WAMU (88.5 FM) is a public news/talk station that services the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It is owned by American University, and its studios are located near the campus in northwest Washington. WAMU has been the primary National Public Radio member station for Washington since 2007. History WAMU began as an AM carrier-current student radio station, signing on July 28, 1951 on , before shifting to in March 1952 and in November 1952. Although carrier-current stations are not granted a license or call sign by the FCC, it used "WAMU" as a familiar form of identification. The station aired a wide range of student-produced programming including music, news, sports, radio dramas, and debates. The station was heralded as a rebirth of the university's prior radio station, WAMC, which operated on for about two years starting on January 15, 1947, broadcasting with a 50-watt transmitter as part of a plan to offer a full range of radio and television courses at American University. WMAC's operations were sporadic and the station suffered interference from a 50,000-watt station broadcasting from Mexico on the same frequency, but it finally went off the air after station equipment was stolen in 1950. Throughout the late 1950s, students and faculty involved with WAMU-AM pushed to create an FM station that could reach beyond campus and serve Washington, D.C., as a whole. In late 1960, the university received a non-commercial FM broadcasting license, and WAMU made its first FM broadcast on October 23, 1961, on using a 4,000-watt second-hand transmitter acquired from WGBH in Boston. Although it was not strictly necessary as the AM carrier-current station's call sign was not official, the FM station took the suffixed call sign "WAMU-FM" to differentiate itself. The station dropped the -FM suffix in 1981. WAMU-FM station was established as an "education station" operated by the university, not as a student-run station. Despite this about 75 AU students, many of whom also worked at the carrier-current station, produced local programming for WAMU-FM. In its first year of operation, WAMU simulcast the same programming, which included educational programs, dramas, and classical music, on AM and FM for three hours each evening. From its inception as a student-run station, WAMU provided public affairs and educational programming. With the launch of its FM service in 1961, WAMU joined the nascent National Educational Radio Network, a predecessor to NPR. In 1971, the station was a