WNRN

WNRN
City Charlottesville, Virginia
Broadcast area Central Virginia
Branding "91-9 WNRN"
Slogan "Listener-Supported Independent Music Radio"
Frequency 91.9 MHz
First air date September 1996[1]
Format Public Radio
Power 320 Watts
HAAT 325 Meters
Class A
Facility ID 8710
Transmitter coordinates 37°58′55.0″N 78°29′3.0″W / 37.981944°N 78.484167°W / 37.981944; -78.484167
Callsign meaning W New Rock Now
Former callsigns WANJ (1995-1996)
WNRN (1996-Present)[2]
Owner Stu-Comm, Inc.
Webcast WNRN Webstream
Website WNRN Online

WNRN (91.9 FM) is a Public Radio, Adult album alternative, and formatted radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Central and Western Virginia. WNRN is owned and operated by Stu-Comm, Inc.[3]

History

WNRN signed on August 29, 1996, after taking the callsign WANJ during the construction process.[4] Principally, WNRN broadcasts adult album alternative (triple-A) music, with specialty shows at night and on the weekends such as Bluegrass Sunday Morning, and The Grateful Dead and Phriends. WNRN is a triple-A reporter, submitting charts to Billboard, Mediabase, and FMQB. WNRN is a member of NPR and the Charlottesville affiliate for NPR's national triple-A show World Cafe. The station is a non-commercial operation, with a board of directors consisting of local community members and incorporated as the non-profit Stu-Comm, Inc.[5]

In 2000, WNRN began expanding its service area outside of Charlottesville: first by renting airtime on WUDZ (now WNRS-FM), then the Sweet Briar College student radio station, followed by several purchases of translator stations in Lexington, Richmond, Harrisonburg and Lovingston in 2006 and 2007. Stu-Comm, Inc. purchased WNRS-FM outright in 2010, increasing its height and power in order to reach Lynchburg.[6] Although the main signal from Carter Mountain nominally has good coverage in the lower elevations to the east, including Richmond, interference from co-channel WGTS in Washington, D.C. cuts down on reception in those areas.[7]

Although WNRN remains popular in Charlottesville, in 2006 it received a commercial competitor in pop-oriented AAA station WCNR (106.1 FM), branded as "106.1 The Corner". Founder and then-general manager Mike Friend famously banned the word "corner" from his airwaves for a time after WCNR signed on.[8] The station made local headlines again when Friend was unexpectedly fired by the board of directors in April 2011, although he was kept on as the station engineer.[9] Friend left WNRN altogether in 2013 and founded Blue Ridge Free Media, the licensee of WXRK-LP (92.3 FM).[10]

Stu-Comm, Inc. took additional steps to improve its terrestrial signals in 2016, starting with the acquisition of WFTH (1590 AM) in Richmond, which enabled it to purchase and move in an additional FM translator under the Federal Communications Commission's "AM revitalization" program.[11] This new translator, W203CB on 88.5 FM from Midlothian, became WNRN's primary Richmond-area signal on February 2, 2018. W203CB replaced W276BZ (103.1 FM), which prompted listener complaints as it broadcast at only 10 watts and had difficulty covering the city.[12][13][14] Stu-Comm has also applied to boost WNRN's signal from Carter Mountain to 560 watts.[15]

Repeaters

WNRN's programming is aired full-time on two additional full-powered stations:

Call sign Frequency City of license Power
W		 Class FCC
WNRS-FM89.9 FMSweet Briar, Virginia1,100AFCC
WFTH1590 AMRichmond, Virginia5,000 day
19 night		DFCC

There are also five low-powered translators. Through a partnership with the Virginia Tech Foundation, two are fed by HD subchannels of Radio IQ stations.

Call signFrequency
(MHz)		City of licenseERP
W		ClassFCC infoNotes
W266BQ101.1Crozet195DFCCRepeats WVTU-HD3
W234BA94.7Lovingston10DFCC
W236BG95.1Harrisonburg25DFCC
W237DF95.3Lexington10DFCCRepeats WRIQ-HD3
W203CB88.5Richmond170DFCC

References

  1. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/2010/D4-2010-BC-YB-7.pdf
  2. ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=8710&Callsign=WNRN
  3. ↑ "WNRN Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  4. ↑ Provence, Lisa (September 26, 2002). "Friend or foe: Mike's still a radio wonder". The Hook.
  5. ↑ "Ownership Report". RECnet.
  6. ↑ "WNRS-FM Facility Data". FCCData.
  7. ↑ Curran, Colleen (February 27, 2018). "WNRN can now be heard on 88.5 FM in Richmond". The Daily Progress.
  8. ↑ Barnes, Lindsay (August 23, 2007). "Savage's beast: How 'The Corner' took a bite of local radio". The Hook (634).
  9. ↑ Cedermark, Andrew (13 July 2011). "Defriended: Is station founder Mike Friend out at WNRN? - C-VILLE Weekly". C-VILLE Weekly.
  10. ↑ "New Alt/Active Rock Station Debuts In Charlottesville, VA". All Access.
  11. ↑ Venta, Lance. "Station Sales Week Of 6/3: Multicultural Swaps Trust Assets In Los Angeles". RadioInsight. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  12. ↑ "Boosting Our Richmond Signal!". WNRN.
  13. ↑ "W203CB Facility Data". FCCData.
  14. ↑ "W276BZ Facility Data". FCCData.
  15. ↑ "Application for Construction Permit for Non-Commercial Broadcast Station". FCC CDBS.
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