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WVTF
Broadcast areaSouthwest Virginia and Central Virginia
Frequency89.1 MHz
(HD Radio)
BrandingRadio IQ
Programming
FormatNews/talk
AffiliationsBBC World Service
National Public Radio
Public Radio International
Ownership
Owner
WVTF Music
History
First air date
1973
Former call signs
WVWR-FM (1973–1982)
Former frequencies
90.1 MHz (1973–1975)[1]
Call sign meaning
Virginia Tech Foundation
Technical information
Facility ID70338
ClassC
Power100,000 watts
HAAT600 Meters
Transmitter coordinates
37°11′56.0″N 80°09′2.0″W / 37.198889°N 80.150556°W / 37.198889; -80.150556
Links
WebcastWVTF Webstream
WebsiteWVTF Online

WVTF is the National Public Radio affiliate serving most of southwestern Virginia. The station is licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, and owned by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) through its fundraising arm, the Virginia Tech Foundation.[2] It airs a format of news and talk programming from NPR, BBC World Service, Public Radio International and other outlets.

WVTF broadcasts in HD.[3]

History

WVTF began broadcasting in August 1973 as WVWR-FM (Virginia Western Radio) and was licensed to Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke. It was used primarily to air college telecourses and give broadcasting students a chance to hone their skills. In 1975, WVWR-FM's transmitter was moved from Fishburn Hall on the VWCC campus to Poor Mountain, where most of Roanoke's major radio and television stations have their transmitters. The power also was increased from 4,100 watts to 100,000 watts. The power boost tripled its coverage area, giving it at least secondary coverage of much of central and southwest Virginia, southern West Virginia and northern North Carolina.

In 1979, WVWR-FM began the Radio Reading Service on its subcarrier frequency.

In 1981, state officials decided that no state agency should own a radio station, and Virginia Western was forced to sell. The Virginia Tech Foundation, financially independent of Virginia Tech but controlled by school leadership, expressed interest in buying the station. It not only wanted to preserve public radio in the region, but saw WVWR as a way to increase Virginia Tech's ties to the region.[4] The foundation formally took control in 1982 and initially applied for the callsign WRVT before settling on WVTF.[5] Over the next decade, WVTF built translator after translator to better serve its mostly mountainous coverage area.

From 1980 to 2017, WVTF and its repeaters maintained a schedule typical of full-service public radio stations, with NPR news in drive times, classical music during the day and overnight, and various special music and talk programming on nights and weekends.

Rebranding as Radio IQ

See also: WVTF Music

WVTF launched a secondary service, branded Radio IQ, in January 2003 in order to provide an additional schedule consisting only of news/talk programming, including retransmission of the BBC World Service overnight. Radio IQ broadcast over its own network of stations, consisting of extra signals that were overlapped by WVTF's network, as well as those in areas such as Richmond which receive a music and news schedule from another station. Radio IQ began with WWVT (1260 AM, Christiansburg). The service quickly expanded to WFFC (89.9 FM, Ferrum), the former Ferrum College student radio station, and WVTW (88.5 FM), an extra station in Charlottesville.[6] Radio IQ signed on WRIQ in Lexington in 2011 and purchased WQIQ near Fredericksburg in 2013.

On July 10, 2017, Radio IQ became WVTF's main service, and the station itself rebranded from "WVTF Public Radio" to "Radio IQ". Three of the five existing Radio IQ stations (WVTW, WQIQ, and WRIQ) merged with WVTF and its network (WVTR, WVTU, and WISE-FM) to place the news and talk schedule on as many full-powered signals as possible. A new companion service, WVTF Music, launched on the remaining stations (WWVT and WFFC, later renamed WWVT-FM) and HD2 subchannels of the new combined Radio IQ network. Low-powered translators of the previous WVTF and Radio IQ networks were divided between the two services. WVTF Music took over all music programming, including daily blocks of classical music, specialty local programs, and Live From Here.[7][8][9]

Stations

Full power stations

All stations broadcast in HD, with WVTF Music on HD2.[10][11][12]

Call sign Frequency
(MHz) 		City of license ERP
W 		Class FCC
WISE-FM 90.5 Wise, Virginia 220 A Template:FMQ
WQIQ 88.3 Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia 3,500 A Template:FMQ
WRIQ 88.7 Lexington, Virginia 3,900 A Template:FMQ
WVTF 89.1 Roanoke, Virginia 100,000 C Template:FMQ
WVTR 91.9 Marion, Virginia 4,500 C2 Template:FMQ
WVTU 89.3 Charlottesville, Virginia (west) 195 B1 Template:FMQ
WVTW 88.5 Charlottesville, Virginia (city) 1,000 B1 Template:FMQ

The following stations broadcast Radio IQ on a part-time basis:

Call sign Frequency City of license ERP
W 		Class FCC Broadcast times
WEHC 90.7 Emory, Virginia 8,700 C3 Template:FMQ 12:00am – 1:00pm daily; 4:00pm – 6:00pm weekdays[13]
WLUR 91.5 Lexington, Virginia 175 A Template:FMQ 12:00am – 1:00pm daily; various additional timeslots[14]

Low power translators

In addition to the main stations, WVTF is relayed by an additional 6 translators to widen its broadcast area. It leases the third HD channel of WURV in Richmond to feed its Richmond translator.[15]

Broadcast translators for WISE-FM
Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) Class FCC info
W212BP 90.3 FM Clintwood, Virginia 1 D
W217BF 91.3 FM Pound, Virginia 1 D
W219CJ 91.7 FM Norton, Virginia 50 D
Broadcast translator for WVTF
Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) FCC info
W230BD 93.9 FM Lovingston, Virginia 10
Broadcast translator for WQIQ
Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) FCC info
W235BT 94.9 FM Fredericksburg, Virginia 80
Broadcast translator for WURV
Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) FCC info
W223AZ 92.5 FM Richmond, Virginia 220

References

  1. ^ Template:FCC history cards
  2. ^ "WVTF Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. ^ https://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?realid=447
  4. ^ "WVTF Public Radio Studio". Virginia Tech Foundation.
  5. ^ "Call letters" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 8, 1982. p. 118.
  6. ^ Corbin, Robert (March 14, 2003). "Radio IQ searches for home". VARTV.
  7. ^ "Programming and frequency changes coming to WVTF and RADIO IQ". Virginia Tech.
  8. ^ Venta, Lance (15 June 2017). "WVTF To Shuffle Frequencies Of Music & Radio IQ Outlets Across Virginia". RadioInsight.
  9. ^ "WVTF Radio IQ: The Big Switch".
  10. ^ Staff, FCC Internet Services. "Station Search Details". licensing.fcc.gov. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  11. ^ Staff, FCC Internet Services. "Station Search Details". licensing.fcc.gov. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  12. ^ "HD (Digital) Radio". wvtf.org. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  13. ^ https://www.ehc.edu/wehc/radio-iq/
  14. ^ https://www.wlu.edu/wlur/weekly-schedule
  15. ^ "WVTF/Radio IQ Post-Flip Schedule" (PDF).
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