Gleixner notes that although this schedule "looks competitive," in fact, WVTF "wants to work with WCVE to enhance public radio" in the region. He urges Richmonders to continue to make donations to WCVE.
WVTF, which is affiliated with Virginia Tech, purchased the 92.5 FM frequency from a religious radio company in April 2009, but it needed a Richmond tower to bounce off the repeater signal from Charlottesville. It now shares a site on the Clear Channel tower on Basie Road with a radio station from Liberty University. Gleixner notes that WVTF has a couple of kinks to work out with the signal — once in a while, Washington, D.C.-based WAMU bleeds through — but he expects it to be stabilized by the end of next week.
I've got a call in to WCVE president and CEO Curtis Monk to discuss WVTF's entry into the market, and I'll update this post when I hear back from him.
UPDATE: I spoke with Curtis Monk this afternoon. He says that WCVE was aware of WVTF's entrance into the Richmond radio market, although not the specific timing. As for the programming overlaps between RADIO IQ and WCVE's high-def station, he notes, "They take what we have available [and] make it available to a different group of people." At WCVE, however, "we're more focused on doing what we do well." That means giving listeners more value in local news content, Monk says.
When asked if he feels WVTF is intruding on WCVE's territory, Monk demurred: "I can't speak for what WVTF is trying to do." Monk then asked if my listening habits would be affected by RADIO IQ; I said yes, I'd probably listen to Diane Rehm's show, which I listened to regularly when I lived in Northern Virginia and Charlottesville. Ever the public-radio cheerleader, he told me it's good for local listeners to have such options.
