WMVY

For the Hartford, Vermont radio station at 104.3 FM assigned the WMVY call sign from July 2013 through June 2014, see WJKS (FM).

WMVY

City of license	Edgartown, Massachusetts
Broadcast area	Martha's Vineyard; Cape Cod; Newport, Rhode Island
Branding	mvyradio
Frequency	88.7 MHz (also on HD Radio via WRNI-FM-102.7 HD2)
Repeaters	W243AI 96.5 Newport, Rhode Island
First air date	1981 (on 92.7) May 21, 2014 (on 88.7, as WMEX)
Format	Adult Album Alternative
ERP	580 watts
HAAT	83 meters (272 ft)
Class	A
Facility ID	175715
Transmitter coordinates
Callsign meaning	Airport code for Martha's Vineyard
Former callsigns	WMEX (May 21–28, 2014) WMVI (May 28–June 9, 2014)
Owner	Friends of Mvyradio, Inc.
Webcast	Listen Live PLS
Website	mvyradio.com

WMVY (88.7 FM; "Mvyradio") is a non-commercial community-oriented adult album alternative radio station based in the town of Tisbury, Massachusetts and licensed to serve Edgartown, both on the island of Martha's Vineyard. The station is owned by Friends of Mvyradio, Inc.

Mvyradio is one of the most streamed internet radio stations in the world (consistently one of the Top 20 most-listened-to internet radio stations according to Webcast Metrics). Streams are available in multiple formats, including WMA, MP3, and RealAudio, and it is a featured station on Apple's iTunes radio tuner service.

History

On 92.7 FM

Beginning in 1981 and ending on February 8, 2013, WMVY was a commercial radio station on 92.7 FM in Tisbury. Despite being a class "A" FM signal transmitting from Martha's Vineyard, WMVY was widely listened to in both southeastern Massachusetts (particularly the "upper" portion of Cape Cod) and the area around Newport, Rhode Island (the latter via a translator station on 96.5, W243AI).

During its last few years broadcasting on 92.7 FM, Mvyradio's operations were actually split between two companies. The radio station, WMVY, was owned by Aritaur Communications. The Web presence and online streaming were managed by mvyradio, LLC. A third entity, Friends of mvyradio, is a 501c(3) non-profit created to help offset streaming and programming expenses by enabling listeners to make tax deductible donations.

On November 27, 2012 WBUR, a Boston NPR affiliate, announced that subject to FCC approval, it had reached an agreement to purchase WMVY, which would become a repeater of WBUR. The purchase price was $715,000. Mvyradio's programming was to be transferred to the Friends of Mvyradio as a non-commercial Internet-only station. The switch to the WBUR simulcast (under new call letters WBUA) took place on February 9, 2013 at midnight.

On 88.7 FM

On November 7, 2013, Friends of Mvyradio announced that they had bought the broadcast license for 88.7 FM from Vineyard Public Radio Inc., which was 250 watts and had the call letters WMEX. Vineyard Public Radio had originally planned to use WMEX to carry a format of adult standards and big band music, but ran into zoning problems. WMEX began carrying Mvyradio programming at 4 p.m. on May 21, 2014, following a 20-minute stunt of ocean wave sounds. A week later, the call letters were changed to WMVI; on June 9, the WMVY call sign was assigned to the station. Also in June 2014, power was increased to 580 watts. A construction permit is currently in service for a further power increase.

Translators

Broadcast translators of WRNI-FM HD2

Call sign	Frequency (MHz)	City of license	ERP W	FCC info
W243AI	96.5	Newport, Rhode Island	55	FCC

WMVY is heard on 96.5 FM in Newport by way of leasing 102.7-HD2 (WRNI-FM) from Rhode Island Public Radio.

For a few years, beginning in June 2005, WMVY had two additional translator stations on Cape Cod: W264BA (100.7 FM) in Harwich Port and W230AW (93.9 FM) in Centerville. W230AW currently rebroadcasts WFRQ W264BA rebroadcasts WKFY on 100.5 as W263CU.

External links

• Mvyradio official website
• Friends of mvyradio
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WMVY
• Radio-Locator information on WMVY
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WMVY