WFDD is the Piedmont-Triad area's public radio outlet and the radio voice of Wake Forest University. WFDD traces its heritage back to the time when Wake Forest University was in the Wake County town of the same name, having started as WAKE, a 5-watt "pirate" station operated by two students from their dorm in 1946. In two years, the station expanded to become a carrier current operation signing on with 50 watts April 19th, 1948. The WAKE call sign was already in use, so the station became WFDD (Wake Forest Demon Deacons). For the next ten years, WFDD was totally student-run, and followed the college's move to Winston-Salem in 1956. In 1961, WFDD became a broadcast station. Six years later, listeners helped raise money for a new antenna and a 36,000-watt transmitter with a stereo carrier, making WFDD the first FM stereo station in Winston-Salem. In 1971, WFDD became North Carolina's first member of National Public Radio, carrying the initial broadcast of NPR's "All Things Considered." The station today operates with 60,000 watts and can be heard well in western portions of the Triangle area.