Nashville may well be the only city in America in which a popular rock radio station was replaced by a classical one. In 2011, Vanderbilt University’s terrific WRVU, 91 Rock, became WFCL, Classical 91 One, with predictably dismal results. In place of WRVU’s unpredictable (and often delightfully heretical) mix of R&B, Americana, folk, hip-hop and rock, the new station piped out endless hours of homogenous classical wallpaper music. WFCL, with its penchant for breaking up multi-movement masterpieces into bite-sized excerpts, became just one more McClassical station, offering the same dreary sameness heard at seemingly every other public radio franchise in the country.
Connoisseurs of adventurous radio, as such, were no doubt relieved to learn that WRVU would live again, this time as a new, nonprofit community station called WXNA-FM. A group of former WRVU DJs and friends were recently granted a low-power FM license and construction permit. And earlier this month, the group launched a Kickstarter campaign to turn its ambitious plans into a reality.
WXNA has already raised nearly $30,000 toward its $50,000 goal. To attract even more support, the campaign has added some way-cool new rewards, including letterpress posters from Hatch Show Print and hand-picked LPs from Infinity Cat Records. Music lovers would do well to visit the Kickstarter page and watch the entertaining testimonial videos. The campaign runs through Sept. 9.
