WNAA (90.1 FM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

broadcasting a

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

format. Licensed to

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

, United States, the station serves the Piedmont Triad area. The station is currently owned by North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University.

Programming

WNAA plays music and serves the community while preparing students for broadcasting careers. As part of the A&T Department of Journalism and Mass Communications, WNAA operates professionally. General manager Tony Welborne is one of three full-time paid employees. WNAA also has several student DJs as well as community volunteers. Each day begins with "First Light", "a high-energy

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...

" program lasting from 5 A.M. to 10 A.M. Other styles of music include

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

, R&B, and clean

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

. "King Mosley’s

Smooth Jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...

Cafe" airs on Monday and Wednesday evenings, "The Blues Hangover" on Thursday evenings, "Wild Irish Rose’s 8-Track Flashback" on Saturday afternoons,

History

The station was established in 1979 as a direct outgrowth of A&T's first radio station, WANT-AM, which was built in 1966 by electronics students (including Welborne) "as a class project". WNAA operated from 1979 to 1985 as a local Greensboro station, serving the campus and small areas of the city with 10

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s of power. In 1985, the station was granted permission to upgrade to a full power noncommercial

FM stereo FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high-fidelity sound ...

station. WNAA now operates with 10,000 watts at 90.1 MHz on the FM dial, and has a licensed coverage area of 35 to 45 miles (56–64 km). The station experiences an actual coverage area of 35 to 55 miles (56–88 km) in most directions. WNAA is licensed to serve the Greensboro, High Point,

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the fifth-most populous city in North Carolina and the 91st-most populous city in the Uni ...

metropolitan radio market. This area, coupled with the secondary coverage area allows WNAA to cover a 14 county area in Northern

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

North Carolina and Southwestern

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. In September 2010, WNAA moved into a modern studio in Crosby Hall.

References

External links

* NAA NAA {{NorthCarolina-radio-station-stub