WWVT-FM

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.[3] They broadcast a classical music format and are owned and operated by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.[4] 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
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 (1989-01) (as WFFC)[1]
Former call signs
WFFC (1987–2017)[2]
Technical information
Facility ID21417
ClassA
Power1,100 watts
HAAT207 meters (679 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
36°54′50.0″N 79°57′7.0″W
Translator(s)See § Low-powered translators
Links
WebcastWWVT-FM Webstream
WebsiteWWVT-FM Online

WWVT-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 1,100 watts. The transmitter is on Waidsboro Road in Ferrum.[5] 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.[6] Programming is also heard on a series of rebroadcasters and FM translators around Southwest Virginia.

Programming

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.[7]

History

WWVT-FM 89.9

The station signed on the air in January 1989 (1989-01).[8][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.[9][10][11]

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.[12][13][14] 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.[14]

WWVT 1260 AM
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 (1954-11-21)
Former call signs
WBCR (1954–1966)
WJJJ (1966–1995)
WNNI (1995–1998)
Technical information
Facility ID48622
ClassD
Power5,000 watts days
25 watts nights
Transmitter coordinates
37°9′14.4″N 80°30′25.2″W
Translator(s)See § Low-powered translators

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.[15][16]

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.[17]

In 2003, Virginia Tech launched the original incarnation of Radio IQ on the rechristened WWVT.[18] 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

Full-powered stations
Call sign Frequency City of license ERP
W		 Class FCC info
WWVT-FM[lower-alpha 1]89.9 FMFerrum, Virginia1,100AFCC
WWVT1260 AMChristiansburg, Virginia5,000 day/25 nightDFCC

Notes:

  1. WVTF Music flagship station

Low-powered translators
Call signFrequencyCity of licenseERP (W)ClassFCC infoNotes
W201CN 88.1 FMAfton, Virginia10DFMQRelays WVTU-HD2
W208AP 89.5 FMLynchburg, Virginia10DFMQRelays WWVT-FM
W208BX 89.5 FMRoanoke, Virginia250DFMQRelays WVTF-HD2
W209AA 89.7 FMCharlottesville, Virginia250DFMQRelays WVTW-HD2
W211BE 90.1 FMLebanon, Virginia8.5DFMQRelays WWVT-FM
W211BF 90.1 FMBig Stone Gap, Virginia8DFMQRelays WISE-FM-HD2
W215BJ 90.9 FMSaint Paul, Virginia1DFMQRelays WWVT-FM
W238BN 95.5 FMBlacksburg, Virginia250DFMQRelays WWVT
W270BJ 101.9 FMLexington, Virginia25DFMQRelays WIQR-HD2

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

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