WBRF
Radio station in Galax, Virginia, United States
WBRF (98.1 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Galax, Virginia, United States, and serving Southwestern Virginia, Southside Virginia and the western Piedmont Triad, including Winston-Salem. It is owned and operated by Blue Ridge Radio, Inc., with studios on Poplar Knob Road in Galax. The transmitter is on Fishers Peak Road in Lowgap, North Carolina, near the Virginia border.
WBRF plays a mix of Classic country, Bluegrass and Americana music. Most programming is simulcast on WKBA 1550 and 93.1 in the Roanoke, Virginia, region.
01History
The station signed on the air at 5:15 p.m. on December 15, 1961. The original call sign was WBOB-FM, with a power of 6,000 watts. WBOB-FM shared studios with WBOB-AM (now WCGX).
WBOB-FM began its Country/Bluegrass/Americana format around the same time it was purchased by Blue Ridge Radio Inc. in April 1985. At the same time, the station switched its call sign to WBRF.
In 1990, the power was increased to 100,000 watts and the transmitter moved to Fishers Peak in Surry County, near the Virginia-North Carolina border.
On June 15, 2009, air personality Toby Young returned to radio with his "Aunt Eloise" character who was part of WTQR radio for 23 years.
Beginning in January 2023, WBRF started simulcasting most of its programming on co-owned WKBA 1550 and 93.1 in the Roanoke metropolitan area.
02Programming
WBRF-FM broadcasts the classic country music show, Blue Ridge Back Roads, live from the Rex Theater in Galax weekly. It also broadcasts from the Old Fiddler's Convention every August in Felt's Park, also in Galax.
The station is the flagship station of Wake Forest Demon Deacons football and men's basketball. However, since the station provides marginal coverage to much of the Triad, the Deacons also air their games on WPOL in Winston-Salem and simulcast partner WKEW in Greensboro.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “WBRF”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- WBRF-FM 2014.PNG by Unknown author, Fair use
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