Broadcast area Asheville, NC Frequency 103.3 MHz Format Variety | Branding Asheville FM First air date 2015 | |
City Asheville, North Carolina | ||
WSFM-LP, known as 103.3 Asheville FM, is a low-power radio station licensed to Asheville, North Carolina which began broadcasting on May 18, 2015.
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Programming
Asheville FM offers a wide variety of programming, including music and talk.
"Stank Free Radio" has soul, R&B, funk and disco on Saturday evenings. Other music programs include "Closer to the Edge" with progressive rock on Thursday afternoons, "Ultimate Twang" with classic country late Thursdays. and Radio Active Kids, a kid's music radio show, playing classic and new kindie music.
Talk shows include the local "AFM News Hour" on Thursday evenings and Democracy Now!
Programs that mix talk and music are "YayDJ" on Saturday mornings, for teenagers, and The Final Straw, with "radical" and "anarchist" content and world music, a show which also airs in California.
History
Asheville FM began in 2009 as an online radio station. During its time on the web, Asheville FM had as many as 1.7 million page views each month from 6,000 people. Since the Low-Power Community Radio Act of 2010, Asheville FM has had one chance, in 2013, to move to a broadcast frequency. From a 20-foot tower on top of the Hotel Indigo, Asheville FM's signal reaches a 5 to 10-mile radius, but terrain affects exactly where the signal can be heard.
All staff members are volunteers, and the station is a non-profit which gets its funding from underwriting, fund-raising twice a year, and memberships costing $20 a month. A permanent station manager will eventually be hired.