WTJX, the University's student-run radio station, will begin broadcasting on FM station 100.1 within the upcoming months. Although the station has an online broadcast, the new opportunity to transmit on an FM frequency will allow the station’s programs to cover the city of Charlottesville and neighboring suburbs.
More than 120 students maintain the station's operations and programming, which functions as an internet-only offshoot of WTJU-FM, the University’s non-commercial educational station.
WTJU General Manager Nathan Moore said the station first started the process by applying for a low-power FM license in order to initiate the transition to an FM station. The station also applied for a construction permit to place a broadcast transmitter and antenna on a tower near West Main Street.
“The change to FM will serve as a great tool for recruitment and even shows how a student radio station builds a greater sense of community for the University,” Moore said. “It’s a long and extensive process but it’ll be worth it the end.”
The logistics of creating the FM broadcast have led to a change in the name of the station, which will become “WXTJ” since management learned that a different Federal Communications Commission license is connected to the “WTJX” name.
Although WTJU originally functioned as an organization staffed and administered by students, its change to a community-centered radio station led to the creation of WTJX in August 2013, which brought the station back to its roots of high student involvement.
WTJX Coordinating Director Sara Ho said the station still has other steps to coordinate in order to complete the switch to an FM broadcast, which could take until the end of the fall semester.
“Becoming an FM station is requiring a lot of operational changes,” Ho said in a press release. “It’s kind of fitting that we are rebranding, if only by switching the order of our letters.”
Because most of the student DJs leave for the summer, WTJX has automated programming for the season. Nevertheless, the program will resume live broadcasting the first week of classes and will recruit for additional hosts.
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