WPVM-LP

WPVM-LP (103.7 FM) is a non-commercial LPFM radio station located in Asheville, North Carolina licensed to the Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN), a nonprofit Internet service provider founded in 1995 for a 14-county area of western North Carolina. MAIN operates the station as MAIN-FM. The station is an integral part of MAIN's alternative media vision to enable citizens to spend their Internet dollars to support non-corporate news, music, and public affairs programming.

Programming

Since going on the air in October, 2003, MAIN-FM (then known as WPVM) has produced live broadcasts of community events such as the WordFest poetry festival, media reform talks, and the 2007 Right to Dissent public forum at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. MAIN-FM features a mix of local and syndicated programs^{[citation needed]} including Democracy Now!,^[1] Free Speech Radio News,^{[citation needed]} and the Thom Hartmann Program, "with a strong emphasis on local voices."^[1]

History

The station began broadcasting in October, 2003 under an LPFM Class 1 license for 100 watts effective radiated power (ERP), but FCC rules forced the station to reduce its power to 1 watt ERP due to a commercial station in Knoxville, TN using the same 103.5 FM frequency.^{[citation needed]}

Wally Bowen, executive director of station operator Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN), said a "Save Our Sound" fund-raising campaign would start Oct. 25, 2010. MAIN-FM needed $3500 a month to stay on the air. In September, 2011, the new owners of MAIN-FM's broadcast tower demanded a multiyear lease which would have locked-in the station's reduced signal for years to come. Instead, the MAIN Board of Directors voted to vacate the tower, take the station off the air temporarily, and find a new transmitter site where a stronger signal would be possible.

MAIN board chairman Roger Derrough said the station "has never paid for itself" given its reduced-signal. MAIN, he said, makes its money providing Internet access and web hosting. When the nonprofit started, MAIN was the only Internet access provider for many in the Asheville area and surrounding counties. At first the nonprofit ISP only offered dial-up. Upgrading to wireless Internet has cost a lot, and MAIN can no longer afford to subsidize MAIN-FM.^[1]

MAIN-FM broadcast at reduced power until October, 2011 when the MAIN Board of Directors voted to take the station off the air rather than sign a multi-year tower lease that would have prevented a future transmitter move to improve the station's signal.^{[citation needed]} Bowen said in 2012 that MAIN-FM had to move its transmitter from Busby Mountain in order to increase its signal to 100 watts, but the process was delayed in December 2011 when the first proposed site could not be used.^[1][2]

MAIN-FM continued to stream its programming online. The radio station was temporarily off the air pending the full implementation of new LPFM rules by the FCC, which were expected to free up new frequencies for low-power FM stations. MAIN expected to file for a new frequency in 2013 to strengthen MAIN-FM's signal and expand the station's coverage in a greater Asheville area.^{[citation needed]}

New rules for LFPM stations took effect in January 2013, and MAIN-FM received approval for its 103.7 frequency in February. The 100 watt signal now covers more of the area.^[1]

References

External links

• WPVM's official website
• MAIN's official website
• WPVM's FCC status including link to revocation document
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WPVM
• Radio-Locator information on WPVM-LP
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WPVM

Coordinates: 35°31′41″N 82°29′42″W / 35.528°N 82.495°W / 35.528; -82.495