WXRK-LP
Radio station in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WXRK-LP is an active rock and alternative rock formatted radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia.[1] It is owned and operated by Blue Ridge Free Media.[2][7]
- Metro Charlottesville
- Albemarle County, Virginia
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| Broadcast area |
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|---|---|
| Frequency | 92.3 MHz |
| Branding | Rock Hits 92-3 |
| Programming | |
| Format | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Blue Ridge Free Media[2] |
| History | |
First air date | September 7, 2015[2][3][4] |
Call sign meaning | A hat tip to the former WXRK-FM in New York[5] |
| Technical information[6] | |
Licensing authority | Federal Communications Commission |
| Facility ID | 192547 |
| Class | L1 |
| ERP | 21 watts |
| HAAT | 63 meters (207 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°4′39.5″N 78°28′20″W[7] |
| Links | |
Public license information | LMS |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | 923xrk |
History
WXRK-LP signed on the air on September 7, 2015.[3] The call sign for the station was previously held by former rock station WXRK-FM in New York City.[5] From its outset, the station has aired a combination of active rock and alternative rock.[3]
In September 2019, Saga Communications, which operates the Charlottesville Radio Group under the Tidewater Communications licensee, filed a petition with the FCC requesting that WXRK-LP's license not be renewed.[8][9] Saga claimed the station, along with other Charlottesville-based low-power FMs, were operating as "a de facto cluster".[9] The station's founder Mike Friend called the petition to deny "'legal junk' and a deliberate 'misinterpretation' of FCC rules".[10] Friend pointed to other attempts by Saga to shutter low-power FM stations within Saga markets.[10]
Saga, in 2004, claimed that KFLO-LP in Jonesboro, Arkansas, was airing announcements that "sound suspiciously like commercials".[10] Saga also petitioned the FCC to revoke the license of WLCQ-LP, a Christian station in the Springfield, Massachusetts, market, "for equipment violations" in 2015.[10] In both cases, the FCC "admonished the station" but denied Saga's complaints.[10]
Jeff Lenert, co-founder of then-progressive talk station WPVC-LP, said that "though [the stations] share a building" all of "the stations all operate separately, having only limited and largely incidental contact with each other".[11] Lenert turned in the license for WPVC-LP on June 16, 2020, "As a result of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and recent increased costs of station ownership and operation, it has become impossible to operate station WPVC-LP in the manner that I wish."[12] Lenert largely blamed the "legal action by Saga Communications combined with a loss of sponsors during the pandemic" for the signing off of that station.[13][14] A similar petition from Saga seeking regarding the license of WREN-LP, housed in the same building, was largely denied in September 2024 but resulted in a short-term license renewal for that station and a consent decree regarding impermissible underwriting announcements.[15]
On March 16, 2026, the FCC and Blue Ridge Free Media entered into a consent degree, similar to the one with WREN-LP, and granted the station a short-term license renewal.[15][16] The FCC also, again, denied Saga's petition.[16]