WRFN Radio Free Nashville Seeks Funds to Go Citywide [Updated]

If you've lived in Middle Tennessee for more than two years, chances are the letters WRVU tap a deep well of feelings, ranging from fond memories of the Vanderbilt station's outstanding offerings to outrage over the school's decision to

and

. You've probably also heard about WRFN, aka Radio Free Nashville, the low-power station that began broadcasting from west of town in 2005. A lot of us thanked the maker on that one — giving opportunities to student broadcasters is critical, but so are community DJs, who offer a wealth of specialized knowledge and experience in a vast range of music, not tied to the profit concerns that dominate commercial radio.

Best Underground Radio Station last year, and

that DJ Angie Dorin's Cat Beast Party is

this year.

And there's the problem: You probably haven't heard the station itself. For context, 94.5-FM Hippie Radio, "Your 5 Million Milliwatt Baby Boomer Blowtorch," transmits at 5,000 watts, and their signal does a decent job of covering Davidson County and surrounding areas. WRFN's terrestrial broadcast on 107.1-FM is limited to 100 watts, and barely carries east of Belle Meade. (If you want to reach nerd-vana on this subject, future country giant WSM went on air in 1925 with a 500-watt transmitter; at that time, it was heard all over the state. Find more details in Craig Havighurst's Air Castle of the South.)

I bet that you, like me, can also count on one hand the number of people you know who are tech savvy and/or patient enough to stream a radio station in their car.

The time has come for us to put our money where our mouths are, or at least where we want our radio dials to be. Back in the summer, we told you about WRFN's breakthrough plan to extend their broadcast reach all over the city, rebroadcasting their signal on a higher-power transmitter at 103.7-FM. The bill for the equipment necessary to perform this feat of electro-wizardry is $20,000, and their IndieGogo campaign to raise the funds is in full swing (HT to sometime Scene contributor Tony Youngblood for spreading the word).

The station is up front about the liberal slant of its non-music programming. But whether or not you're politically inclined, it's an important opportunity to support a broadcaster in the 25th largest metro area in the country — one whose playlists aren't tied to the interests of shareholders in one of six large corporations. Don't sleep! The campaign runs until Nov. 22.

UPDATE: WRFN's Ginny Welsch put us in touch with the station's technical director, Matt Lane, who you might also know as experimental A/V artist Matt the PM. He kindly sent over the following maps explaining what the translator will mean for the station's increase in coverage.

First, here's the area they reach now on 107.1-FM, covering the West Side as well as some of Brentwood and Franklin:

On that frequency, Matt explained, WRFN has to deal with interference from 50,000-watt station WUHU in Russellville, Ky. Even though translating to a different frequency won't change the station's transmitter power, running on 103.7 will make a huge difference. Here's the projected best-case coverage area after translating to 103.7:

As you can see, it's a pretty substantial boost that will result in folks actually being able to pick up WRFN downtown and even on the East Side. Like any radio station, reception will vary with weather, interference and hills and buildings obstructing the line of sight to the transmitter antenna. There is also a chance that RFN will be able to bump the translator up to 250 watts in the future, which would mean a pretty sweet increase in clarity all across the coverage area.

From Matt's email:

This one is the theoretical reach of the translator at 103.7, assuming 100 watts @ 30 feet (10 meters). The red shaded area is 'city grade' coverage, i.e., the most optimal coverage. Dark blue is moderate coverage, but still a quite listenable signal, especially in a vehicle. The light purple is 'fringe' coverage, which is not the most ideal coverage (some static, etc). The reason there are pockets of coverage on this map is due to the amount of hills we have in the Nashville area.

In response to comments about where the translator will be licensed Matt also had the following to say:

Cities of license are almost a misnomer these days. Granted, a station may be licensed to city A, but could have transmitters and studios in close by city B ... Couple or three examples: - 99.7 WWTN is licensed to Hendersonville, but their transmitter and tower site is in southwestern Rutherford County. Being the 100,000 watt signal they are, they can cover Hendersonville with a city grade signal.

- 89.5 WMOT is licensed to Murfreesboro, but their 100,000 watt transmitter and tower is located in Gladeville, which is between Smyrna and Lebanon off of SR-840.

- 1470 WVOL is licensed to Berry Hill, but their tower and transmitter site is over north of town near Trinity Ln.