SimulcastsWNRN-FM,Charlottesville | |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Amherst, Virginia Amherst County, Virginia |
Frequency | 89.9MHz |
Branding | WNRN |
Programming | |
Format | Adult album alternative |
Ownership | |
Owner | Stu-Comm, Inc. |
WHAN,WNRN,WNRN-FM,WRJR | |
History | |
First air date | October 1979; 45 years ago (1979-10) |
Former call signs | WUDZ (1979–2000)[1] |
Former frequencies | 91.5 MHz (1979–1999)[1] |
Call sign meaning | "WNRN Sweet Briar" |
Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 74157 |
Class | A |
ERP | 1,100watts |
HAAT | 169 m (554 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 37°31′58.0″N79°5′33.0″W / 37.532778°N 79.092500°W /37.532778; -79.092500 |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | wnrn.org |
WNRS-FM (89.9MHz) is anadult album alternative formattedbroadcastradio station licensed toSweet Briar, Virginia, servingAmherst andAmherst County, Virginia. WNRS is owned and operated by Stu-Comm, Inc.[3] and simulcastsWNRN-FM full-time.
WUDZ ("woods") signed on in late 1979 asSweet Briar College's student radio station, replacing an earlierPart 15 station that had the unofficial callsign of WSBC.[4] The station was originally licensed for just 10 watts – good for reception at a five-mile radius from campus – but upgraded to 100 watts during 1980.[5]
By 1997, WUDZ was broadcasting for the legally required minimum of 36 hours per week: 6 p.m. through midnight on Sunday through Thursday, off on Friday, and noon through 6 p.m. on Saturday.[6] In February 2000, the callsign was changed toWNRS-FM. That April, Sweet Briar entered into alocal marketing agreement to rent its extra airtime to Stu-Comm, Inc., who filled the hours not programmed by students with a relay of WNRN.[7] The station moved to a 30-watt transmitter from the 2,900-foot Tobacco Row Mountain west of Sweet Briar in 2002, allowing reception in car radios inLynchburg.[8]
Sweet Briar College sold WNRS-FM outright to Stu-Comm in 2010.[8] By this time, Sweet Briar programming had dwindled to a single three-hour window on Mondays through Thursdays during the school year.[9]WSWE-LP has since launched as a new outlet for student programming.
In 2011, Stu-Comm attempted to move WNRS-FM to a 20-kilowatt transmitter on nearAppomattox Court House, which would have given the station a 50-mile radius from theRoanoke metropolitan area east toPowhatan County and south to theNorth Carolina border. A first application was dismissed in 2011 as theFederal Communications Commission primarily determined a signal on 89.9 from this location would cause unacceptable interference to multiple other stations.[10] A second application on 89.5 from the same location progressed to theconstruction permit stage and received local zoning approval, but was abandoned in July 2015.[8]
Stu-Comm has since moved the station off of Tobacco Row Mountain back to the town of Sweet Briar, in order to increase its power from 30 to 1100 watts.[8]
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