WYOB, the reggae format radio station operated by Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School students, signed off the air Oct. 11, after a three year educational effort.
Radio station WMVY, the popular independent local station that has been on the air on the Vineyard for nearly three decades, will sell its broadcast signal 92.7 FM to WBUR, the well-known National Public Radio station in Boston.
For the past three years, the static of nearby stations filled radio frequency 93.7 FM. On Friday morning a week ago, the static was replaced with silence. Around 4:30 p.m, there was a beep. And then a song came over the airwaves.
So that night, even as a slew of Island musicians took the stage at the Chilmark Community Center to raise money for an Island family, and as Islanders took cover from the steady drizzle and caught up with friends over freshly baked cornbread and homemade chowder, a radio from a car parked outside blared a steady stream of music.
The Vineyard is set to get a new radio station and the town of Tisbury to get an integrated information system following a couple of last-minute approvals this week.
On Tuesday, selectmen Tristan Israel and Denys Wortman (Thomas Pachico was absent) approved an easement at the department of public works site for a 70-foot pole which will be used by the station for its broadcasts and by public works to communicate with other town departments and the Tisbury school.
Martha’s Vineyard Community Radio station WVVY, broadcasting at FM 93.7, has appointed Paul Munafo as station manager. Paul brings experience in many community organizations. He has been an active member in the development of the Vineyard Playhouse where he served on the board for over 12 years; he served as chairman of the Tisbury Cultural Council for over 10 years and is a founding member and performer with the Fabulists theatre for children.
There’s a soft buzz coming from the car radio, a faint hum of interference as you drive around the Island searching for the perfect song to get you in the mood. Sometimes the automatic tuner slides right by it, other times it settles in somewhere amongst the buzz to 93.7, the home of Vineyard community radio station WVVY.