City Fenner, New York Frequency 90.5 MHz ERP 49 watts | Broadcast area Syracuse, New York Format public radio | |
First air date December 21, 1998 (1998-12-21) | ||
WMVQ (90.5 FM) is a radio station licensed to State University of New York as part of the WRVO network. WMVQ is licensed to Fenner, New York, which is a rural community in Madison County, in-between the communities of Cazenovia, Chittenango and Canastota, in the Syracuse metropolitan area. Fenner is probably best known for its extensive windmill project.
History
WMVQ was originally WXXE, owned by Syracuse Community Radio (SCR), which put the station on the air December 21, 1998 and first licensed the station with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on February 11, 2000. SCR had been founded in 1994 to apply for a license to bring community radio to Syracuse's FM dial. The project grew out of organizing by the Westcott Nation Music Association that included micro-radio in the Westcott neighborhood (1990-91) and a community television audio feed on Time Warner Cable. The organization was active for two years before incorporating in 1994.
Effective December 28, 2015, SCR sold WXXE to the State University of New York so they could instead operate WSPJ-LP (103.3 FM), which will actually put a strong signal over Syracuse, unlike WXXE. They were not allowed by FCC regulations to own both stations. WSPJ-LP plans local news and commentary, local music, youth programming and other content. "SCR has consistently provided this programming in the past," it told the FCC, "but over a very limited signal area at the outer fringe of the Syracuse area, resulting in greatly hampered listenership and participation." SCR has also been approved for an FM translator that will rebroadcast the WSPJ-LP signal on 93.5 FM over the City of Syracuse, while the 103.3 FM signal will primarily cover the northern suburbs.
WXXE changed its call sign to WMVQ on June 13, 2016.