WWER FM 88.1 Set To Be On The Air By June 1
Colonial Beach News
Just a few months after Colonial Beach Community Foundation discovered that Fredericksburg Christian School was looking for another non-profit to take over their radio station, people in Colonial Beach are asking, “When will the station be on the air?”
In September 2009 The Federal Communications Commission issued the original construction permit for a radio station to operate out of Colonial Beach Virginia. On November 3, 2009 the station was assigned the call sign, WWER FM 88.1 and received its license to operate on January 29, 2010.”
The station WWER FM 88.1 was a Contemporary Christian and Religious formatted broadcast radio station serving Colonial Beach, Virginia. WWER was owned and operated for many years by Fredericksburg Christian Schools.
Planning Commissioner Eric Nelson announced in March that the site was currently run by the Fredericksburg Christian School but they had decided not to run the station any more and had offered to transfer the license to another non-profit organization in Colonial Beach.
Colonial Beach Community Foundation evaluated the opportunity and decided to take on the challenge of running the station.
Nelson wrote in a plea for volunteers on Nextdoor Colonial Beach, “In general, there is enthusiasm for the idea, but it would only be plausible if someone in the community with a keen interest in broadcasting would step forward on a volunteer basis to help manage the operation.”
Nelson said the person they are looking for “will need to manage volunteers, develop programming, seek additional funding sources, help set up a studio and other activities associated with this opportunity.”
“One of the town’s weekend residents, who works in broadcasting, has brought this opportunity to the attention of the Foundation and will be available to assist with its development.” Nelson gave his assurance that “anyone who steps forward will not be doing this in a vacuum, there will be support.”
A few weeks ago Nelson announced the Colonial Beach Community Foundation’s intentions to move forward with procuring and running the radio station.
Nelson announced, “Ted Tait will be shepherding this effort. Please direct any questions or suggestions to him. Thank you everyone for all your enthusiasm. I am sure this will be a very successful endeavor and benefit the community.”
Tait introduced himself on the thread on Nextdoor but asked that interested parties join a facebook page that he and the group had created for the radio station.
Tait recently posted remarks on the website responding to the most frequent question. “When will you be on air”?
Tait worte, “It’s hard to set deadlines for yourself, especially when a lot of things depend on other people to happen, but deadlines are important. Deadlines focus the minds of all involved as the date gets closer. So, to focus our minds and give us a goal to work toward, I am setting June 1, 2019 as our official ON AIR date.”
“If we can manage it, this will be a nice confluence of events.” Tait said.
On June 1, the Colonial Beach Community Foundation will host another “Cinema on the Green” dedicated to raising funds for WWER.
Tait said, “It would be great to stand in front of the crowd at the Community Center for this event and be able to officially announce that we are on the air!”
Tait listed what needs to happen between now and the June 1st launch of the newly owned radio station.
- We still have to wait for FCC approval, but I am expecting that in May.
- We still have to move equipment and set it up in our new home. (Currently the station will run out of the Chamber of Commerce Building)
- We still have to come up with programming and record it.
- We still need to raise enough money to pay the ongoing bills. We need to get local businesses interested in making donations, as well as ‘member listeners’ willing to support us with ongoing donations.
Tait said, “If you would like to help with any of these areas, let me know!” by writing to info@wwer.org
Colonial Beach News 