The motto of WVVY radio used to be “You Never Know What You’re Going to Hear Next.” And now, following the station’s recent signal boost, you may even be able to hear whatever’s next in Falmouth.
Earlier this summer, the small community radio station based out of Tisbury completed a project to upgrade the station’s signal, putting it on the 96.7 FM frequency and allowing it to be picked up from Gay Head to Edgartown, and possibly beyond.
The change in frequency also means the station will no longer have to share the same 93.7 FM spot with three other nearby stations.
“I really don’t know how far it’ll stretch, but you can pick it up on a thing like this,” said Steve Saxonis, one of the stations’ deejays, patting his own small boombox. “So who knows? Maybe Katama, maybe farther.”
The station is still just a small low power channel operating entirely on volunteer labor and donations that amount to several thousand dollars a year at most. The on-air deejays pay a form of “dues” to help keep the station running, and volunteers sometimes sell chocolate by the side of the road to keep the lights on.
But 11 years after its origins as an illegal network with barely more than a transmitter and an antennae, the 100-watt station is now positioning itself to be heard not just for a few miles around Vineyard Haven but across the whole Island.
The new reach of the station will hopefully expand its audience, members say. The station runs a programming schedule that includes shows like Mr. Saxonis’s American Circus on Sunday mornings and Rick Padilla’s Rockin’ Roll Rick on Wednesday afternoons. Will Monast, a former Gazette columnist who died this winter and is remembered fondly at the station, used to broadcast on a slot that came right after Mr. Saxonis’s program.
The actual broadcast area is small, not much bigger than walk-in closet.
“Yeah, it’s small, but it gets it done and there are never too many people in there to begin with,” said chairman and treasurer of the station Jim Glavin.
Along with the frequency upgrade, the station recently renewed its five-year license with the FCC, confirming that it has no plans of going anywhere.
“We’re for the community,” said Mr. Glavin. “This is the community. The people here on the Island, they set us apart. That’s really why we’re here.”
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