who vacation or own homes there.

"We know that many Washingtonians take advantage of the beautiful beaches and relaxing atmosphere of the Delmarva peninsula when the weather warms up," said WAMU 88.5 General Manager Caryn G. Mathes. "Our audience has long expressed a desire to 'take us across the bridge' with them, and 88.3 Ocean City allows them to do just that."

American University’s radio station since 1961, WAMU 88.5 is the leading public radio station for NPR news and information in the greater Washington, D.C., area. With more than 735,000 listeners in the Washington-Baltimore region, WAMU 88.5 is "your NPR news station in the nation’s capital." WAMU also broadcasts from 88.3 Ocean City on the Delmarva Peninsula and in Washington on three HD channels — the flagship frequency at 88.5–1; WAMU's Bluegrass Country, a bluegrass and Americana station, at 88.5–2; and WAMU–3, at 88.5–3, a news and information station broadcasting international coverage from the BBC and offering public radio programs unavailable elsewhere in the Washington area.