WNRS-FM

Last updated

WNRS-FM
Simulcasts WNRN-FM, Charlottesville
Broadcast area Amherst, Virginia
Amherst County, Virginia
Frequency 89.9 MHz
BrandingWNRN
Programming
Format Adult album alternative
Ownership
OwnerStu-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 1,100 watts
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 (89.9 MHz) is an adult album alternative formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Sweet Briar, Virginia, serving Amherst and Amherst County, Virginia. WNRS is owned and operated by Stu-Comm, Inc. [3] and simulcasts WNRN-FM full-time.

Contents

History

WUDZ ("woods") signed on in late 1979 as Sweet Briar College's student radio station, replacing an earlier Part 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 to WNRS-FM. That April, Sweet Briar entered into a local 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 in Lynchburg. [8]

By 2010, Sweet Briar programming had dwindled to a single three-hour window on Mondays through Thursdays during the school year. [9] The college sold WNRS-FM to Stu-Comm in January of that year. In lieu of a cash payment, Stu-Comm agreed to donate 25% of the money raised from within the station's city-grade signal contour to Sweet Briar, as well as allow the college to fill one seat on its board of directors. [8] 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 near Appomattox Court House, which would have given the station a 50-mile radius from the Roanoke metropolitan area east to Powhatan County and south to the North Carolina border. A first application was dismissed in 2011 as the Federal 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 the construction 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]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "FCC History Cards for WNRS-FM". FCC .
  2. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WNRS-FM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ↑ "WNRS Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  4. ↑ Smith, Amy (April 1, 2016). "From WSBC to WUDZ to WSWE: The story of Sweet Briar radio" (PDF). The Briar Wire.
  5. ↑ Beck, Katherine (October 30, 1980). "WUDZ Diversifies Schedule Clubs Given Air Time" (PDF). The Sweet Briar News. p. 49.
  6. ↑ Weisenberger, Shannon (February 24, 1997). "WUDZ 91.5 on the air" (PDF). The Sweet Briar News. p. 49.
  7. ↑ "Local Marketing Agreement". Archived from the original on September 25, 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "WNRS-FM Facility Data". FCCData.
  9. ↑ Corbin, Robert (January 27, 2010). "Station transactions". VARTV.
  10. ↑ "In re WNRS-FM".


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