WMRA

WMRA
City Harrisonburg, Virginia
Broadcast area Central Shenandoah Valley
Branding WMRA
Slogan "More News, Less Noise"
Frequency 90.7 MHz
First air date 1969
Format Public Radio
Power 10,500 Watts
HAAT 318 meters (1,043 ft)
Class B
Facility ID 65447
Transmitter coordinates 38°33′50.0″N 78°57′0.0″W / 38.563889°N 78.950000°W / 38.563889; -78.950000
Callsign meaning W (James) Madison Radio Associates
Former frequencies 91.1 MHz (1969–1975)[1]
Affiliations American Public Media
BBC World Service
National Public Radio
Public Radio International
Owner James Madison University
(James Madison University Board of Visitors)
Sister stations W233AA, WMRL, WMRY
Webcast WMRA Webstream
Website WMRA Online

WMRA is a Public Radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Harrisonburg, Virginia. It is the NPR member station for the central Shenandoah Valley. Combined with its full-power repeaters and low-power translators, it serves much of west-central Virginia from Winchester to Lexington as well as the Charlottesville area.[2] WMRA is owned and operated by James Madison University.[3]

History

WMRA signed on in the summer of 1969, broadcasting on 91.1 MHz with 10 watts. The transmitter was at 851 South Main Street in Harrisonburg and the studios were at Alumni Hall on the campus of what was then Madison College. WMRA's signal was sufficient to cover the city of Harrisonburg proper. The station aired from 4 p.m. to midnight daily, and was a typical college radio station, with all programming produced by students.[4][5]

WMRA moved to 90.7 MHz and upgraded power to 19.5 kW on November 12, 1975, at which time the station also applied for funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and joined NPR. As a condition of CPB funding, the station hired professional staff. While students continued to handle many on-air operations, the station adopted a typical public radio format of NPR news, talk, and classical music, with specialty programs of folk and jazz. Unusually for a public radio station, a student-programmed progressive rock show took the late-night timeslot.[6][7] All rock music was dropped in 1980 owing to low listenership, to "no great student response", according to general manager Don Lanham.[8] Student programming moved to WXJM (88.7 FM) when that station signed on in 1990.

On January 14, 2008, WMRA took over the operation of Eastern Mennonite University's WEMC (91.7 FM), which faced declining ratings and nonexistent student interest. WMRA moved its daytime classical programming there in exchange for extra NPR programs that WEMC had previously aired because WMRA could not fit them into its schedule. Both stations kept their evening schedules intact; WMRA was hesitant to move its evening music programs due to WEMC's inferior signal.[9][10][11] WEMC went all-classical on August 11, 2014, while WMRA picked up WEMC's remaining information programming and dropped all music.[12]

Network

WMRA proramming is heard on network of three full-powered repeaters. WMLU is owned by Longwood University, which reserves evening and late-night timeslots for its own music and student programming.

Call sign Frequency
(MHz)		 City of license ERP
W		 Class FCC Broadcast times
WMLU91.3Farmville, Virginia440AFCC2 a.m. to 7 p.m.[13][14]
WMRL89.9Lexington, Virginia100AFCC24 hours
WMRY103.5Crozet, Virginia280AFCC24 hours

WMRA also operates one fill-in translator in Winchester, Virginia due to interference from Washington's WETA on 90.9.[15]

Broadcast translators of WMRA
Call signFrequency
(MHz)		City of licenseERP
W		ClassFCC info
W233AA94.5Winchester, Virginia45DFCC

References

  1. ↑  ‹Template:FCC history cards is deprecated.›FCC History Cards for WMRA
  2. ↑ "Arbitron Station Information Profiles". Nielsen Audio/Nielsen Holdings. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  3. ↑ "WMRA Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  4. ↑ Staff (November 19, 1969). "Radio Station Seeks Assistance In Setting Up Special Program". The Breeze. Madison College. p. 1.
  5. ↑ "Radio at Madison". The Breeze. Madison College. November 6, 1969. p. 4.
  6. ↑ "First Power WMRA Broadcast Due". The Breeze. Madison College. July 11, 1975. p. 1.
  7. ↑ "WMRA To Expand Range Nov. 12". The Breeze. Madison College. October 28, 1975. p. 1.
  8. ↑ "WMRA terminates rock programming". The Breeze. James Madison University. September 30, 1980. p. 10.
  9. ↑ "New Programming". WMRA.
  10. ↑ "WMRA & WEMC programming changes". hburgnews.com. January 8, 2008.
  11. ↑ "New Programming". WMRA.
  12. ↑ "WEMC unveils new programming, rebrands as region's home for classical music". emu.edu. August 8, 2014.
  13. ↑ "WMLU Student Shows".
  14. ↑ "WMLU Issues and Programs List - 2018 Q1" (PDF). FCC Public Inspection File.
  15. ↑ "WMRA Engineering Resources".


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