Do you have questions or would like to send us an email? Click here to contact us.
Do you have questions or would like to send us an email? Click here to contact us.
Visit our Concerts & Events page if you would like to see all of our up to date area events.
You sure can! Our mailing address for gifts is:
WPER Partner Services
PO Box 929
Blacksburg, VA 24063
You can expect a thank you letter and gift acknowledgement from WPER to arrive very soon. This will also include your member number.
If you’ve asked for statements, you’ll continue to receive monthly letters and giving envelopes.
You sure can! We’d love to have you check out our EZ gift giving plan for monthly giving by using your checking, savings or debit/credit card. It’s easy to get started when you pledge online and choose “Other Payment Options.” If you have any questions, please just give us a call at 1-877-321-3811.
Our donor support office would be more than happy to make those changes for you. You can call 1-877-321-3811 or reach them by email (make sure to put “Change to account” in subject line).
There are no minimums and there are no maximums. We are thankful for every gift given to support WPER.
You can donate online and “walk” through the online form. If you’d like to call and make a gift personally, we’d love to hear from you at 1-877-321-3811.
First, we’ve just gotta say it, “THANK YOU!” We really appreciate your support! Unless you’ve given us an expiration date, your pledge is ongoing so there’s no need to renew. Of course if you want to make a change, we can always help, just call us at 1-877-321-3811 or email us. Thanks so much for checking!
Absolutely! WPER is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit ministry.
A signal may be off the air for several reasons. Often a translator must be taken off the air due to interference (see above question), technical issues such as a malfunctioning antenna or defective receiver, or extreme weather conditions such as high winds and heavy snow. We are usually aware of these outages since most of our signals are equipped with remote controls that report when a signal is off the air. However, even with the best technology, those systems occasionally break down. If your local signal has been down for an extended period of time, please contact us.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates all broadcast signals in the United States, imposing strict regulations on where a station can broadcast from and at how much power. Every signal is limited by these regulations in order to avoid interference with other signals. In most cases, increasing the signal strength of one of our signals would cause interference with other signals.
Many of our signals are low-powered translators, which means they do not cover as large an area as full-power stations. Because of FCC rules, stations take precedence over translators. Therefore, if a translator causes interference with a station, it has to be taken off the air.
Even though we would love to have a signal in every city in America, several factors determine whether we are able to put a signal in a particular area. The main factor is the availability of frequencies. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates all broadcast frequencies in the United States. Currently, most markets do not have any frequencies available. One option we have is to buy an existing high-powered station, but most of these stations sell for millions of dollars, a price generally out of WPER’s reach.
Building low-powered stations (called translators, because they “translate” from one frequency to another) is also an option. Though translators do not cover as large an area as a full-power station, they still provide usable service. Unfortunately, the FCC has not accepted new translator applications for a number of years.
Because full-power stations take priority over translators, if an existing translator causes interference with another full-power station (even a new station), the translator must be removed.
Even with permission from the FCC, a station or translator can still take years to build. FCC and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, availability of land and tower space, local zoning laws, EPA restrictions and even weather can affect the timetable of building a signal or make it impossible to build.
If you want to know more about the music we play or you simply have a song stuck in your head and want to know the name or the band, click here to ask.