WBBT-FM (107.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

) is a non-commercial

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

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 radio ...

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 ...

Powhatan, Virginia Powhatan is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Powhatan County, Virginia, United States. Powhatan was initially known as Scottville (after Revolutionary war hero General Charles Scott), and historically has also been known as Pow ...

, and serving the

Greater Richmond Region The Greater Richmond Region, the Richmond metropolitan area or Central Virginia, is a region and metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Virginia, centered on Richmond, Virginia, Richmond. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines the ...

. WBBT-FM is owned and operated by

VPM Media Corporation The VPM Media Corporation, formerly known as the Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation and Central Virginia Educational Television Corporation, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is the group owner of Public Broadcasting Service ( ...

. It airs an eclectic music format, focusing on

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

on weekdays,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

in the evening and diverse musical genres on weekends, including world music,

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

. It carries programming from

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

Classical 24 Classical 24 is a syndicated, satellite-delivered public radio service providing classical music to its carrying stations. It generally airs overnights on many non-commercial and a handful of commercial classical music stations. However, the se ...

and the

WFMT WFMT is an FM broadcasting, FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk music, folk. The station is managed by Window to the World Communications, In ...

Jazz Network. Along with

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

partner

WWLB WWLB (93.1 FM) is a non-commercial broadcast radio station licensed to Ettrick, Virginia, serving the Petersburg/Richmond area. WWLB is owned and operated by VPM Media Corporation. Along with sister station WBBT-FM in Powhatan, the station is b ...

Ettrick, Virginia Ettrick is a census-designated place (CDP) in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 7,241. The town is home to Virginia State University and the Petersburg Amtrak train station. Most of Ettrick h ...

, WBBT is branded as ''VPM Music'', and is a

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

to the area's

news and information affiliate, 88.9

WCVE-FM WCVE-FM ("VPM News", 88.9 MHz) is a public radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia, serving the Richmond/ Petersburg area. WCVE-FM is owned and operated by Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation. CPBC also owns Channel 23 WCVE-TV, the P ...

. WBBT serves the northern part of the Richmond

radio market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television station, television and radio broadcasting, ra ...

, while WWLB serves the southern portion. WBBT-FM studios and offices are on Sesame Street in Richmond. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is off Dry Bridge Road in

Midlothian, Virginia Midlothian ( ) is an unincorporated area in Chesterfield County, Virginia, U.S. Settled as a coal town, Midlothian village experienced suburbanization effects and is now part of the western suburbs of Richmond, Virginia south of the James Rive ...

History

WBBT-FM signed on June 21, 1999 as WXNC, and airing a

rhythmic oldies Rhythmic oldies is a radio format that concentrates on the rhythmic, R&B, disco, or dance genres of music. Playlists can span from the 1960s through the 2000s and, depending on market conditions, may be designed for African-American or Hispanic a ...

format as "107.3 The Beat, Richmond's Dancin' Oldies." The station adopted the current WBBT-FM calls on August 6. However, by November 2000, the station shifted to a dance-leaning

Rhythmic AC Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adult ...

as "Dance Hits 107.3." In June 2001, WBBT flipped to All-80s Hits as "Star 107.3" (which would evolve to an '80s/'90s hybrid as "Star 107"). On January 21, 2004, at 7:07 a.m., after a day of stunting as "

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

107", the station flipped to '60s/'70s

Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

as "Oldies 107.3". At the same time, recently purchased sister station WARV (100.3 FM), whose tower is in Petersburg, flipped from "ESPN Richmond" to a simulcast of WBBT, giving the new oldies format some new coverage in Southside Virginia where 107.3's signal is weak. In December 2005, WBBT and WARV, along with sister stations

and

WLFV WLFV (98.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station, licensed to Midlothian, Virginia and serving the Greater Richmond Region. The station is branded as " K-Love" and features a Contemporary Christian format. The station is owned by Educationa ...

, were purchased by Philadelphia-based Main Line Broadcasting. On September 27, 2007, the station rebranded as "107.3 BBT". The playlist was widened at the time slightly to include a few early '80s rock hits, but the station continued to focus on 1964-1979. The positioner changed again on December 4, 2009, to "Big Oldies 107.3". On July 1, 2014,

Main Line Broadcasting Main Line Broadcasting was an American media company, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its peak, Main Line Broadcasting owned 19 radio stations in four markets in the United States. The company was founded by Dan Savadove, and was most rece ...

sold its Richmond stations to L&L Broadcasting, with the combined entity taking the name

Alpha Media Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , which ...

. On March 22, 2017, WBBT shifted its format from classic hits to 1980s hits. Starting with the 2016-17 season, WBBT also carried the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

Spiders

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and men's basketball games. On December 20, 2017, Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation announced that they would acquire WBBT and sister station, WWLB;

's music programming will move to the frequencies upon closure of the sale.Alpha Media Sells Richmond Pair To Commonwealth Public Broadcasting
/ref> The switch took place on February 15, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. The last song of the classic hits format was

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

's '' The Final Countdown''. On June 1, 2018, WBBT-FM and WWLB broke off the simulcast of WCVE-FM to air a new format, "WCVE Music", which took over and augmented WCVE-FM's music programming. On August 5, 2019, WBBT-FM and WWLB were both rebranded as "VPM Music."

References

External links

* {{NPR Virginia 1999 establishments in Virginia Radio stations established in 1999 BBT-FM Public radio stations in the United States