Broadcast area | United States (Satellite Radio) |
---|---|
Slogan | Talk About Good |
Frequency |
SiriusXM Channel 143 KBYU-FM 89.1 MHz HD2 |
First air date | August 1, 2002 |
Format | Talk |
Callsign meaning | Brigham Young University |
Affiliations | BYU Athletics |
Owner | Brigham Young University |
Website | www.byuradio.org |
BYU Radio is a talk radio station run by Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
Operating at Sirius XM channel 143 (and in northern Utah on 89.1 MHz HD-2), it is known on-air as BYU Radio. The station features entertaining and scholarly talk programming.
Prior to 2002, there was a satellite music format known as 'Bonneville International LDS Radio Network.' When Bonneville International decided to discontinue the format, it gave the station to BYU. The university continued adding programming to the station.
BYU Radio launched as a streaming radio on August 1, 2002. The original format featured a selection of music by Mormon artists and alumni of Brigham Young University. A second stream, called BYU Radio Instrumental, launched in 2003. A third stream, BYU Radio International, launched in 2008 featuring Spanish- and Portuguese-language programming.
In 2006, KBYU-FM "Classical 89" began broadcasting in 'HD Radio' with its main signal. This allowed 'BYU Radio' to rebroadcast its service on KBYU-FM's HD-2 signal.
BYU Radio expanded its reach by finalizing an agreement with Dish Network to broadcast its programming on Channel 980. This is available to subscribers to the 'Top 120' or higher programming tier.
On July 1, 2011, BYU Radio dropped its Mormon-themed inspirational music format and relaunched as a national talk-format station. BYU Radio began broadcasting on Sirius XM satellite radio, assigned to channel 143 on both the Sirius and XM lineup.
On October 17, 2011, Brigham Young University discontinued two of its Internet streams: BYU Radio International and BYU Radio Instrumental. The university said listeners would stream the music as background music causing high bandwidth costs for BYU. Those two services were not broadcast on Dish or SiriusXM, and were only available online.
The talk format reaches into Brigham Young University's depth of academic experts and topics. The station's slogan, "Talk About Good," reflects the station's mission to cover the broad spectrum of "good" topics which are regularly overlooked in political and religious talk programming.