On the heels of its 50th birthday, Amherst’s WFCR 88.5 FM has made another move toward expansion in the region, acquiring yet another station to add to its rapidly growing public broadcasting network. CEO and General Manager Martin Miller announced this week at the station’s 50th anniversary gala that the WFCR Foundation had acquired rights to 98.9 FM in Adams, an addition to other recent station acquisitions including the WNNZ network (AM 640 Westfield and 91.7 FM Deerfield. See “Valley Public Media Expands,” Oct. 28, 2010.) The station adds to an already strong presence in Berkshire County that has included translator stations in Lee (98.3 FM), Pittsfield (96.3 FM), Williamstown (96.3 FM), Adams/North Adams (101.1 FM) and Great Barrington (98.7 FM), and to its greater network that now encompasses stations broadcasting to Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and upstate New York, lengthening the reach from its primary base in Western Massachusetts.
The expansion will be accompanied by an official name change. As plans develop, the family of stations will be known in the future as “New England Public Radio,” and will collectively bear a logo featuring five bars that represent both radio signals and the station’s origins as Four- and then Five-College Radio. It will establish a new website as well, at nepr.net, in June. Programming will continue to bring area listeners syndicated favorites like Fresh Air and All Things Considered, as well as continued classical music and expanded locally produced shows.
The WFCR Foundation has also purchased the first floor of a building at 1537 Main Street in Springfield (the Fuller Block Building), where it plans to house further offices and/or production facilities in the future. The acquisition reflects cooperation with the 2008 establishment of the Greater Springfield-UMass-Amherst Partnership, which was designed to pave the way for further collaboration on revitalization of Springfield’s economy.
