WRXL


WRXL is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia, and serving Central Virginia. WRXL is owned and operated by Entercom Communications. It airs an Alternative Rock radio format.
Studios, offices and the transmitter tower are on Basie Road in Richmond. The station carries the syndicated Elliot in the Morning show, produced by Premiere Networks and originating at WWDC-FM in Washington, D.C.

History

Early years as WRNL-FM

On March 4, 1949, the station signed on the air as WRNL-FM. It was the sister station to AM 910 WRNL, owned by the Richmond Radio Corporation, a subsidiary of The Richmond News Leader newspaper. At first, WRNL-FM simulcast its AM counterpart, carrying the ABC Radio schedule of dramas, comedies, sports and news. In the late 1950s, WRNL-AM-FM moved to a full service format of middle of the road music, news, sports and talk.
In the 1960s, several Richmond FM stations received permission from the Federal Communications Commission for unusually high power. Today, Richmond is in Zone 1, limited to a maximum of 50,000 watts effective radiated power. But before these rules were put into place, WRNL-FM was permitted to go to 120,000 watts, 103.7 WFMV went to 74,000 watts and, to this day, 94.5 WRVQ runs at 200,000 watts.

Switch to rock as WRXL

In 1971, WRNL-AM-FM were bought by Rust Communications, which owned a number of radio stations around the country. Rust decided to give WRNL-FM its own format. It hired a staff of young DJs, stopped simulcasting AM 910 and switched to progressive rock. To give the station a fresh identity, in 1973, the call sign was changed to WRXL. By 1980, the station's music had moved to a more formatted album rock sound, based on playing the biggest selling rock artists.
In 1993, WRVH and 102.1 WRXL were sold to Clear Channel Communications, a forerunner of iHeartMedia, Inc., for $9.75 million.

Move to alternative rock

In 2002, the station moved from album rock to alternative rock as "102.1 The X." In 2006, the station changed to a new broadcast tower at 791 feet in height above average terrain. But along with the taller tower, the station dropped its power to 20,000 watts from its previous 120,000 watts. WRXL would still have a larger coverage area than conventional Class B FM stations, but with lower power due to the increased antenna height. On October 1, 2012, WRXL rebranded from "102.1 The X" back to "XL 102", WRXL's branding from 1976 to 2002.
On November 1, 2017, iHeartMedia announced that WRXL, along with all of its co-owned stations in Richmond and Chattanooga, would be turned over to Entercom, coupled with that company's merger with CBS Radio. The sale was completed on December 19, 2017. The deal had iHeartMedia taking over several former CBS and Entercom stations in Boston and Seattle in exchange for the Richmond and Chattanooga stations.

HD Radio

WRXL also broadcasts two HD subchannels: