KWAX, the University of Oregon’s classical music radio station, first aired April 4, 1951. It started as a ten-watt student station with its antenna atop Villard Hall, operating limited daily hours only while the university was in session. Its call letters play on both “wax,” a slang term for phonograph records, and the nickname of the university’s sports teams—The Ducks.

In the years that followed, more and better equipment was donated to the station, power was boosted, and FM radios proliferated. The university and Eugene communities embraced the station and its mix of popular and rock music, sports, campus news, and live programs.An all-classical format first aired during spring break 1970 as an experiment when the station was normally off the air. Favorable community response led to adoption of the new format, described as “serious music played seriously.”

At the time, government initiatives spurred growth of public radio and television stations, particularly across rural areas—a movement that led to the birth of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio. KWAX took advantage, and in 1972 received a grant from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to convert its signal from mono to stereo, raise its power to 20,000 watts, and employ full-time professional staff. Within a few years, KWAX was broadcasting the NPR news programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered as anchors to its nineteen daily hours of mostly classical music.

Given that Eugene’s other NPR-affiliate, KLCC, was carrying the flagship news shows and growing its own news operation, KWAX in 1985 narrowed its programming focus to solely classical music—a format it follows today. 

Each week, KWAX reaches 26,000 unique listeners from the Oregon coast to the Cascades and from Salem to Roseburg through a network of translators and transmitters. Globally, tens of thousands more listen through internet streaming. Its offices on Centennial Loop near Autzen Stadium house on-air and production studios, the UO’s podcast studio, and a library of more than 50,000 CDs and vinyl albums.

Professional announcers with a love for the music and steeped in the repertoire host live programs every weekday. On evenings, overnight, and weekends KWAX airs top-quality syndicated programs and recorded concerts from the nation’s leading symphony orchestras.

The station remains a University of Oregon enterprise. With solid support from businesses, grants, and its legion of listeners, KWAX offers worldwide audiences the cultural riches of history’s greatest music.

January, 2025