WRNX (100.9 FM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. Amherst has a council–manager form of government, and is considered a city under Massachusetts state law. Amherst is one of several Massach ...

. The station is owned by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

and the

broadcast license A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which va ...

is held by iHM Licenses, LLC. The station was assigned the WRNX call letters by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

on September 21, 1990.

Programming

WRNX airs a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format. The format change to country music from WRNX's longtime

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

format was part of sister station WPKX's move to the

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, market, where it became

WUCS WUCS (97.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial sports radio, sports formatted radio station licensed to Windsor Locks, Connecticut. It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and serves as the Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford media market's Fox Sports Radi ...

. In addition to its usual music programming, WRNX has served as the flagship station for

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

athletics broadcasts. The station has carried all of the school's men's basketball, hockey and football games plus coaches shows and women's basketball games since 2002. WRNX also carries

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

races.

Ownership

In spring 2003, Pamal Broadcasting Ltd. (James Morrell, chairman/CEO) reached an agreement to acquire WPNI and WRNX from Western Massachusetts Radio Co. (Thomas G. Davis, president), for a reported sale price of $8 million. The broker for this transaction was Doug Ferber of Star Media Group, Inc. At the time of the purchase, WRNX broadcast a rock-leaning adult album alternative music format. In the summer of 2006,

, under its former name of Clear Channel Communications (John Hogan, CEO, radio), reached an agreement to acquire WRNX from Pamal Broadcasting Ltd (James Morrell, chairman/CEO) in exchange for five radio stations on other states. The other stations in the deal were

WBPM WBPM (92.9 FM) is a classic hits radio station licensed to Saugerties, New York, serving the Mid-Hudson Valley and Catskills. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and broadcasts at 6,000 watts ERP from a tower in the Town of Kingston, ...

and

WGHQ WGHQ (920 kHz) is a commercial AM broadcasting, AM radio station City of license, licensed to Kingston, New York, and serving the Hudson Valley. WGHQ is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and it simulcasts a conservative talk radio format known as "The B ...

in upstate New York,

WZRT WZRT (97.1 FM) is a Top 40 (CHR) radio station. Licensed to Rutland, Vermont, the station serves the Lebanon-Rutland- White River Junction area of Vermont and New Hampshire. The station is currently owned by Pamal Broadcasting. History The s ...

and

WSYB WSYB (1380 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Rutland, Vermont. Established in 1930, the station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and broadcasts a classic hits radio format as "100.1 WSYB". Local high school and college sports coverage inc ...

Rutland, Vermont Rutland, Vermont may refer to: *Rutland (city), Vermont *Rutland (town), Vermont *Rutland County, Vermont *West Rutland, Vermont West Rutland is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,214 at the 2020 census. The ...

, and WPYR in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

. Published reports state that no cash changed hands in this transaction.

Alumni

Rachel Maddow Rachel Anne Maddow ( ; born April 1, 1973) is an American television news program host and liberal political commentator. She hosts '' The Rachel Maddow Show'', a weekly television show on MSNBC, and serves as the cable network's special event ...

, host of ''

The Rachel Maddow Show ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' (also abbreviated ''TRMS'') is an American news television program that airs on MSNBC, running in the 9:00 pm ET time slot Monday evenings. It is hosted by Rachel Maddow, who gained a public profile via her freq ...

'' on

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

and former

Air America Radio Air America (formerly Air America Radio and Air America Media) was an American radio network specializing in progressive talk radio. It was on the air from March 2004 to January 2010. The network was founded as a left–wing alternative to coun ...

personality, got her start through a contest to find a new sidekick for '' The Dave in the Morning Show''. Maddow says, "I was crashing with friends in Massachusetts, working odd jobs, when they told me to try out. And they hired me on the spot. Radio came to me, I didn't come to it."

References

External links

WRNX official website
* {{IHeartMedia Country radio stations in the United States IHeartMedia radio stations Mass media in Hampshire County, Massachusetts Radio stations established in 1990 RNX 1990 establishments in Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts