About Us

Ownership

WSCL and WSDL are owned and operated as a service to the people of Delmarva by the Salisbury University Foundation, Inc.  The mission ofDelmarva Public Radio  is to provide a quality program service that educates, informs, and entertains in ways that meet their particular needs.  

Salisbury University provided the initial impetus for WSCL in the late 1980's.  Dr. Thom Bellavance, then President of Salisbury State University, was a prime mover in the effort to bring public radio to Delmarva as part of the University's community service.  An agreement between the University and Foundation established the roles of each institution in the establishment of WSCL.  The station broadcast its first program, a recording of a performance of the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, in May, 1987.

Today, the Foundation continues to hold the station licenses and remains the governing body for Delmarva Public Radio.  Salisbury University continues to be the primary in-kind supporter of WSCL and WSDL, providing physical facilities for studios and offices, as well as personnel support.  The stations also serve as a professional laboratory for students in the University's Communication Arts program.

Our History

Licensed to the Salisbury University Foundation, Delmarva Public Radio began broadcasting classical music to the Delmarva Peninsula as WSCL, 89.5 FM on May 29, 1987.Eleven years later, on February 13, 1998, we added WSDL, 90.7 FM. We are now able to broadcast the world’s finest classical music and news and information programs twenty-four hours a day and have even added live internet streaming. Delmarva Public Radio has, through the generosity of Salisbury University, been located in Caruthers Hall on the campus since 1986.

The landscape of the Eastern Shore has changed quite a bit in the past twenty years, and Delmarva Public Radio has become a fixture of the Shore’s artistic and cultural life.We currently have over forty thousand regular listeners with a contributing membership of over three thousand. The future of radio is an exciting one, and we plan to be there, providing the same quality that you have come to expect.  As we reflect upon our first twenty years, we must say “thank you” to all of our listeners, contributors, staffers, volunteers, and corporate underwriters.Without you, none of this would have been possible. With your continued support, we look forward to our next twenty years being even better.