WRNR-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Grasonville, Maryland, broadcasting mainly to the

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

/ Anne Arundel County area and the Eastern Shore of Maryland on 103.1 FM. WRNR-FM airs an adult album alternative music format. WRNR-FM's studios are located in

on Admiral Cochrane Drive. The station's transmitter is located in Grasonville/Queenstown, on Maryland's Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is a " Class A" radio station. WRNR-FM mainly focuses on the

area, as well as the rest of Anne Arundel, Queen Anne's, and Talbot Counties, although the signal covers

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

, the Eastern Washington D.C. suburbs, and many other densely populated areas. The official music format for WRNR-FM is " Adult Album Alternative", but the station adds a lot to that format musically with deep tracks of classic rock, new alternative rock, vintage alternative rock, reggae, roots rock, and more. They are credited as one of the radio stations that helped launch the bands " Wilco" and many others. WRNR-FM is owned by Empire Broadcasting System, Inc., and is one of the few independent radio stations in the Baltimore-Washington area.

History

Early Years (1979-1981)

WAQA signed on the air in 1979 and was founded by Edward Mason De Maso, as a Hot AC/Top 40 station, known as Super Q103 with 3,000 watts from a tower at Kent Narrows, Maryland. The studio and tower were co-located.

Bay Country 103 (1981-1991)

In 1981, the call letters were changed to WBEY and the format changed to Country. The station was known as Bay Country 103.

103.1 The Underground (1991-1992)

In early 1991, Vision Broadcasting purchased 103.1 and changed the call letters to WHVY and the format to Active Rock with an emphasis on Heavy Metal. The WHVY call letters and format were moved from low-power night-time-only non-commercial 96.7 in Baltimore (97 Underground) to 103.1. The studio was moved to Annapolis with a secondary studio maintained at the transmitter site.

Rock 103XZL (1992-1994)

In December 1992, the Active Rock format was tweaked some and the call letters were changed to WXZL. The station also increased its power to 6,000 watts from a new tower about 4 miles east of the original tower location.

103.1 WRNR (1994-present)

The station changed its calls to the present day WRNR in 1994. Empire Broadcasting System acquired the station in 1997. On November 4, 2022, it was announced that Empire and Peter and John Ministries, the latter of which also owns Christian AC station WRBS-FM (known on air as Bright FM) and Christian talk station WRBS (AM), had entered an agreement in which the latter acquired the station from the former. Included in the sale was the station's frequency, its licenses, and most of its broadcasting equipment, but excluded was the station's call letters, its format and IP, and its Anapolis studio, all of which station owner Steve Kingston claimed was to be moved to another frequency, with WSMD-FM's frequency already in mind. The sale of the station's frequency was completed on the 11th, though current programming remained as is since the FCC has not yet approved of its completion. Currently, a closing date is not yet known.

References

External links

WRNR Website
Annapolis, Maryland RNR-FM Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States {{Maryland-radio-station-stub