WRVL is a

Contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

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

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...

, serving the

New River Valley The New River Valley is a region along the New River in Southwest Virginia in the United States. It is usually defined as the counties of Montgomery (including the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg), Pulaski, Floyd, and Giles and the ...

. WRVL is owned and operated by

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty i ...

History

WRVL went on the air in July 1981 and faced a series of technical problems in its early years revolving around interference to television reception near the station site. In December 1981, 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 jurisdiction ...

ordered the station to reduce

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

from 100,000 to 5,000 watts. In 1982, its radio tower was brought down by vandals; while the station was silent, viewers reported better reception of

WDBJ WDBJ (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Roanoke– Lynchburg market. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Danville-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WZBJ, chann ...

(channel 7). In 2009, WRVL broke ground by forming a partnership with

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 ...

broadcaster

WVTF WVTF is the National Public Radio affiliate serving most of southwestern Virginia. The station is licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, and owned by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) through its fundraising arm, the ...

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is lo ...

, allowing them to repeat Victory FM programming on WVTW's HD-3 channel in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

. This is noteworthy because it makes WVTW perhaps one of few HD radio stations in the nation funded by the federal Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP).1n grant year 2007 the PTFP funded a project to increase the power of WVTW, to extend its signal coverage to about 193,000 additional persons. On December 26, 2014, WRVL dropped all

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

teaching programming for a

format. The station's name also changed from "Victory Radio Network" to "The Journey".

Simulcasts

"The Journey" is carried on several stations and digital subchannels in Virginia and North Carolina. Notes:

Translators

"The Journey" is relayed by additional translators to widen its broadcast area. W236BO at 95.1 served

Burlington, North Carolina Burlington is a city in Alamance County, North Carolina, Alamance and Guilford County, North Carolina, Guilford counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the principal city of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

prior to 2013, until

WPCM WPCM (920 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a contemporary Christian radio format. Licensed to Burlington-Graham, North Carolina, the station covers the Greensboro metropolitan area It is owned by Alamance Media Partners. WPC ...

took it over.

References

External links

The Journey Online
* {{Virginia college radio 1981 establishments in Virginia Contemporary Christian radio stations in the United States RVL Radio stations established in 1981 RVL RVL

WRVL WRVL is a Contemporary Christian formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Lynchburg, Virginia, serving the New River Valley. WRVL is owned and operated by Liberty University. History WRVL went on the air in July 1981 and faced a series of ...

Lynchburg, Virginia