| City of license | Galax, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Southwestern Virginia Southside Virginia |
| Branding | "Classic Country 98-1" "The Legend" |
| Slogan | "Playing 50 Years of Country" |
| Frequency | 98.1 MHz |
| First air date | December 15, 1961 |
| Format | Classic country Bluegrass Americana |
| ERP | 100,000 watts horiz 96,000 watts vert |
| HAAT | 535 meters |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 5986 |
| Callsign meaning | W Blue Ridge Family (Radio) |
| Former callsigns | WBOB-FM (1961-1985) WBRF (1985-Present) |
| Affiliations | CBS Radio News Virginia News Network PRN Radio MRN Radio |
| Owner | Blue Ridge Radio, Inc. |
| Webcast | WBRF Webstream |
| Website | WBRF Online |
WBRF is a Classic Country/Bluegrass/Americana formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Galax, Virginia.
WBRF's powerful signal covers the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina, along with the New River Valley area of Virginia, and the Bluefield-Beckley area of West Virginia. The station can be heard in parts of the Tri Cities and into areas of eastern Kentucky.
WBRF is owned and operated by Blue Ridge Radio, Inc.
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WBRF signed on December 15, 1961 at 5:15pm as WBOB-FM with a power of 6,000 watts. WBOB-FM shared studios with WBOB-AM (now WWWJ).
WBOB-FM began its Country/Bluegrass/Americana format around the same time it was purchased by Blue Ridge Radio Inc. in April 1985. At the same time, the station switched its callsign to WBRF. The station billed itself as "Blue Ridge Country 98.1".
In 1990, the WBRF transmitter moved and the power increased to 100,000 Watts from Fisher Peak in Surry County, just across the Virginia/North Carolina border.
On June 15, 2009, Toby Young returned to radio with his "Aunt Eloise" character who was part of WTQR radio for 23 years.[1]
Late in 2010, WBRF-FM 98.1 changed its format drasticly, dropping newer country music (though it previously emphasized the classics anyway) and changing its name to "Classic Country 98-1" and "The Legend". The station became much more "Cookie Cutter" with the D.J. talk greatly reduced to liner cards and all requests stopped. Listeners were also no longer put live on the air to chat to D.J.s live on-air.
The changes led to the end of Bruce Hodges' "NightRide USA" program, which ran from 11 P.M. to 6 A.M. weekdays, with an emphasis on patriotism and spirituality, and included lots of listener calls. Under new operations director Tom Collins, the number of calls would have been reduced and Hodges would have had less control over music played. Many listeners complained about the show ending, and Hodges hoped to bring back his program online and possibly as a syndicated program. The changes proved to be almost the death of WBRF-FM as a popular local listener-geared Classic Country station. Listeners revolted and many advertisers left the station. Many changes such as removal of CBS RADIO News Live on the hour, every hour took place. D.J.`s were unhappy and threned to quit if something wasn`t done about Collins. On November 26, 2010 Director Of Operations Tom Collins was relieved of his duties. Collins was put working on local live remotes. WBRF-FM Owner Debbie Epperson took over his duties. Slowly, his changes were reversed and many more of the Country Oldies, requests and listeners live on the air was returned. As a result, employee morale also picked up at the station. By Feb. 2011, Tom Collins was let go totally by WBRF-FM. The moinker "The Legend" was also removed. Also, CBS Radio News every hour returned. By March 2011, the station was mostly restored to the format that it had for many years before Tom Collins changed it. Listeners and advertisers returned.[2]
WBRF-FM broadcasts its Friday night shows at the Rex Theatre in Galax. It also broadcasts from the Old Time Fiddler's Convention every August in Felt's Park, also in Galax.
WBRF-FM 98.1 is the flagship station for Wake Forest Demon Deacons basketball and football.
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