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WVTF, a national public radio affiliate, is owned by the Virginia Tech Foundation and provides public radio services to much of Virginia and portions of North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The highlight of WVTF’s year was the completion and occupancy of its new broadcast center in Roanoke. The modern 12,000-square-foot studio/office complex is at the forefront of radio broadcast technology and acoustic design, and it reflects WVTF’s stature as a national leader in the public radio industry. The most exciting area of the broadcast center is the 900-square-foot studio, an “acoustically perfect” space that accommodates small audiences for participation in a variety of productions, including music and entertainment shows with local and visiting talent, town meetings, and political debates.
WVTF also expanded its broadcast service to include more “news-talk-information” programming with the implementation of the RADIO IQ project. Using the slogan “BBC News, NPR Talk,” RADIO IQ was introduced to the New River Valley on Christiansburg radio station WWVT 1260 AM. The news-talk format was also heard in Roanoke and Charlottesville for the first few weeks of 2003 but was halted due to an arcane FCC rule. RADIO IQ will be reintroduced to these two markets when Ferrum College transfers ownership of its campus radio station, WFFC, to the Virginia Tech Foundation and WVTF.
WVTF’s news department produced more than 300 hours of local and regional news programming this past year. This important content included local newscasts, in-depth series and feature reports, documentaries, listener essays and commentaries, and special in-depth legislative reports from the Virginia General Assembly.
The newest addition to our in-house locally produced cultural and entertainment programs was “Sunday Morning Symphony,” with WVTF host Steve Brown. Other important programs included the continuation of “Studio Virginia,” exploring the arts and culture of the region; “Back to the Blue Ridge”; and a weekly production of bluegrass and old-time music indigenous to the region.
Fundraising set another record in the fiscal year. WVTF survived the economic slowdown and onset of the commonwealth’s budget crisis with total listener-sensitive revenue collected through our lock-box at more than $1.6 million, a 7.3 percent increase over fiscal year 2002. For the second year in a row, WVTF was awarded a special $30,000 bonus grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to sustain the station’s commitment to public service programming serving many communities outside the Roanoke Valley. WVTF was awarded another special CPB grant of $60,000 to assist with the RADIO IQ project, and a private foundation in Charlottesville awarded WVTF a $90,0000 grant to support the station’s acquisition costs for “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.”
The year set a sound platform from which WVTF will launch more and better service to its audience of nearly 140,000 listeners. The station is in excellent financial health, and with the new broadcast center fully operational, now plans to enhance its public service work by giving its listeners more and better high-quality programs.