Northwest Public Broadcasting 91.3 FM radio experiencing issues

PULLMAN — Lewiston and Clarkston listeners may be experiencing issues on Northwest Public Broadcasting 91.3 FM radio.

Customers have reported service outages and poor reception with 91.3 FM, a re-transmission of KWSU AM-1250, over the past couple of weeks.

Jason Royals, chief engineer at Northwest Public Broadcasting, said the service’s translator could be the root of the problem.

The radio station’s 91.3 FM Lewiston/Clarkston news service is provided by a translator, or a repeater station that gets its programming from KRFA HD-2 service out of Moscow. Royals said unfortunately the broadcasting organization’s KRFA main transmitter has failed beyond repair and is on a backup transmitter that does not have HD radio capabilities.

Northwest Public Broadcasting had a temporary solution in place that required internet networking. He said this created issues about a week ago, resulting in the current outage.

Royals reassures the radio station’s engineering team is actively working to restore its 91.3 service with a backup source. He said the purchase of a replacement transmitter for KRFA is in progress.

Northwest Public Broadcasting hoped to have the service restored as early as Monday or by the end of the week.

The radio station is a publicly funded service. Royals said any donations from the public would greatly help restore the station to the air.

Listeners having problems with 91.3 FM can tune into the broadcasting organization’s KWSU-AM 1250, download the Northwest Public Broadcasting app or utilize its NWPB.org streaming service.

“We appreciate our listener’s feedback and continued patience as we work through this outage,” Royals said.