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WMVY (88.7 FM; "Mvyradio") is a non-commercial community-oriented
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 ...
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 ...
based in the town of
Tisbury, Massachusetts Tisbury is a town located on Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,815 at the 2020 census. Vineyard Haven is the main village/town center of Tisbury. The two names are used interchangeably. As can be ...
and licensed to serve
Edgartown Edgartown is a tourist destination on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States, for which it is the county seat. It was once a major whaling port, with historic houses that have been carefully preserved. Tod ...
, both on the island of
Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
. The station is owned by Friends of Mvyradio, Inc. Mvyradio is one of the most streamed internet radio stations in the world (consistently one of the Top 20 most-listened-to internet radio stations according to Webcast Metrics). Streams are available in multiple formats, including WMA,
MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
, and
RealAudio RealAudio, or also spelled as Real Audio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fid ...
, and it is a featured station on Apple's
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
radio tuner service.


History


On 92.7 FM

Beginning in 1981 and ending on February 8, 2013, WMVY was a commercial radio station on 92.7 FM in Tisbury. Despite being a class "A" FM signal transmitting from Martha's Vineyard, WMVY was widely listened to in both southeastern
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
(particularly the "upper" portion of Cape Cod) and the area around
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...
(the latter via a translator station on 96.5, W243AI). During its last few years broadcasting on 92.7 FM, Mvyradio's operations were actually split between two companies. The radio station, WMVY, was owned by Aritaur Communications. The Web presence and online streaming were managed by mvyradio, LLC. A third entity, Friends of mvyradio, is a 501c(3) non-profit created to help offset streaming and programming expenses by enabling listeners to make tax deductible donations. On November 27, 2012
WBUR-FM WBUR-FM (90.9 FM) is a public radio station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Boston University. It is the largest of three NPR member stations in Boston, along with WGBH and WUMB-FM and produces several nationally distributed programs ...
, a Boston NPR affiliate, announced that subject to FCC approval, it had reached an agreement to purchase WMVY, which would become a repeater of WBUR-FM. The purchase price was $715,000. Mvyradio's programming was to be transferred to the Friends of Mvyradio as a non-commercial Internet-only station. The switch to the WBUR simulcast (under new call letters WBUA) took place on February 9, 2013 at midnight.


On 88.7 FM

On November 7, 2013, Friends of Mvyradio announced that they had bought the broadcast license for 88.7 FM from Vineyard Public Radio Inc., which was 250 watts and had the callsign WMEX. Vineyard Public Radio had originally planned to use WMEX to carry a format of adult standards and
big band music A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
, but ran into zoning problems. WMEX began carrying Mvyradio programming at 4 p.m. on May 21, 2014, following a 20-minute
stunt A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery spec ...
of ocean wave sounds. A week later, the callsign was changed to WMVI; on June 9, the WMVY callsign was assigned to the station. Also in June 2014, power was increased to 580 watts. In July 2015, power was increased to 13,000 watts, albeit using a directional antenna that reduces power westward to protect WJMF, Smithfield/Providence, which also transmits on 88.7 FM. The 13,000-watt signal covers most of Cape Cod, the Vineyard, the
South Coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area. Geographical Australia *South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney * South Coast (Q ...
, and Nantucket.


Translators

From 2013 to 2018, WMVY was heard on 96.5 FM in Newport by way of leasing 102.7-HD2 (
WNPE WNPE (102.7 FM) is a public radio station, providing programming from The Public's Radio (formerly known as Rhode Island Public Radio) to southern Rhode Island from its transmitter at Narragansett Pier. It was the first FM transmitter in the n ...
) from
Rhode Island Public Radio Rhode Island Public Radio, doing business as The Public's Radio, is the NPR member radio network for the state of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. Its studios are in the historic Union Station in downtown Providence. The network airs ...
; this translator now directly rebroadcasts WMVY. For a few years, beginning in June 2005, WMVY had two additional translator stations on Cape Cod: W264BA (100.7 FM) in Harwich Port and W230AW (93.9 FM) in Centerville. W230AW currently rebroadcasts
WFRQ WFRQ (93.5 FM) — branded as 93.5/94.7 Frank FM — is a radio station licensed to Harwich Port, Massachusetts. It serves the Cape Cod market with an classic hits format. The station is also heard on 102.9 WPXC-HD2 ( Hyannis) via HD Radio an ...
, while W264BA rebroadcasts
WKFY WKFY (101.5 FM) – branded as Koffee FM – is a radio station licensed to East Harwich, Massachusetts. WKFY signed on August 16, 2013 at 98.7 MHz with a stunt loop of "Old Cape Cod" by Patti Page. The official format debuted on August 19. ...
on 100.5 as W263CU.


References


External links

*
Friends of mvyradio
* * {{Newport Radio MVY Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States Tourist attractions in Tisbury, Massachusetts Martha's Vineyard Radio stations established in 1981 1981 establishments in Massachusetts Radio stations established in 2014 2014 establishments in Massachusetts