Most Unlikely Signal

Long before it was pumping out its 50,000 watts for Clear Channel, WRVA was a tiny little station that had no use for commercials. As the Library of Virginia notes, its first broadcast was Nov. 2, 1925, at 9 p.m., from the Edgeworth Tobacco factory downtown. It’s been through a lot of studios since then — we’re talking nearly 90 years, people — and it’s had an FM presence before. But for the most part, Newsradio 1140 WRVA is all about the AM talk format. That’s why it was such a surprise to get the call from Jimmy Barrett a few weeks ago that things were going to be broadcast on 98.5-FM too. Sure, that coverage map is still dwarfed by the station’s AM side, but it’s enough to let you hear all that talk without all the fuzz.

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