WERA-LP

Arlington Independent Media (AIM) was founded in 1982, and has received funding from the Arlington County government to operate its public-access television channels since that time. It also provides studio space, equipment, and training for local residents interested in audio and video production.^[8]

WERA-LP went on the air at 6 p.m. on December 6, 2015. The station carried free-form programming typical of college and community radio, staffed by volunteer disc jockeys who played what they wished.^[9] Members of Arlington Independent Media are allowed to host and create their own shows, live or recorded, provided they have taken the appropriate classes and follow certain guidelines.^[10]

Until 2018, AIM's agreement with the county called for it to receive one percent of revenue from taxes charged on cable subscriptions to fund operating expenses, eligibility to apply for public, educational, and government access (PEG) funds for capital expenses (also derived from a portion of cable-subscription taxes), and a studio in Clarendon provided for free by Comcast. It also received support grants directly from the county government. In 2016, the County renegotiated the franchise agreement with Comcast, removing the dedicated funding, and additionally required AIM to begin paying rent for its studio it had been using since 1982.^[11] Community protests led to the county government reversing proposed cuts to its support and recommend "moving some of its functions" to County space used for its media production.^[11] These funding cuts, as well as the need for AIM to compete with (1) Arlington County Public Schools, (2) the municipal cable channel, and (3) the fiber-optic network, for a single pool of PEG funds, combined with dwindling cable subscriptions reducing that pool, led to the nonprofit consistently running an operational deficit.^[12]

With the new lease expense at an Arlington commercial rate for the large facility they had been using since 1982, AIM chose to sign a commercial lease for a small space in the building where the FM antenna was located. At the same time, the County provided a lease agreement to AIM, allowing them to move all operations to an unused space in a county building. Once AIM moved their media equipment to the county space in early 2024, the county stated there would only be one key to access the rooms, and the County would not provide Internet service at that location. The lease agreement and subsequent implementation of terms in the agreement, made it all but impossible for AIM to continue operations with their equipment at that location. Also in early 2024, Arlington County's Treasurer placed a lien on AIM's bank account, seizing assets as they came in, making it impossible to collect funds and direct them toward continued operations.

In December 2023, WERA-LP began playing a loop of lofi hip-hop music because its studio-transmitter link failed. The station began efforts to move to a county-leased building space housing its transmitter and antenna, in Court House, but was once again held up by dependence on financial support from the county.^[13][14] In March 2024, a group of AIM members, including former board members, wrote an open letter accusing the current board and CEO Whytni Kernodle of gross financial mismanagement, as well as improperly spending public funds on payroll and office space.^{[citation needed]} Arlington County began an audit of its finances, hiring the firm RSM to perform an audit of AIM's accounting and financial procedures. With its access to county funds cut off, AIM was essentially forced to suspend operations and laid off its entire paid staff.^[15] Kernodle resigned as CEO but denied any misconduct in an interview with the Washington City Paper.^[3]

WERA-LP's signal and stream were concurrently shut off at 3:30 p.m. on March 22, 2024. However, its request for special temporary authority from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to go silent was backdated to March 20; the station thus had until March 21, 2025 at 12:01 a.m. to resume broadcasting, or its license will be forfeited pursuant to the Telecommunications Act of 1996.^[16]

The RSM audit of AIM concluded in the fall of 2024, and determined that over $1 million in expenditures, over half of which were public funds, were improperly documented or could not be substantiated at all. The audit also criticized other deficient financial practices, including a lack of annual audits and placing public and non-public funds in the same bank account in violation of its agreement ^{[citation needed]}with the county. The audit further found that the County had little or no policies and procedures in place to monitor and protect county grant funding to non-profit organizations for which the county provides financial aid. ^{[citation needed]} The entire board of AIM was replaced with volunteers as a result. The case was referred to an outside special counsel, who declined to file criminal charges.^{[citation needed]} Arlington County subsequently allowed AIM back into its commercially leased transmitter space to re-start its broadcasting equipment.^[3][17] On March 7, 2025, WERA-LP resumed broadcasting the same automated lo-fi music feed in order to preserve its license.^[18]

WERA-LP went silent again on July 28, 2025, and local media reported its wera.fm domain name had expired and Arlington Independent Media's website also went offline. Nearly the entire board of directors had resigned in the interim. One of the two remaining board members was unable to answer, when asked why the station and website were offline. A letter from one of the departing members indicated there were now efforts to find another organization to take over the license, but that "discussions are ongoing, and nothing is imminent."^[19][20][21] In late August, Arlington County seized all of AIM's equipment and business property, and on September 22, auctioned off all the studio, transmitting equipment, and other tangible property in an attempt to recover roughly $16,000 in unpaid business property taxes and 60,000 in unpaid rent at the facility where AIM had no functional ability to operate a business.^[22] In a filing with the FCC, station representatives claimed Arlington County locked them out of the radio transmission room without warning, called the tax delinquency "alleged", and stated it would reacquire the equipment necessary for broadcasting, and construct the station outside of any county-controlled room.^[19] County Board Chair Takis Karatonis stated in a September 2025 public hearing that there was nothing the county could do to save AIM if it was unable to repay its debt.^[23]

In a January 22, 2026 County Audit Committee meeting, the Arlington County Manager stated ”“The county has pursued every one of the areas it could [for collecting funds], and this is where we ended up.”^[24] The County Treasurer received around $59,000 from the September 2024 auction sale of all AIM's tangible business property.

• List of community radio stations in the United States