WMRA (90.7FM) is apublic-radio formattedbroadcastradio station licensed toHarrisonburg, Virginia. It is theNPR member station for the centralShenandoah Valley. Combined with its full-power repeaters and low-power translators, it serves much of west-central Virginia fromWinchester toLexington as well as theCharlottesville area.^[3] WMRA is owned and operated byJames Madison University.^[4]

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 typicalcollege radio station, with all programming produced by students.^[5][6]

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 theCorporation 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, andclassical music, with specialty programs of folk andjazz. Unusually for a public radio station, a student-programmedprogressive rock show took the late-night timeslot.^[7][8] All rock music was dropped in 1980 owing to low listenership, to "no great student response", according to then-general manager Don Lanham.^[9] Student programming moved toWXJM (88.7 FM) when that station signed on in 1990.

On January 14, 2008, WMRA took over the operation ofEastern Mennonite University'sWEMC (91.7 FM), which faced declining ratings and little 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.^[10][11][12] WEMC went all-classical on August 11, 2014, while WMRA picked up WEMC's remaining information programming and dropped its weekday music programming. WMRA has since started airing several weekend music programs and occasional weeknight music programming.^[13]

WMRA programming is heard on network of three full-powered repeaters. WMRL and WMRY are straight simulcasts of WMRA; their existence is only acknowledged on WMRA's legal IDs. WMLU is owned byLongwood University, and breaks off from WMRA in evening and late-night timeslots to air its own music and student programming.

WMRA also operates one fill-intranslator inWinchester, Virginia due to interference fromWashington'sWETA on 90.9.^[16]

• wmra.org

• Facility details for Facility ID 65447 (WMRA) in theFCC Licensing and Management System
• WMRA inNielsen Audio's FM station database

• 1969 establishments in Virginia
• Public radio stations in the United States
• NPR member stations
• Radio stations established in 1969
• Radio stations in Virginia
• College radio stations in Virginia
• James Madison University

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