Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
q2K BHP
Black History Portal
THE BHP WIRE —
HIDDEN TRUTHS
What's New!
Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
 | |
| |
Broadcast area | Metro Richmond |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 910 kHz |
| Branding | 910 AM 105.1 FM The Fan |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Sports radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | December 13, 1926 |
Former call signs |
|
Former frequencies | |
Call sign meaning | Richmond News Leader (former owner) |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| 11960 | |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 37°36′50.5″N 77°30′51.9″W / 37.614028°N 77.514417°W |
| Translator | 105.1 W286DJ (Richmond) |
| Repeater | 94.5 WRVQ-HD2 (Richmond) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (via Audacy) |
| Website | www |
WRNL (910 AM, "910 AM 105.1 FM The Fan") is a commercial radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia. WRNL features a sports radio format and is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc.[4] The studios, offices and transmitter are all co-located just north of the Richmond city line on Basie Road in Dumbarton, Virginia.[5]
By day, WRNL has a power of 5,000 watts non-directional. To avoid interfering with other stations on 910 AM, at night it reduces power to 1,000 watts and uses a directional antenna. WRNL is licensed by the FCC to broadcast in the HD Radio (hybrid) format.[6] The station also broadcasts on 250 watt FM translator W286DJ at 105.1 MHz.[7] It is also heard on the HD2 signal of sister station 94.5 WRVQ.
Weekday mornings begin with "The Sports Junkies", syndicated from co-owned WJFK-FM in Washington, D.C.[8] Adam Epstein does a local midday show, WJFK's "Grant and Danny" air in afternoon drive, and the BetMGM Network and Infinity Sports Network is heard during the rest of the schedule. WRNL is the flagship station for Virginia Commonwealth University Rams men's basketball, Virginia Tech Hokies football and men's basketball, and Richmond Flying Squirrels minor league baseball. WRNL is an affiliate for the Washington Commanders Radio Network, although conflicts often shift Commanders games to sister stations WRVA or WRXL.
WRNL is among the oldest stations in Richmond. Station WLBG, broadcasting on 332.5 meters (902 kHz) with 100 watts from Petersburg, was granted a license on December 13, 1926. The owner was Robert Allen Gamble.[1][2] In 1931, WLBG, Inc. was created to hold the license, and Gamble sold it to local tobacco businessmen the following year.[9]
On August 27, 1935, WLBG, Inc. was sold to a group of three – Richmond News Leader publisher John Stewart Bryan, his son D. Tennant Bryan, and the paper's editor Douglas Southall Freeman.[2]
As WPHR, a daytimer required to sign off at sunset, the station joined the Virginia Broadcasting Network, a five-station group headed by WCHV Charlottesville, on February 1, 1936. Although a planned 16-hour day of common programming failed in three months due to high costs, the network remained to carry Virginia Cavaliers football. The station's FCC record contains several dozen special authorizations to operate after sunset for football games.[2][10][11]
On November 14, 1937, the station began broadcasting from Richmond as WRNL, with the call sign referring to The Richmond News Leader. It broadcast on a frequency of 880 kHz at 500 watts, still daytime-only.
WRNL was granted round-the-clock operation in September 1940.[2][11][12] Its studios were at 323 East Grace Street in Richmond, and the transmitter was in Henrico County, Virginia.[2][13][14]
On September 1, 1940, The Richmond News Leader merged with The Richmond Times-Dispatch, owner of station WRTD, a 100-watt station on 1500 kHz in Richmond. (The newspapers remained separate entities, but they were owned by the same company, Richmond Newspapers, Incorporated.) As part of the merger, WRTD voluntarily surrendered its license to the Federal Communications Commission effective midnight August 31, 1940. At the same time, WRNL became the NBC Blue Network affiliate in Richmond. WRNL simultaneously went to 100 watts of power (full-time).[15]
With the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) enacted in 1941, WRNL moved to AM 910, broadcasting at 5,000 watts.[16] In addition to the Blue Network, WRNL was a secondary affiliate for the Mutual Broadcasting System.
In the late 1940s, the 111 Building (at 111 North Fourth Street) was built for WRNL.[17] In 1949, it added an FM station, WRNL-FM at 102.1 MHz. For the first couple of decades, WRNL-FM simulcast its AM counterpart. By 1970, it had switched to a progressive rock format, later changing its call letters to WRXL.
As network programming moved from radio to television around 1960, WRNL became a full service middle of the road station, featuring pop music, news, talk and sports.[18] It switched to CBS Radio News as its network news service. In the 1980s, it shifted to oldies music.
In 1993, WRNL and WRXL were bought by Clear Channel Communications (now known as iHeartMedia as of 2014) for $9.75 million.[19]
On November 1, 2017, iHeartMedia announced that WRNL, along with its sister stations in Richmond and Chattanooga, would be swapped to Entercom in exchange for selected stations in Boston and Seattle, as part of that company's merger with CBS Radio.[20] The sale was completed on December 19, 2017.[21] In March 2021, Entercom changed its name to Audacy, Inc.
On February 4, 2019, WRNL rebranded as "910 The Fan", matching the branding and logo as co-owned WJFK-FM 106.7 The Fan in Washington, D.C.[22] In May 2019, the station added FM translator W286DJ and is branded as "Sportsradio 910 the Fan and now on 105.1 FM".
WRNL provided one of the first broadcasting opportunities on a U.S. radio station for the country/folk group The Carter Family. Beginning June 1, 1943,[23] Maybelle Carter and her daughters Helen, June and Anita using the name "The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle", had a program on WRNL that was sponsored by Nolde Brothers Bakery.[24] June Carter of the daughters would later marry country singer Johnny Cash and become June Carter Cash. The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle would move on to WRVA radio in Richmond when WRNL moved their studios from the old World News Leader newspaper (WRNL) building to a new studio they built in Richmond and the star on the WRVA's Old Dominion Barn Dance until June 1948
In addition to being a journalist and historian, Douglas Southall Freeman was part-owner of WRNL.[15] The editor of The Richmond News Leader, he extended his journalistic activities to broadcasting with twice-daily newscasts at 8 a.m. and noon.[25][26] Among those interviewed by Freeman was poet Robert Frost, in what Frost said was his first time to knowingly appear on radio.[27] Biographer Charles Johnson wrote about Freeman's first broadcast of each day: "He steps up to the microphone at 8:00, and thousands of Virginians mark the beginning of their day. ... They might just be beginning their day, but he has been observing the world for more than five hours and will tell them what they need to know."[26]
A Gospel quartet that began when its members were students at an elementary school in Richmond, the Harmonizing Four began singing on WRNL in 1943, soon after recording eight songs for Decca in New York City.[28] Described as "the area's top quartet", the group "would have Sunday breakfast with Richmond for nearly two decades, sponsored by People's Furniture".[29]
Mudd joined the staff of the News-Leader in 1953, then shifted to broadcast journalism with WRNL, where he became news director. That led to a career in network news with CBS and, later, NBC.[30]
Schreiner came to WRNL in 1950. Among other duties, he had a program, "The Mailbag".[31] Schreiner also served as program director[32] and covered farm news, winning a Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters' award for his work in 1959.[33]
"A large portion of Richmond’s baby-boom generation grew up with Mr. Soden’s distinctive descriptions of baseball, basketball and football games percolating in the background on radio station WRNL."[34] Soden was general manager and executive vice president at WRNL, but he was best known for bringing sports events into the homes of people in central Virginia. He did play-by-play for the Richmond Braves and Richmond Virginians minor league baseball teams for three decades and broadcast University of Richmond basketball (24 years) and football (11 years) and Virginia Tech football (12 years). Soden's accolades included a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Richmond Broadcasting Hall of Fame, two awards as Virginia's Sportscaster of the Year from the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and induction into six halls of fame.[34]
Organist Eddie Weaver, who played at the famous Byrd Theater in Richmond, was also heard in many homes via WRNL. His weekday morning program, "Eddie Weaver's Open House", featured music and chatter. The program began in September 1949 and was still going strong a decade later.[35]
| Year | Recipient | Award | Organization |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Dr. Douglas Southall Freeman | Best news commentary over larger radio stations | Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters[36] |
| 1951 | Howard Hamrick | Best comprehensive news broadcast over Class 1 stations | Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters[36] |
| 1955 | WRNL | Douglas Southall Freeman Award for public service in radio journalism | Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters[37] |
| 1966 | WRNL | Douglas Southall Freeman Award for public service in radio journalism | Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters[38] |
| 1966 | Ken Collins | Metropolitan radio interview | Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters[38] |
| 1969 | WRNL | Best documentary—metropolitan radio | Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters[39] |
| 1970 | WRNL | Douglas Southall Freeman Award | Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters[40] |
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
WRNL (910 AM, "910 AM 105.1 FM The Fan") is a commercial radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia. WRNL features a sports radio format and is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. The studios, offices and transmitter are all co-located just north of the Richmond city line on Basie Road in Dumbarton, Virginia. By day, WRNL has a power of 5,000 watts non-directional. To avoid interfering with other stations on 910 AM, at night it reduces power to 1,000 watts and uses a directional antenna. WRNL is licensed by the FCC to broadcast in the HD Radio (hybrid) format. The station also broadcasts on 250 watt FM translator W286DJ at 105.1 MHz. It is also heard on the HD2 signal of sister station 94.5 WRVQ.
WRVQ (94.5 FM, "Q94") is a commercial radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia, and serving Greater Richmond Region. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it airs a contemporary hit radio format, with studios and offices are located just north of Richmond city limits on Basie Road in unincorporated Henrico County, Virginia. WRVQ's transmitter is on WRVA Road in Henrico, co-located with the towers for WRVA. WRVQ broadcasts in HD Radio; the HD2 digital subchannel carries the sports radio programming of WRNL.
Valerie June Carter Cash (June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003) was an American country singer, songwriter, comedian, actress, and author. A five-time Grammy Award winner, she was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. Before her marriage, she performed as June Carter, a name she continued to use professionally, including on songwriting credits. She played guitar, banjo, harmonica, and autoharp, and acted in several films and television shows. In 2009, she was posthumously inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame, and in 2025, she was named a posthumous inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The Carter Family was an American folk music group that recorded and performed between 1927 and 1956. Regarded as one of the most important music acts of the early 20th century, they had a profound influence on the development of bluegrass, country, southern gospel, pop, and rock, as well as the American folk revival in the 1960s. They were the first vocal group to become country music stars, and were among the first groups to record commercially produced country music. Their first recordings were made in Bristol, Tennessee, for the Victor Talking Machine Company under producer Ralph Peer on August 1, 1927. This was the day before country singer Jimmie Rodgers made his initial recordings for Victor under Peer. The original group consisted of Sara Carter, her husband A. P. Carter, and her sister-in-law Maybelle Carter. Maybelle was Sara's first cousin, and was married to A. P.'s brother Ezra Carter (Eck). All three were born and raised in southwest Virginia. They were immersed in the tight harmonies of mountain gospel music and shape note singing. The latter dated to the early 19th century and revivals in the South. Throughout the group's career, Sara Carter sang lead vocals and played rhythm guitar or autoharp. Maybelle sang harmony and played lead guitar. On some songs A. P. did not perform at all; on some songs he sang harmony and background vocals, and occasionally he sang lead. Maybelle's distinctive guitar-playing style became a hallmark of the group. Her Carter Scratch (a method for playing both lead and rhythm on the guitar) has become one of the most copied styles of guitar playing. The success of the Carter Family's recordings of songs such as "Can the Circle Be Unbroken", "Wildwood Flower", and "Keep on the Sunny Side" made these songs country standards that were later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Carter Family was inducted in 2005 after having been the first group inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970. The group (in all its incarnations) recorded for a number of labels, including RCA Victor (and subsidiary label, Bluebird), ARC group, Columbia, Okeh and various imprint labels.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker
