WVTF is the

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 ...

affiliate serving most of southwestern

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. The station is licensed to

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 ...

, and 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 The Virginia Tech Foundation (VTF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit nonstock corporation established in 1948 to receive, manage, and disburse private gifts in support of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University programs. The purpose of the fou ...

. It airs a format of news and talk 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 ...

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...

and other outlets. WVTF broadcasts in HD.

History

WVTF began broadcasting in August 1973 as WVWR-FM (Virginia Western Radio) and was licensed to

Virginia Western Community College Virginia Western Community College (VWCC) is a public community college in Roanoke, Virginia. It is part of the Virginia Community College System. Students As of 2013, Virginia Western has over 12,000 students enrolled in the college and over ha ...

in Roanoke. It was used primarily to air college telecourses and give broadcasting students a chance to hone their skills. In 1975, WVWR-FM's transmitter was moved from Fishburn Hall on the VWCC campus to

Poor Mountain Poor Mountain is a ridge of high peaks located in Roanoke County, Virginia and Montgomery County, Virginia. At 3,928 feet, Poor Mountain is the tallest mountain in the immediate area. Poor Mountain has the largest known population, by far, of ...

, where most of Roanoke's major radio and television stations have their transmitters. The power also was increased from 4,100 watts to 100,000 watts. The power boost tripled its coverage area, giving it at least secondary coverage of much of central and southwest Virginia, southern

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

and northern

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. In 1979, WVWR-FM began th
Radio Reading Service
on its subcarrier frequency. In 1981, state officials decided that no state agency should directly own a radio station, and Virginia Western was forced to sell. The Virginia Tech Foundation, financially independent of Virginia Tech but controlled by school leadership, expressed interest in buying the station. It not only wanted to preserve public radio in the region, but saw WVWR as a way to increase Virginia Tech's ties to Roanoke. The foundation formally took control in 1982 and initially applied for the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

WRVT before settling on WVTF. Over the next decade, WVTF built translator after translator to better serve its mostly mountainous coverage area. From 1980 to 2017, WVTF and its repeaters maintained a schedule typical of full-service public radio stations, with NPR news in drive times,

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 ...

during the day and overnight, and various special music and talk programming on nights and weekends.

Rebranding as Radio IQ

In 2003, WVTF launched ''Radio IQ'' in order to provide a secondary schedule consisting only of news/talk programming, including retransmission of the

overnight. Radio IQ broadcast over its own network of stations, consisting of extra signals that were overlapped by WVTF's network, as well as those in areas such as

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, ...

which receive a music and news schedule from another NPR member station. Radio IQ began with

WWVT WWVT-FM (89.9 FM) is a Public radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Ferrum, Virginia, serving Roanoke, Rocky Mount, and Martinsville. WWVT-FM is owned and operated by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. It is t ...

(1260 AM, Christiansburg). The service quickly expanded to WFFC (89.9 FM, Ferrum), the former

Ferrum College , mottoeng = Not Self, But Others , established = , type = Private college , president = David L. Johns , city = Ferrum, Virginia , country = U.S. , c ...

student radio station, and WVTW (88.5 FM), an extra station in

Charlottesville 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 Cha ...

. Radio IQ signed on WRIQ in Lexington in 2011 and purchased WQIQ near Fredericksburg in 2013. On July 10, 2017, Radio IQ became WVTF's main service, and the station itself rebranded from "WVTF Public Radio" to "Radio IQ". Three of the five existing Radio IQ stations (WVTW, WQIQ, and WRIQ) merged with WVTF and its network (WVTR, WVTU, and WISE-FM) to place the news and talk schedule on as many full-powered signals as possible. A new companion service,

WVTF Music WWVT-FM (89.9 FM) is a Public radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Ferrum, Virginia, serving Roanoke, Rocky Mount, and Martinsville. WWVT-FM is owned and operated by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. It is the ...

, launched on the remaining stations (WWVT and WFFC, later renamed

WWVT-FM WWVT-FM (89.9 FM) is a Public radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Ferrum, Virginia, serving Roanoke, Rocky Mount, and Martinsville. WWVT-FM is owned and operated by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. It is the ...

) and HD2 subchannels of the new combined Radio IQ network. Low-powered translators of the previous WVTF and Radio IQ networks were divided between the two services. WVTF Music took over all music programming, including daily blocks of classical music, specialty local programs, and ''

Live From Here ''Live from Here'', formerly known as ''A Prairie Home Companion with Chris Thile'', is an American variety radio show known for its musical guests, tongue-in-cheek radio drama, and relaxed humor. Hosted by Chris Thile, it aired live on Saturda ...

''.

Richmond (and competition with WCVE)

Radio IQ's programming has been heard in portions of 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 ...

on low-powered translator W223AZ (92.5 FM) since 2009. In October 2019, WVTF purchased WNVU (89.7 FM) in nearby Charles City, Virginia. That station began simulcasting Radio IQ programming in January 2020 (under the new call letters WRIQ), bringing a full-powered Radio IQ signal to Richmond for the first time, providing direct competition for Richmond-based NPR member

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 ...

and its VPM News service.

Stations

Full power stations

All stations broadcast in HD, with WVTF Music on HD2. Notes: The following stations broadcast Radio IQ on a part-time basis:

Translators

In addition to the main stations, Radio IQ is relayed by an additional 6 translators to widen its broadcast area. It can also be heard on WURV-HD3 in Richmond (which also feeds translator W223AZ).

References

External links

WVTF Public Radio Online

Radio IQ
* {{Authority control Classical music radio stations in the United States Jazz radio stations in the United States NPR member stations American radio networks Radio stations established in 1973 VTF VTF NPR member networks Public radio stations in the United States 1973 establishments in Virginia Virginia Tech