Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 1, 1994 TAG: 9402010246
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The network's first station, WPIN (the ``N'' stands for New River Valley), went on the air Jan. 14 at 91.5 on the FM dial.
"We've been working on this 10 years, and it's finally coming true,'' said Vernon Baker of Blacksburg, the network's chairman and director. Baker operates stations in Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio and also owns Paging Inc., in Christiansburg, with his son.
George McNerlin, general manager and on-air morning host for The Positive Alternative Radio Network, said, ``I have full confidence people will catch the vision and support the station.''
The network will be commercial-free and will rely on tax-free contributions from listeners and corporate sponsors to stay on the air. McNerlin estimated the network's monthly operating costs once its first four stations are on the air at approximately $20,000.
The network bills itself as ``your new Christian connection.''
McNerlin and the network's owners intend their broadcasts to cover the New River and Roanoke valleys and beyond.
WPIN is licensed to Dublin. WPIR in Roanoke, at 91.3 FM, will join the network as soon as word arrives from the Federal Communications Commission, which could be soon. WPIM and WPIB will join the system from Martinsville and Bluefield, W.Va.
A station is scheduled to take to the air in the Bristol market within the year, McNerlin said .
The network's genesis is inauspicious. The ``adult contemporary Christian'' music and talk programming originates from small studios on Jackson Street in downtown Blacksburg.
The low-wattage signal for WPIN, transmitted from Peak Mountain overlooking Pulaski, is likewise modest, so much so that it gets partially blocked by Prices Mountain in Montgomery County.
The network plans to put a small translator on Prices Mountain to broadcast the station's signal and improve coverage over Blacksburg and Christiansburg. It will be at 102.5 on the FM dial.
McNerlin, an experienced secular and religious broadcaster, came to the New River Valley from Texas where he had worked at major contemporary-Christian stations in Dallas and Houston.
``We love it here,'' he said. The network's owners, he said, ``saw the need. There was no contemporary Christian music in the area.''
McNerlin said the network's owners ``are kinda holding their breath to see how this works out,'' but he expressed confidence it would work.
While he concedes that Western Virginians might have somewhat more conservative tastes than other markets in which he has worked, he's banking they'll come to like the station's on-air product well enough to make it succeed.
``We are in debt, but our lenders are patient,'' he said.
The station's formula for success involves targeting 25- to 49-year-old listeners, with a slight tilt towards females.
The music will feature performers such as Amy Grant, Sandi Patti, Steven Curtis Chapman and Bebe and Cece Winans.
In addition to the music, the station carries four Christian-oriented vignettes and a nationally broadcast two-hour afternoon talk program.
Despite its religious overtones and commercial-free underpinnings, WPIN is ``just a regular, fun, Top-40 type radio station,'' McNerlin said. The station - and eventually the network - will do live remotes and give away prizes and even bumper stickers.
When the network takes off, programming will originate from studios in each community as well as from the Blacksburg headquarters.
So far, audience response has been good, McNerlin said, but he anticipates it will take awhile for listeners to get used to the idea that they're responsible for the network's financial success.
To give that notion a nudge, the station is already soliciting contributions on the air. Getting the Roanoke station on the air, McNerlin said, is key to the network's success.
Ultimately, the radio grid will have the potential to reach 3 million listeners in Western Virginia, Eastern Tennessee and Southern West Virginia. The network hopes eventually to attract 5 percent of that huge audience, but McNerlin's even looking beyond that.
``This could very well turn into a national network,'' he said.
Listeners can contact the station at 951-9791 or (800) 627-9747.
by CNB