A Successful Year for WVTF Public Radio

Financial support for WVTF Public Radio hit record levels in FY 99-00. Its audience size remained steady, and efforts to serve the public with high quality services were recognized with prestigious awards and the election of one of its employees to the presidency of a national organization.

Fund raising revenues at WVTF reached an all-time high with individual giving up 6 percent, corporate underwriting receipts up 19 percent, and overall station income up 7 percent. These increases were parallel to the stations 8 percent budget increase to over $1.4 million for fiscal year 2000. WVTF's endowment continued its steady climb and topped $1.7 million dollars at fiscal year end.

WVTF's total audience remained at approximately 143,000 weekly listeners with a median age of just over 50 years. Independent research also indicated that the station's total audience listened to WVTF an average of nine hours per week, and the balance of men and women listeners remained constant at 51 percent male, 49 percent female.

As the fiscal year came to a close, WVTF announced the first significant programming change in recent years with the addition of Marketplace, a leading business and economic news program, and Fresh Air, one of public radio's most popular interview programs. Both shows began airing on July 3, 2000. In March, the station launched Jazz Forms with local host Charlie Perkinson.

The station began plans for a new building that will replace its undersized rented quarters. It will feature a performance studio for producing live music and talk programs and will enhance the radio station's ability to serve the region's population with locally originated content. WVTF set a goal for construction to begin in February 2001, and move-in during the first half of 2002.

At press time, the station was undergoing management change, its first since the station was acquired by the Virginia Tech Foundation in 1982. The university plans to have a new general manager before the calendar year's end.

A broadcast service of Virginia Tech and licensed through the Virginia Tech Foundation, WVTF Public Radio continues to be an important cultural resource that reflects Virginia Tech's commitment to enhancing the area's quality of life. With support from the Virginia Tech Foundation, WVTF has been able to offer the highest quality news, information, classical and jazz music, and substantive and intelligent humor and entertainment programs to an area covering nearly half the Commonwealth of Virginia.