WMVY facts for kids

WMVY (88.7 FM), also known as "Mvyradio," is a special kind of radio station. It's a non-commercial station, which means it doesn't try to make money from ads. Instead, it focuses on serving its community.

Mvyradio is based in Tisbury, Massachusetts, and broadcasts to Edgartown. Both towns are on the beautiful island of Martha's Vineyard. The station plays a mix of music called "adult album alternative." This includes a variety of songs that are often not heard on mainstream radio.

Mvyradio is also very popular online. It's one of the most listened-to internet radio stations in the world! You can listen to it through different online players and even on Apple's iTunes radio service.

The Story of WMVY Radio

Broadcasting on 92.7 FM

WMVY first started broadcasting in 1981. For many years, it was a commercial radio station on 92.7 FM. It was located in Tisbury. Even though it was a smaller station, many people listened to it. Listeners were not just on Martha's Vineyard. People in southeastern Massachusetts, especially on Cape Cod, tuned in. It was also popular near Newport, Rhode Island. This was thanks to a special helper station called W243AI on 96.5 FM.

Towards the end of its time on 92.7 FM, WMVY's operations were split. A company called Aritaur Communications owned the radio station. But a different group, mvyradio, LLC, managed its website and online streaming. There was also a third group, Friends of mvyradio. This was a non-profit organization. It helped pay for the online streaming and shows by accepting donations from listeners.

In November 2012, another radio station, WBUR-FM, decided to buy WMVY. WBUR-FM is a public radio station from Boston. They wanted to use the 92.7 FM spot to broadcast their own shows. The sale was approved, and the price was $715,000. Mvyradio's programs then moved completely online. The change happened on February 9, 2013. At midnight, WMVY on 92.7 FM became WBUA, broadcasting WBUR-FM's programs.

Broadcasting on 88.7 FM

But the story of Mvyradio wasn't over! In November 2013, the Friends of Mvyradio group announced good news. They had bought a new broadcast license for 88.7 FM. This license came from Vineyard Public Radio Inc. The station on 88.7 FM was called WMEX. Vineyard Public Radio had planned to play older music like adult standards and big band music. However, they ran into problems with local rules about where to put their equipment.

So, Mvyradio found a new home! On May 21, 2014, WMEX started playing Mvyradio's programs. Before the music began, there was a short, 20-minute "stunt." All you could hear were ocean wave sounds! A week later, the station's call sign changed to WMVI. Then, on June 9, it officially became WMVY again.

In June 2014, the station also got more powerful. Its signal strength increased to 580 watts. This helped more people hear the station. In July 2015, WMVY became even stronger, reaching 13,000 watts! This powerful signal now covers most of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, the South Coast, and Nantucket.

Helper Stations (Translators)

WMVY uses helper stations, called translators, to reach more listeners.

From 2013 to 2018, you could hear WMVY on 96.5 FM in Newport. This was by sharing a signal from Rhode Island Public Radio. Now, the 96.5 FM station directly broadcasts WMVY's programs.

For a few years, starting in 2005, WMVY also had two other helper stations on Cape Cod. These were W264BA (100.7 FM) in Harwich Port and W230AW (93.9 FM) in Centerville. Today, W230AW plays programs from WFRQ. W264BA now broadcasts WKFY on 100.5 FM as W263CU.

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WMVY
• WMVY in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
• Query the FCC's FM station database for W243AI
• W243AI on Radio-Locator