WWVT-FM

WWVT-FM
Broadcast areaSouthside Virginia
Frequency89.9 MHz
BrandingWVTF Music
Programming
FormatClassical music
AffiliationsNational Public Radio
Ownership
Owner
WVTF, WISE-FM
History
First air date
January 1989; 35 years ago (1989-01) (as WFFC)[1]
Former call signs
WFFC (1987–2017)[2]
Technical information[3]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID21417
ClassA
ERP1,100 watts
HAAT207 meters (679 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
36°54′50.0″N 79°57′7.0″W / 36.913889°N 79.951944°W / 36.913889; -79.951944
Translator(s)See § Low-powered translators
Links
Public license information
WebcastWWVT-FM Webstream
WebsiteWWVT-FM Online

WWVT (1260 kHz) and WWVT-FM (89.9 MHz) are non-commercial public radio stations. WWVT is licensed to Christiansburg, Virginia, and WWVT-FM is licensed to Ferrum, Virginia.[4] They broadcast a classical music format and are owned and operated by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.[5] WWVT-FM is the flagship station of WVTF Music, a companion service to WVTF, Southwestern Virginia's NPR member news and information station. WWVT-AM-FM have their studios and offices at WVTF's facility in Roanoke.

WWVT-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 1,100 watts. The transmitter is on Waidsboro Road in Ferrum.[6] WWVT 1260 has a power of 5,000 watts by day and 25 watts at night. Its transmitter is on Walton Road at Caboose Road in Radford.[7] Programming is also heard on a series of rebroadcasters and FM translators around Southwest Virginia.

Programming

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WWVT-AM-FM are the flagship stations of WVTF Music. Much of the network's weekday programming is classical music, from midnight to early evenings. Weeknights are devoted to jazz music.

Weekends include blocks of album adult alternative (AAA), bluegrass, Americana and opera. National and regional shows include Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, Sunday Baroque, Mountain Stage, The Thistle and Shamrock, All Songs Considered, Pipedreams and American Routes.[8]

History

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WWVT-FM 89.9

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The station signed on the air in January 1989; 35 years ago (1989-01).[9][1] The original call sign was WFFC, the student station of Ferrum College. Its power at the time was only 100 watts.

In 2003, the Virginia Tech Foundation launched a secondary all-news and talk service, Radio IQ, on WWVT (1260 AM in Christiansburg). This schedule contrasted with WVTF's full-service schedule of music and news. As WWVT was only licensed to broadcast during the day at the time, WFFC joined Radio IQ in order to give it a 24-hour signal. The Virginia Tech Foundation also intended to have WFFC feed Radio IQ to extra FM translators that it owned. Since FCC rules prevent a station from feeding translators via microwave that are not co-owned, Ferrum sold WFFC to the foundation in November of that year.[10][11][12]

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 its call sign to the current WWVT-FM in the same month.[13][14][15] Due to the relatively modest coverage areas of the WWVT stations and their translators, WVTF Music is simulcast on the second HD Radio channels of all full-power Radio IQ stations except WRIQ in Richmond.[15]

WWVT 1260 AM

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WWVT
Broadcast areaBlacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, Virginia
Frequency1260 kHz
Ownership
Owner
  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  • (Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.)
WWVT-FM, WVTF
History
First air date
November 21, 1954; 69 years ago (1954-11-21)
Former call signs
WBCR (1954–1966)
WJJJ (1966–1995)
WNNI (1995–1998)
Technical information[16]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID48622
ClassD
Power5,000 watts days
25 watts nights
Transmitter coordinates
37°9′14.4″N 80°30′25.2″W / 37.154000°N 80.507000°W / 37.154000; -80.507000
Translator(s)See § Low-powered translators
Links
Public license information

AM 1260 signed on in October 1954. Its original call sign was WBCR and it was a daytimer, required to leave the air at night. It was later known as "Triple J" WJJJ. It competed in the 1960s and 1970s with Virginia Tech's student radio station, WUVT, for the local Top 40 market.[17][18]

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.[19]

In 2003, Virginia Tech launched the original incarnation of Radio IQ on the rechristened WWVT.[20] 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).


Network stations

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Full-powered stations

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Call sign Frequency City of license ERP
W 		Class FCC info
WWVT-FM[a] 89.9 FM Ferrum, Virginia 1,100 A FCC (WWVT-FM)
WWVT 1260 AM Christiansburg, Virginia 5,000 day/25 night D FCC (WWVT)

Notes:

  1. ^ WVTF Music flagship station

Low-powered translators

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Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) Class FCC info Notes
W201CN 88.1 FM Afton, Virginia 93681 10 D LMS Relays WVTU-HD2
W208AP 89.5 FM Lynchburg, Virginia 84544 10 D LMS Relays WWVT-FM
W208BX 89.5 FM Roanoke, Virginia 70342 250 D LMS Relays WVTF-HD2
W209AA 89.7 FM Charlottesville, Virginia 70343 250 D LMS Relays WVTW-HD2
W211BE 90.1 FM Lebanon, Virginia 92700 8.5 D LMS Relays WWVT-FM
W211BF 90.1 FM Big Stone Gap, Virginia 92702 8 D LMS Relays WISE-FM-HD2
W215BJ 90.9 FM Saint Paul, Virginia 122133 1 D LMS Relays WWVT-FM
W238BN 95.5 FM Blacksburg, Virginia 156071 250 D LMS Relays WWVT
W270BJ 101.9 FM Lexington, Virginia 145668 25 D LMS Relays WIQR-HD2

References

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  1. ^ a b Broadcasting Yearbook 2010 (PDF). ProQuest, LLC/Reed Publishing (Nederland), B.V. 2010. p. D-564. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  2. ^ "Call Sign History". Federal Communications Commission, audio division. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  3. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WWVT-FM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  4. ^ "Arbitron Station Information Profiles". Nielsen Audio/Nielsen Holdings. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  5. ^ "WWVT-FM Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  6. ^ Radio-Locator.com/WWVT-FM
  7. ^ Radio-Locator.com/WWVT-AM
  8. ^ Berrier Jr., Ralph (July 10, 2017). "WVTF changes come Monday". Roanoke Times.
  9. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 2000 page D-468, Broadcasting & Cable
  10. ^ Corbin, Robert (March 14, 2003). "Radio IQ searches for home". VARTV.
  11. ^ Goodson, Kathryn (March 18, 2003). "The FCC won't let WVTF's Radio IQ be". C-Ville Weekly.
  12. ^ "WWVT-FM Facility Data".
  13. ^ "Programming and frequency changes coming to WVTF and RADIO IQ". Virginia Tech.
  14. ^ Venta, Lance (15 June 2017). "WVTF To Shuffle Frequencies Of Music & Radio IQ Outlets Across Virginia". RadioInsight.
  15. ^ a b "WVTF Radio IQ: The Big Switch".
  16. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WWVT". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  17. ^ "Alumni". WUVT.
  18. ^ "Facility No. 48622 History Card" (PDF).
  19. ^ Wittrig, Patrice (September 10, 1997). "Bocephus Broadcasting Buys Out Blacksburg" (PDF). Radio and Records.
  20. ^ "FCC approves latest acquisition for WVTF and RADIO IQ". Virginia Tech Foundation. November 19, 2011.
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