The FCC granted WRVU Friends and Family a license to operate on Thursday. Credit: WRVU Friends and Family
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated that WRVU was granted a license by the FCC. In fact, the license was granted to a group called WRVU Friends and Family. WRVU still exists as an online station controlled by Vanderbilt Student Communications.
DJs who were once part of Vanderbilt’s radio station WRVU are in the midst of seeking a new home on the airwaves, and their comeback effort just made a giant leap.
On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission granted a license for 101.5 FM. The application was submitted by WRVU Friends and Family, a group composed mostly of former WRVU DJs.
Previously found on 91.1 FM, WRVU was the college radio station controlled by Vanderbilt Student Communications until June 2011, when Nashville Public Radio agreed to purchase the frequency for $3.3 million and turned it into a classical music station.
Vanderbilt Student Communications still streams programming online under the call letters WRVU, and the school holds the trademark for all streaming and merchandise rights to WRVU, according to Chris Carroll with Vanderbilt Student Media.
After VSC sold off the frequency, supporters staged a social media campaign to try to save the station. Meanwhile, WRVU Friends and Family were quietly plotting a way to re-emerge in the Nashville area.
And Thursday, federal communications officials gave the plan a green light.
Over the next year and a half, WRVU Friends and Family will be raising money to build staff, find a home for the station and erect a tower for broadcast, according to Heather Lose, who leads WRVU Friends and Family.
“We’re now doing some research trying to figure out how much money we need to make this happen,” Lose said.
The plan is to keep their transmitter stationed in Germantown, perhaps amplified by a 100-watt signal, which would reach up to 15 miles.
“Nashville is so covered up with stations that’s it’s hard to find a little piece of real estate on the dial,” Lose said. “Germantown is so densely populated during the day that the location would makes sense for us.”
Lose said the programming will bring in some of the former WRVU DJs that many listeners grew to appreciate, and the station will also team up with Open Table Nashville, a homeless outreach non-profit, to build programming around homeless issues. “We’re going to be a true community radio station, so I feel like that fits our mission quite nicely.”
The Nashville Scene described WRVU’s programming when it was a terrestrial college station as “engaging, erratic mishmash of everything from punk rock to country classics, jump blues to hip-hop.” According to Lose, the vibe should be much the same at the new station.
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