Sold! Clear Channel stations change hands

Sep 13

In 2002 it seemed broadcasting behemoth Clear Channel had an iron lock on the Charlottesville radio market. The corporation– which owned more than 1,200 stations across the country– had purchased five local stations in 1998 and had swiftly deep-sixed numerous drive-time programs featuring local hosts.

Charlottesville was not the only city experiencing such changes. In fact, the local radio market was following a national trend– bemoaned in the 2002 Tom Petty song "The Last DJ"– moving away from local radio programming with live DJs toward syndicated shows tweaked ever so slightly to make them seem local.

Dialed up: Group hopes to launch local talk radio

Is there room for one more radio station in Charlottesville? That's a question the Federal Communications Commission is about to answer when it determines the fate of an upstart group of local airwave enthusiasts who say there's a market that's unsatisfied.

"We want to give a voice to those who don't have a voice," says Rebecca Faris, co-founder of the Blue Ridge Radio Project (BRRP). "We want radio that's independent, local, diverse and educational, and we want it to come from the community itself."

The idea began when Faris heard in January that the FCC had decided to accept applications for non-commercial educational radio licenses, providing the opportunity she had been awaiting for two years. Since October 2005, the Charlottesville resident and lifelong activist has commuted to Richmond once a week to host the half-hour talk program "Richmond IndyMedia Live" on independent FM station 97.3 WRIR.

Wake up call: Morning Show meets Greasy Breakfast

Regular listeners accustomed to hearing Jane Foy and Rob Schilling on WINA's Morning Show may have been surprised last week that one of the voices sounded like half of 3WV's morning show, "the Big Greasy Breakfast."

By the second time the "Morning Show with Rick and Jane" was mentioned, it became clear that former city councilor Schilling had left the building, while the man best known for spinning hard rock and spewing rants in his "Friday Freakout" had landed on a quieter news show that celebrates birthdays and anniversaries.

The shake-up at WINA AM-1070 and 3WV FM-97.5, both owned by publicly held Saga Communications, started when longtime radioman Dick Mountjoy got cancer.

"Initially, we were all optimistic something would happen with Dick," says Foy. "A miracle did happen– he's alive."

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