WEHC FM powers up with 9,000 watts

EMORY, Va. – If it seemed like a new radio station materialized on the airwaves at lunchtime Monday, it wasn’t your imagination.

Shortly before noon, Emory & Henry College flipped the switch that turned on the power to a 9,000 watt transmitter, extending the college radio station’s reach from a small area around Emory to cover five counties.

Now the unique public radio programming on 90.7 WEHC FM, sent out from a scenic hillside overlooking Interstate 81’s Exit 26, reaches from Rural Retreat, Va., to Blountville, Tenn., and from Richlands, Va., to Mountain City, Tenn.

“When I came to Emory & Henry, I knew I was supposed to supervise the radio station, and nobody on campus knew how it worked,” said Teresa Keller, the mass communications professor described by others as “the spark plug” for the station’s growth from a small student radio experiment to an intellectual presence in the region.

The station, which began as a small, short-lived AM station in 1929, was one of the first to go on the air in Virginia, according to the college.

After 60 years of silence, the station was revived in the early 1990s as WEHC 90.7 FM. It began at 100 watts, its reach limited to the campus, then in 2007 grew to 500 watts – enough power to reach almost to Abingdon. Now, it covers the region.

“As professors and teachers and mentors, we work and strive to prepare our students for the real world,” Keller said. “Well, the real world has arrived at nearly 9,000 watts, and it’s going to help Emory & Henry spread the word about what a wonderful college and community we have and also, very importantly, it’s going to spread a non-commercial alternative voice of radio to the region.”

Richard Graves, a 2008 E&H graduate and station manager, said it has a broad range of programming, from musical theater and social justice to sustainable development and an eclectic mix of music – much of it produced here.

“Our region has such a unique culture and so many unique voices, and our station is very proud to take that local music and culture and those very distinct voices that you can’t find anywhere else besides Southwest Virginia and put that on the air and showcase that,” Graves said.

Susie Allison, whose donation of radio equipment helped revive the station in the 1990s, flipped a ceremonial switch at Monday’s announcement.

Her husband, Hampton, worked in radio all his life, she explained – and he got his start at the student radio station. He graduated in 1935, and she in 1939, from E&H.

“We always came back to Emory every once in a while,” said Allison, who was here recently for her 70th class reunion.

Monday marked her first time live on the air.

“This is a great thing for me because I’ve been thinking about this all of my life, and to be able to do it is wonderful,” she said as she flipped the switch.

Rosalind Reichard, president of the college, said the increased wattage will expand students’ opportunities as well as E&H’s involvement in the community. The station has received grand funding from the federal government as well as the Virginia Tobacco Commission.

U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-9th, is now able to hear the station’s broadcasts from his home in downtown Abingdon. He called it “a tremendous cultural enhancement of Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee.”

At the radio station, student manager Renss Greene described the new broadcast area as “a very different task.”

“Now that we’re in the bigger market, we are competing with a lot of professional stations,” Greene said. “We have to be very professional and we also have to be really interesting.”

Like every college disc jockey, he’s on a mission to save radio – and he says today’s radio listeners are interested in hearing a lot more than Top 40 hits. He said radio stations that take a chance on providing more diverse content will find that listeners want to hear it.

With every new media predicted to mean the end of radio, he said, commercial radio adapts. He believes it must adapt again – and can learn a lot from non-commercial stations like this one.

Terri Lewis, assistant student manager of the station, said radio remains a way for everyone – even those who can’t afford an iPod or a computer – to hear a variety of music and expand their intellectual horizons.

Greene said he’s not ashamed to admit that when the switch was flipped, he danced around the station in celebration.

“Give it a shot,” he said to all the potential listeners in the station’s new coverage area. “Try it out. We think that you’ll like it.”

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