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WNRN-FM
WNRN-FM (91.9 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Central and Western Virginia. The station has a board of directors consisting of local community members and is incorporated as the non-profit Stu-Comm, Inc.
WNRN has an adult album alternative radio format. It is the only member of National Public Radio based in Charlottesville, and carries NPR's daily music program, World Cafe, as well as locally produced specialty music shows on weekends.
WNRN has a network of rebroadcasters and FM translators around Virginia, covering the Shenandoah Valley from Roanoke to Harrisonburg as well as Richmond, Williamsburg and Hampton Roads. It holds periodic fundraisers on the air to support the station and network. The main station has an effective radiated power of 320 watts, with its transmitter at the Carter's Mountain antenna farm in Charlottesville.
In 1993, Mike Friend, a former operations manager at WTJU, a station owned and operated by the University of Virginia, incorporated Stu-Comm to bring public radio to Charlottesville-Albermarle area. WNRN initially took the call sign WANJ during the construction process and was originally registered as an educational nonprofit. It signed on the air as WNRN in September 1996.
In 2006, the station gained a direct commercial competitor in pop-oriented AAA station WCNR (106.1 FM), branded as "106.1 The Corner". Founder and then-general manager Mike Friend banned the word "corner" from his airwaves for a time after WCNR signed on.
In 2000, WNRN began expanding its service area outside of Charlottesville: first by renting airtime on WUDZ (now WNRS-FM), then the Sweet Briar College student radio station, followed by several purchases of translator stations in Lexington, Richmond, Harrisonburg and Lovingston in 2006 and 2007. Stu-Comm purchased WNRS-FM outright in 2010, increasing its height and power in order to reach Lynchburg. Although the main signal from Carters Mountain nominally has good coverage in the lower elevations to the east, including Richmond, interference from co-channel WGTS in Washington, D.C. cuts down on reception in those areas.
Stu-Comm took additional steps to improve its terrestrial signals in 2016, starting with the acquisition of WFTH (1590 AM) in Richmond, which enabled it to purchase and move in an additional FM translator under the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) AM revitalization program. This new translator, W203CB on 88.5 FM from Midlothian, became WNRN's primary Richmond-area signal on February 2, 2018. W203CB replaced W276BZ (103.1 FM), which prompted listener complaints as it broadcast at only 10 watts and had difficulty covering the city.
Hanover County-based WHAN (1430 AM), with a transmitter and FM translator (W275BQ, 102.9 FM) located in Ashland and covering the northern suburbs of Richmond, filed an agreement donating its license and facilities to Stu-Comm on July 31, 2020; this gave WNRN a third and fourth signal covering the city. The action came concurrently with the FCC repeal of a longstanding rule prohibiting co-owned AM stations with substantial signal overlap from simulcasting each other. WHAN came under Stu-Comm's control on October 14.
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WNRN-FM
WNRN-FM (91.9 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Central and Western Virginia. The station has a board of directors consisting of local community members and is incorporated as the non-profit Stu-Comm, Inc.
WNRN has an adult album alternative radio format. It is the only member of National Public Radio based in Charlottesville, and carries NPR's daily music program, World Cafe, as well as locally produced specialty music shows on weekends.
WNRN has a network of rebroadcasters and FM translators around Virginia, covering the Shenandoah Valley from Roanoke to Harrisonburg as well as Richmond, Williamsburg and Hampton Roads. It holds periodic fundraisers on the air to support the station and network. The main station has an effective radiated power of 320 watts, with its transmitter at the Carter's Mountain antenna farm in Charlottesville.
In 1993, Mike Friend, a former operations manager at WTJU, a station owned and operated by the University of Virginia, incorporated Stu-Comm to bring public radio to Charlottesville-Albermarle area. WNRN initially took the call sign WANJ during the construction process and was originally registered as an educational nonprofit. It signed on the air as WNRN in September 1996.
In 2006, the station gained a direct commercial competitor in pop-oriented AAA station WCNR (106.1 FM), branded as "106.1 The Corner". Founder and then-general manager Mike Friend banned the word "corner" from his airwaves for a time after WCNR signed on.
In 2000, WNRN began expanding its service area outside of Charlottesville: first by renting airtime on WUDZ (now WNRS-FM), then the Sweet Briar College student radio station, followed by several purchases of translator stations in Lexington, Richmond, Harrisonburg and Lovingston in 2006 and 2007. Stu-Comm purchased WNRS-FM outright in 2010, increasing its height and power in order to reach Lynchburg. Although the main signal from Carters Mountain nominally has good coverage in the lower elevations to the east, including Richmond, interference from co-channel WGTS in Washington, D.C. cuts down on reception in those areas.
Stu-Comm took additional steps to improve its terrestrial signals in 2016, starting with the acquisition of WFTH (1590 AM) in Richmond, which enabled it to purchase and move in an additional FM translator under the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) AM revitalization program. This new translator, W203CB on 88.5 FM from Midlothian, became WNRN's primary Richmond-area signal on February 2, 2018. W203CB replaced W276BZ (103.1 FM), which prompted listener complaints as it broadcast at only 10 watts and had difficulty covering the city.
Hanover County-based WHAN (1430 AM), with a transmitter and FM translator (W275BQ, 102.9 FM) located in Ashland and covering the northern suburbs of Richmond, filed an agreement donating its license and facilities to Stu-Comm on July 31, 2020; this gave WNRN a third and fourth signal covering the city. The action came concurrently with the FCC repeal of a longstanding rule prohibiting co-owned AM stations with substantial signal overlap from simulcasting each other. WHAN came under Stu-Comm's control on October 14.