Broadcast area | Metro Charlottesville Albemarle County, Virginia |
---|---|
Frequency | 92.3 FM MHz |
Branding | "Rock Hits 92-3" |
Programming | |
Format |
Active Rock Alternative Rock [1] |
Ownership | |
Owner | Blue Ridge Free Media [2] |
History | |
First air date | September 7, 2015 [3] [2] |
Former call signs | WXRK-LP (2015-Present) [4] |
Call sign meaning | callsign previously held by rock station, WXRK/New York [5] |
Technical information | |
Facility ID | 192547 |
Class | L1 |
Power | 21 Watts |
HAAT | 63 meters (207 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°4′39.50″N 78°28′20.00″W / 38.0776389°N 78.4722222°W [6] |
Links | |
Webcast | WXRK-LP Webstream |
Website | WXRK-LP Online |
WXRK-LP is an Active Rock and Alternative Rock formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County in Virginia. [1] WXRK-LP is owned and operated by Blue Ridge Free Media. [6] [2]
WXRK-LP signed on the air on September 7, 2015. [3] The callsign for the station was previous held by WXRK-FM in New York City. [5] From its outset, the station has aired a combination of Active Rock and Alternative Rock. [3]
In September 2019, Saga Communications, which operates the Charlottesville Radio Group under the Tidewater Communications licensee, filed a petition with the FCC requesting that WXRK-LP's license not be renewed. [7] [8] Saga claimed the station, along with other Charlottesville-based low-power FMs, were operating as "a de facto cluster". [8] The station's founder Mike Friend called the petition to deny "'legal junk' and a deliberate 'misinterpretation' of FCC rules". [9] Friend pointed to other attempts by Saga to shutter low-power FM stations within Saga markets. [9]
Saga, in 2004, claimed that KFLO-LP in Jonesboro, Arkansas was airing announcements that "sound suspiciously like commercials". [9] Saga also petitioned the FCC to revoke the license of WLCQ-LP, a Christian station in the Springfield, Massachusetts market, "for equipment violations" in 2015. [9] In both cases, the FCC "admonished the station" but denied Saga's complaints. [9]
Jeff Lenert, co-founder of then-Progressive Talk station WPVC-LP, said that "though [the stations] share a building" all of "the stations all operate separately, having only limited and largely incidental contact with each other." [10] Lenert turned in the license for WPVC-LP on June 16, 2020, "As a result of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and recent increased costs of station ownership and operation, it has become impossible to operate station WPVC-LP in the manner that I wish." [11] Lenert largely blamed the "legal action by Saga Communications combined with a loss of sponsors during the pandemic" for the signing off of that station. [12] [13]
As of late-March 2024, the FCC has not acted on the Petition from Saga and WXRK-LP continues to broadcast. [2]