Ocean State Media, Rhode Island’s public radio and TV organization, launched a more powerful radio signal Friday. The station plans to create a single location on the radio dial with statewide reach at 103.7 FM.
“It has been a longstanding hope and vision for public radio here in Rhode Island to have one big booming signal,” said Ocean State Media President/CEO Pam Johnston. “That’s what we’re excited about. It’s a commitment.”
The $4.9 million deal to acquire a new frequency and transmitter from commercial broadcaster Audacy was announced in January and required FCC approval.
“This is a really terrific milestone to expand our reach and our commitment to our audience,” Johnston told Ocean State Media morning host Luis Hernandez during an interview. “103.7 has greater expanded reach, clarity. It will reach our entire state. This is our commitment to be even more relevant and connected to our community.”
Formed after a 2024 merger of Rhode Island PBS and The Public’s Radio, Ocean State Media is the only public media organization based in Rhode Island. Its radio station broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a mix of national, international and local coverage. It also operates a local newsroom and a television station.
Ocean State Media plans to wind down its five separate frequencies – 89.3 FM, 89.5 FM, 90.7 FM, 102.7 FM and 1290 AM – that have carried the station across different parts of Rhode Island by June 30.
Listeners will continue to be able to hear Ocean State Media through the station’s app and its website.
Ocean State Media’s new radio frequency means that Red Sox games will no longer be broadcast on 103.7 FM.
Johnston said 101.5 FM, known as B101, will carry the games instead.
The move to B101, officially WWBB-FM in Providence, reflects a longstanding partnership between Audacy and iHeart New England, which owns Dennis, MA-based WEII (96.3 FM), the Cape Cod affiliate for the Boston-based WEEI Sports Radio Network.
A spokesman for Audacy declined to comment on the sale of 103.7 FM.
Rhode Island was one of the only states without its own public radio station when what was first known as WRNI launched in 1998.
Over time, the station made progress in improving its signal quality, including through the acquisition of 89.3 FM from UMass-Dartmouth in 2017. Listeners nonetheless sometimes had to adjust their dial as they traveled through the region.
Now, Johnston said, “(With) 103.7, you won’t have to do that anymore.”
Editor’s note: Ocean State Media’s Ian Donnis reported this story, and Ocean State Media’s Jeremy Bernfeld and Heide Borgonovo edited it. Under standard practices for reporting on Ocean State Media, no other Ocean State Media staff were allowed to review the story before publication.
