WWVT-FM

WWVT-FM
City Ferrum, Virginia
Broadcast area Rocky Mount, Virginia
Martinsville, Virginia
Branding WVTF Music
Frequency 89.9 MHz
First air date January, 1989[1]
Format Public Radio[2]
Power 1,100 watts
HAAT 207 meters (679 ft)
Class A
Facility ID 21417
Transmitter coordinates 36°54′50.0″N 79°57′7.0″W / 36.913889°N 79.951944°W / 36.913889; -79.951944
Former callsigns WFFC (1987–2017)[3]
Affiliations National Public Radio
Owner Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
(Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.)
Webcast WWVT-FM Webstream
Website WWVT-FM Online

WWVT-FM is a Public Radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Ferrum, Virginia, serving Roanoke, Rocky Mount, and Martinsville.[2] WWVT-FM is owned and operated by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.[4] It is the flagship station of WVTF Music, a music-focused companion service to Radio IQ, the area's main NPR news and talk service headed by WVTF.

History

WWVT-FM was originally WFFC, the student station of Ferrum College. In 2003, the Virginia Tech Foundation launched a secondary news and talk service, Radio IQ, on WWVT (1260 AM in Christiansburg). As WWVT was only licensed to broadcast during daytime hours, Ferrum joined with Virginia Tech to use WFFC to give Radio IQ a 24-hour signal. In November of the same year, WFFC was sold outright to the Virginia Tech Foundation; FCC rules prevent a station from feeding FM translators via microwave that it does not legally own.[5] [6][7]

This arrangement lasted until July 10, 2017, when Radio IQ became the Virginia Tech Foundation's primary service and moved to WVTF's more powerful signal and repeater network. As WVTF covers WFFC's entire broadcast area, it dropped Radio IQ to become the flagship of WVTF Music. The station changed callsigns to the current WWVT-FM in the same month.[8][9][10]

WWVT

WWVT
City Christiansburg, Virginia
Broadcast area Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, Virginia
Frequency 1260 kHz
Translator(s) W238BN, 95.5 MHz, Blacksburg, Virginia
First air date 21 November 1954 (1954-11-21)
Power 5 kW daytime
25 W nighttime
HAAT 59.5 m
Class D
Facility ID 48622
Transmitter coordinates 37°9′14.4″N 80°30′25.2″W / 37.154000°N 80.507000°W / 37.154000; -80.507000
Former callsigns WBCR (1954–1966)
WJJJ (1966–1995)
WNNI (1995–1998)
Owner Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
(Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.)
Sister stations WWVT-FM, WVTF

WBCR signed on in 1954 on 1260 AM from Christiansburg. Later known as "Triple J" WJJJ, it competed in the 1960s and 1970s with Virginia Tech's student radio station, WUVT, for the local rock music market.[11][12]

The station became WNNI in 1995. Bocephus Broadcasting purchased eight stations in the Blacksburg-Christiansburg market in 1997, after which it donated WNNI to the Virginia Tech Foundation.[13]

In 2003, Virginia Tech launched the original incarnation of Radio IQ on the rechristened WWVT.[14] WWVT was originally a daytimer that was required to go off the air at sunset to prevent interference to WCHV and WKXR on the same channel. After more than 50 years of daytime-only operation, WWVT added 25 watts of night power in 2005.

WWVT left Radio IQ and joined the WVTF Music network in 2017, in order to take advantage of its Blacksburg-based FM translator W238BN (95.5 FM).

Programming

WWVT-FM is the FM flagship station of WVTF Music. Much of the network's weekday programming is classical music, with 20 hours Monday through Thursday and 18 hours on Fridays. Weekends include blocks of bluegrass, Americana, and jazz. National and regional shows include the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, Across the Blue Ridge, The Thistle and Shamrock and Live From Here (formerly A Prairie Home Companion).[15]

Network stations

Full-powered stations

WVTF Music airs on two full-powered stations as well as the HD2 subchannels of the Radio IQ network headed by WVTF.[16]

Call sign Frequency City of license ERP
W		 Class FCC info
WWVT-FM89.9 FMFerrum, Virginia1,100AFCC
WWVT1260 AMChristiansburg, Virginia5,000 day/25 nightDFCC

Low-powered translators

Call signFrequency
(MHz)		City of licenseERP
W		ClassFCC info
W201CN88.1Afton, Virginia10DFCC
W208AP89.5Lynchburg, Virginia10DFCC
W208BX89.5Roanoke, Virginia250DFCC
W209AA89.7Charlottesville, Virginia250DFCC
W211BE90.1Lebanon, Virginia8.5DFCC
W211BF90.1Big Stone Gap, Virginia8DFCC
W215BJ90.9Saint Paul, Virginia1DFCC
W238BN95.5Blacksburg, Virginia250DFCC
W270BJ101.9Lexington, Virginia25DFCC

References

  1. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 2010 (PDF). ProQuest, LLC/Reed Publishing (Nederland), B.V. 2010. p. D-564. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Arbitron Station Information Profiles". Nielsen Audio/Nielsen Holdings. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Call Sign History". Federal Communications Commission, audio division. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  4. ↑ "WWVT-FM Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  5. ↑ Corbin, Robert (March 14, 2003). "Radio IQ searches for home". VARTV.
  6. ↑ Goodson, Kathryn (March 18, 2003). "The FCC won't let WVTF's Radio IQ be". C-Ville Weekly.
  7. ↑ "WWVT-FM Facility Data".
  8. ↑ "Programming and frequency changes coming to WVTF and RADIO IQ". Virginia Tech.
  9. ↑ Venta, Lance (15 June 2017). "WVTF To Shuffle Frequencies Of Music & Radio IQ Outlets Across Virginia". RadioInsight.
  10. ↑ "WVTF Radio IQ: The Big Switch".
  11. ↑ "Alumni". WUVT.
  12. ↑ "Facility No. 48622 History Card" (PDF).
  13. ↑ Wittrig, Patrice (September 10, 1997). "Bocephus Broadcasting Buys Out Blacksburg" (PDF). Radio and Records.
  14. ↑ "FCC approves latest acquisition for WVTF and RADIO IQ". Virginia Tech Foundation. November 19, 2011.
  15. ↑ Berrier Jr., Ralph (July 10, 2017). "WVTF changes come Monday". Roanoke Times.
  16. ↑ "WVTF Radio IQ: The Big Switch".


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