Welcome to Richmond, Virginia’s “radio wasteland” - a dark time for music lovers and talk radio aficionados alike. It was a time of “tinned and programmed” playlists, a desert of “homogenous sound” on airwaves across the country. In this bleak desert, a band of media activists came together to create a radio oasis, a community radio station “for the rest of us” that would eventually become WRIR-LP 97.3 FM. This is the first episode in a limited series celebrating WRIR’s 20th anniversary year by revisiting the history of how WRIR was born.

Original air date: March 7, 2025

Also airing on WRIR-LP 97.3 FM every First Friday at 9am right after Democracy Now! Stream every First Friday at wrir.org