WRIR-FM
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| Broadcast area | Richmond, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Branding | ' |
| Slogan | Richmond Indie Radio |
| First air date | 2005 |
| Frequency | 97.3 |
| Format | Public Radio |
| ERP | 100 watts |
| Class | LP 100 |
| Callsign meaning | W Richmond Indie Radio |
| Owner | Richmond Indie Radio |
WRIR Richmond Indie Radio went on the air on January 1, 2005, but it was an idea that was twelve years in the making. Christopher Maxwell first began working on the project of a new and independent radio station in Richmond, Va. after a visit with the program director of WCVE FM, the local NPR affiliate in 1992. Maxwell was trying to convince WCVE to broadcast NPR's "Talk of the Nation", as well as more community-oriented programming. WCVE's P.D. flatly refused and told Maxwell that if he wanted to hear that programming so much, he should start his own radio station.
Maxwell began collecting donations and equipment, as well as popular support in the community all throughout the 1990s and early years of the 21st century. He also worked with legislators such as Senator John McCain, as well as the Promethius Radio Project to encourage the FCC to create Low Power FM licenses. This move by the FCC opened up frequencies all over the country to small community organizations so they might operate locally-oriented 100 watt radio stations.
Around this time, Maxwell made parterships with the existing non-profit organization, the Virginia Center for the Public Press, as well as Radio Free Richmond, an internet-based radio station.
By late 2004, WRIR, as the station was now called, had over 50 volunteers and an FCC construction permit, which allowed for test broadcasts. The permit would expire on December 31, however, if the station was not up and running. Former publisher of Punchline Magazine (a popular alternative weekly throughout the 1990s) Liz Scrobeszewski was also brought on board around this time to raise the much-needed financial donations and undewriting accounts.
On election day 2004, WRIR ran its first full-power test broadcast--a recorded debate between candidates for the office of the mayor. The broadcast was made with a very short antenna mast, but the signal blasted all throughout Richmond's Fan District and beyond.
Just before Christmas 2004 on a cold and windy Saturday afternoon and the FCC deadline looming, WRIR volunteers raised their first permanent full-sized antenna mast. The station immediately went on the air and began equipment tests and dry-run volunteer training. Many of the volunteers involved with the station had never been involved with radio before and literally had to learn as they went along-on the air!
But by New Year's Eve, most of the kinks were worked out, and at midnight, with the crowd at a New Year's Eve Hotel X WRIR benefit show counting down the final seconds of 2004, Christopher Maxwell called into the station and was patched through on the air. It was a fantastic finale to his long struggle to get WRIR on the air. It was also an incredible and exciting beginning for the now official WRIR.
Presently, WRIR is well known for its continued involvement with and promotion of community events. WRIR is still all-volunteer (there are over a hundred volunteers now), and completely supported by community donations and local underwriting. WRIR broadcasts on the air at 97.3 MHz FM, as well as on the internet. Many programs are also available for podcast.
Programs heard on WRIR now range from all different genres of music to nationally syndicated programs--including NPR's "Talk of the Nation"--to WRIR's own Richmond Independent Radio News. WRIR is popular with the college crowd as well as with many older residents of the city and continues to get positive feedback from the community it serves.
In September 2005, WRIR was awarded the Theresa Pollack Award for Arts Innovator, and station founder Christopher Maxwell was named one of Style Weekly's "Top 40 Under Forty" most influential Richmonders.
