WRIQ (89.7 MHz) is a

National Public Radio 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 n ...

formatted

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

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 to Charles City, Virginia, serving the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Petersburg Petersburg, or Petersburgh, may refer to: Places Australia *Petersburg, former name of Peterborough, South Australia Canada * Petersburg, Ontario Russia *Saint Petersburg, sometimes referred to as Petersburg United States *Peterborg, U.S. Virg ...

area. WRIQ is part of the

Radio IQ Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

network, simulcasting the NPR news and talk programming of flagship WVTF. WRIQ is owned by

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six regi ...

(Virginia Tech) through its fundraising arm, the Virginia Tech Foundation.

History

American Family Association The American Family Association (AFA) is a Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States.

launched the station as WAUQ in 2000, relaying its

American Family Radio American Family Radio (AFR) is a network of more than 180 radio stations broadcasting Christian Conservative Christianity, Christian-oriented programming to over 30 states.Contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

. On August 18, 2015,

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest ...

purchased the station from the

American Family Association The American Family Association (AFA) is a Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States.

for $1.25 million. EMF began relaying its K-Love network on the station, and changed the station's call letters to WLRJ. On April 17, 2017, WLRJ began stunting with a continuously-repeating informational loop informing listeners that K-Love in Richmond had moved, and directing listeners to EMF's recently acquired stations on 98.9 FM ( WLFV) and 100.3 FM ( WKYV). On April 26, 2017, WLRJ began relaying EMF's Radio Nueva Vida network. The station changed its call sign to WNVU on December 22, 2017. On October 10, 2019, EMF reached a deal to sell WNVU to the Virginia Tech Foundation for $2.15 million. EMF had floated Virginia Tech intended to make WNVU part of its main NPR news and talk service, Radio IQ, as part of its effort to expand its reach outside its base in southwestern Virginia. The sale closed on December 27, 2019, and the station began simulcasting Radio IQ programming on January 15, 2020. That same day, the call sign WRIQ was moved from a co-owned Radio IQ station in

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...

, which became WIQR. Since 2009, WVTF had aired its programming on a low-powered translator at 92.5 FM, which is fed by the third

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

subchannel of commercial radio station WURV. The purchase of WRIQ gave WVTF a full-powered signal in the Richmond area for the first time, giving much of the area an alternative source for NPR programming alongside Richmond's established NPR member, WCVE-FM. WRIQ operates at only 27,000 watts from a short (by modern broadcasting standards) 228-foot tower east of Richmond, resulting in

and other close-in suburbs only getting a Grade B signal. Nonetheless, with the addition of WRIQ, the Radio IQ network now provided at least secondary coverage from

Wise WISE may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * WISE (AM), a radio station licensed to Asheville, North Carolina *WISE-FM, a radio station licensed to Wise, Virginia * WISE-TV, a television station licensed to Fort Wayne, Indiana Education * ...

in the southwestern corner of the Commonwealth to the fringes of

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

References

External links

Radio IQ
* {{NPR Virginia 2000 establishments in Virginia NPR member networks Public radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 2000

RIQ Daf ( fa, دف) also known as Dâyere and Riq is a Middle Eastern (mainly Iranian) frame drum musical instrument, used in popular and classical music in South and Central Asia. It is also used in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbe ...

Virginia Tech

History

See also

References

External links