Broadcast area |
Roanoke, Virginia New River Valley |
---|---|
Frequency | 102.5 MHz |
Programming | |
Format | Christian worship music |
Network | Air1 |
Ownership | |
Owner | Educational Media Foundation |
History | |
First air date | 2013 |
Former call signs | WBZS (2012–2020) |
Technical information [1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 89133 |
Class | A |
Power | 150 Watts |
HAAT | 591 meters (1,939 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 37°11′42.0″N 80°9′23.0″W / 37.195000°N 80.156389°W |
Links | |
Public license information |
WARJ is a radio station licensed to Shawsville, Virginia, broadcasting the Air1 network to Roanoke, Virginia and the New River Valley. [2] WARJ is owned by the Educational Media Foundation.
The station signed on in 2013 as WBZS. From its sign-on, the station was leased by owner George S. Flinn, Jr., to Three Daughters Media, which simulcast the talk format of WIQO-FM Lynchburg. [3]
WBZS entered into a three-year lease to Community Media Group, owner of adult album alternative WVMP, on December 1, 2016. [4] [5]
On February 1, 2018, the AAA format moved exclusively to WBZS, which rebranded as "102.5 The Mountain". [6] [7]
Upon the lease ending on December 1, 2019, the AAA programming moved back to WVMP. [8]
In April 2020, Flinn donated the station's signal to air a noncommercial news/talk format focusing specifically on coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in the New River Valley. The station was led by WVMP's former general manager and a volunteer staff, with on-air hosts remote working from home studios. [9] [10] Three months later, he sold the station and eight others to the Educational Media Foundation for $3.4 million. [11] Upon the sale being consummated on October 29, 2020, the call letters were changed to WARJ, as the station picked up EMF's Air1 network.