WRSI (93.9 FM, "93.9 The River") is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to serve

Turners Falls, Massachusetts Turners Falls is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in the town of Montague in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,512 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropoli ...

. The station is owned by Saga Communications and licensed to Saga Communications of New England, LLC. It airs an

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

music format.

History

On July 11, 1977, Ed Skutnik filed an application on behalf of his Company, Green Valley Broadcasting Co., Ltd. to build a new FM station in

Greenfield, Massachusetts Greenfield is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. Greenfield was first settled in 1686. The population was 17,768 at the 2020 census. Greenfield is home to Greenfield Community College, the Pioneer Val ...

. A competing application was filed by Poet's Seat Broadcasting, Inc. for the same vacant FM channel (95.3 MHz in Greenfield). After years of hearings and appeals, the FCC ultimately awarded the permit to Green Valley Broadcasting, which began construction in January 1981. WRSI officially went on the air July 26, 1981, with a diverse programming line up, including music from the genres of rock, classical, jazz, new age, folk, world and country. A concerted effort was made to showcase local western Massachusetts musicians. WRSI was the first stereo FM station in

Franklin County, Massachusetts Franklin County is a nongovernmental county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 71,029, which makes it the least-populous county on the Massachusetts mainland, and the ...

, and used next to no compression of its audio signals. WRSI was also the first station in western Massachusetts beginning, in 1982, to use compact discs as part of its regular programming. WRSI added a sister station in March 1987. WPOE (AM) Greenfield, Massachusetts was purchased from Poet's Seat Broadcasting Inc. The call letters were changed to WGAM (AM). Green Valley Broadcasting Co., Ltd. (Ed Skutnik, owner) sold WRSI and WGAM to Howard Communications Corp. in October 1988 for $1.535 million. Howard Communications went into receivership in January 1992. At that time, Skutnik was asked to manage the stations until a new owner was found. In November 1992, under the ownership of Skutnik, Radio Skutnik Inc. bought back WRSI and WGAM from the receivership. In October 1996, Radio Skutnik sold WRSI and WGAM to Watertown Radio Associates. In August 1999, Vox Media Corp. purchased Dynacom and all of its radio assets, including WRSI, for a reported $5.5 million. In February 2001, WRSI swapped frequencies with WPVQ so that WPVQ now broadcasts on 95.3 MHz from

, and WRSI broadcasts on its current 93.9 MHz. The 93.9 FM station was assigned the WRSI call letters by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

on February 1, 2001. In December 2003, Saga Communications announced that it had reached an agreement to purchase WRSI (93.9 FM) and WPVQ (95.3 FM) plus

WRSY WRSY (101.5 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Marlboro, Vermont. The station is owned by the Monadnock Radio Group subsidiary of Saga Communications. WRSY airs an adult album alternative radio format, via a simulcast of 93.9 WRS ...

(101.5 FM) from Vox Media. The $7 million deal closed in April 2004.

Alumni

Rachel Maddow, host of ''

The Rachel Maddow Show ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' (also abbreviated ''TRMS'') is an American liberal news and opinion television program that airs on MSNBC, running in the 9:00 pm ET timeslot Monday evenings. It is hosted by Rachel Maddow, who gained a public p ...

'' on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

and a former

Air America Radio Air America (formerly Air America Radio and Air America Media) was an American radio network specializing in progressive talk radio. It was on the air from March 2004 to January 2010. The network was founded as a left wing alternative to counter ...

personality, worked for WRSI as host of "The Big Breakfast" after getting her start in radio at nearby

WRNX WRNX (100.9 FM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Amherst, Massachusetts. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and the broadcast license is held by iHM Licenses, LLC. The station was assigned the WRNX call letters ...

References

External links

* {{Saga Communications RSI Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States Mass media in Franklin County, Massachusetts Radio stations established in 1981 Radio stations established in 1994 Montague, Massachusetts 1994 establishments in Massachusetts