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

The Means of Production - Episode 1

In Episode 2, we travel back to the Richmond of the 80s and 90s, a time of experimentation and pushing the boundaries in local art, music, and independent radio. We hear from radio pirates in Richmond and beyond who were bucking the FCC’s corporate controlled media and how their actions inspired a growing movement to put the public back into “public airwaves.” We also learn more about what inspired WRIR co-founder Christopher Maxwell’s personal radio journey, from his days in “bargain basement AM radio” to his first attempts to start his own community radio station. 

Original air date: April 4, 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

The Means of Production - Episode 2

In this episode, we learn how FCC Chairman William Kennard was convinced by the radio pirates to open up the FM airwaves for communities to start their own low power radio stations, and why the major broadcasters were so opposed to the concept of low power community radio. 

Original air date: May 2, 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

The Means of Production - Episode 3

Do we know how Richmond's independent community radio station really came to exist? From a country station out of Hampton Roads to George W. Bush, to the many people drawn to the Radio Free Richmond project, we're continuing to break down the strange alchemy of factors contributing to WRIR's existence, and how close they came to never making it to the air.

Original air date: July 4, 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

The Means of Production - Episode 4

Like any project that takes the cooperation of many hands, building a community radio station is really, really hard work. WRIR was not the only LPFM station getting started in the 2000s that ran into road bumps along the way. With 18 months to get on the air, Radio Free Richmond was a "work in progress" almost until their FCC deadline. In this episode, we meet the space that would one day become WRIR - 1621 W. Broad Street, and some of the first challenges that volunteers faced there.

Original air date: August 1, 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

The Means of Production - Episode 5

After 20 years on the air, it's easy to forget that WRIR's existence wasn't always a matter of course. Were it not for a serendipitous mix of people and circumstances, WRIR likely wouldn't exist at all. With just three months left on their FCC deadline, their biggest make or break hurdles were still in front of them. And future DJ Dustin Richardson was eagerly waiting to put his energy and kitchen sensibility to use. 

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

Original air date: September 5, 2025

The Means of Production - Episode 6

If you're wondering how WRIR has changed Richmond in the last 20 years, look no further than the legacy of their local news and talk programming. In this almost final episode of the series, we're taking a look at WRIR's impact on Richmond through the example of one of its longest running local - and live - talk shows, The Defenders Live, with host Ana Edwards. For over 20 years, Ana has made Richmond's unique history visible and known. Not only did WRIR help make that possible, but it also paved the way for other community victories in Richmond. 

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

Original air date: October 3, 2025

The Means of Production - Episode 7

*UPDATE: At the time of the original airing of this episode, FERC had not yet granted final permits for the pipelines. As of Oct 13, 2017, both MVP and ACP have been granted federal permits by FERC. 

In the pilot episode, we present the question that landowners along the routes of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline have been facing every day for nearly three years: are these pipelines really a "done deal?" How are residents fighting against them? Can they win? We trace the beginning of the current pipeline struggles to central and southwestern Virginia, uncovering connections between the MVP and the ACP. We look back to the early 2000s, when Dominion lost the proposed Greenbrier Pipeline -- an almost identical pipeline to the currently proposed MVP. Organizer Mara Robbins tells how Floyd County was able to get the MVP re-routed away from their county in the fall of 2014. Also on this episode are Sharon Ponton, Ernie Reed, Connie Brennan, Carolyn Reilly, and Mike Carter. Music by Restroy and Lobo Marino. Original Air Date: 7/21/17

Ep. 1: Done Deal?

EPISODE 1: Done Deal?

Up next in Episode 2: 

Hear stories from Bent Mountain residents resisting surveyor trespass against the Mountain Valley Pipeline. and from Nelson County neighbors uniting in the face of controversial routes over the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

TEASER: Surveyor Trespass

In Episode 2, we hear stories from Bent Mountain residents resisting surveyor trespass against the Mountain Valley Pipeline. And from Nelson County, neighbors uniting in the face of controversial routes over the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Original Air Date: 8/4/17

Music by Restroy and Lobo Marino.

EPISODE 2: Home

When can surveyors legally enter your property without permission? Learn about Virginia's "right to trespass law", eminent domain, and how it affects the pipeline development. Original Air Date: 8/4/17

Ep. 2 EXTRA: Eminent Domain

In Episode 4, we hear from familiar voices and some new ones, on  an issue that has been at the forefront of most minds in the last year: water. Original Air Date: 9/1/17

EPISODE 4: Water

Episode 5 sheds light on the unheard voices of residents, buried by bureaucracy in the process of permitting water crossings by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline. Original Air Date: 9/15/17

EPISODE 5: Water pt. 2

A week prior to the airing of this episode, FERC grants "Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity" for both the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines. What does this mean for pipeline fighters, and more importantly, are these pipeline projects really needed in order to meet energy demand for the Mid-Atlantic? In this episode, we get a lesson in the history of energy demand in the United States, plus a look at what is really driving energy holding companies to get into the pipeline building business.

Original Air Date: 10/20/17

EPISODE 7: Necessity

In episode 8, we take a look at the impact that the pipelines have had on state elections in 2017, and how the political conversation has changed over the last three years. Original Air Date: 11/3/17

EPISODE 8: Election

The State Water Control Board will vote on water certification for the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines during the week of December 6-12, 2017. In this episode, we visit Bottom Creek, one of the few Tier 3 streams in Virginia which would be crossed by the MVP. Additionally, we look at whether the DEQ's process has really been "scientific and transparent" for the public. Original Air Date: 12/01/17

EPISODE 10: Watershed

After two days of meetings, including hours of testimony from residents, soil scientists, hydrologists, engineers, and former employees of the DEQ itself, it's with extreme sadness that we must report on the passage of 401 certification for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

The people we've met over the last three years are strong. They are not going anywhere, and neither are we.

State Water Control Board - Report Back

Inside the State Water Control Board meetings for the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines, where many opponents thought a vote in favor of water certification was a foregone conclusion for both projects, a chorus of voices makes space for courage and power.

Original air date: 12/15/17

EPISODE 11: Voice

In this first episode of 2018, the pipeline fight is entering a new phase. Tree cutting begins in Buckingham County, and MVP takes 300 landowners to court. Original air date: 2/16/18

EPISODE 12: Irreparable

A special episode of storytelling and memory sharing from residents of Bent Mountain. Original air date: 3/2/18

EPISODE 13: Bent Mountain

Through wind storms, snow storms, two court hearings, and a temporary restraining order, the support for the treesitters at Peters Mountain Stand has only grown. Have they sparked something beyond just protecting these two trees? 

Original air date: 3/30/18

EPISODE 14: Two Trees

As more eyes turn to pipeline resistance in Virginia, how does that resistance take root, and in what ways can community subvert the structures of power? Original air date: 4/20/18

EPISODE 16: Reflection

In this episode we hear folks at the "Hellbender Autonomous Zone" talk about the problems around private property and notions of ownership, and how we use collective resistance to fight not just pipelines but the systems that allow for exploitation and extraction that have been allowed to destroy communities in the North America for hundreds of years. Original air date: 6/1/18

EPISODE 18: Hellbender

Pipeline fighters are keeping their promise to watch Mountain Valley Pipeline's every move, catching almost daily construction failures that are damaging their creeks and streams, and doing the job that Virginia DEQ is either unable - or unwilling - to do. Original air date: 7/6/18

EPISODE 19: Mud

In the final episode of "Season 2", pipeline fighters talk teacher strikes, remembering histories of resistance, and what winning really looks like. Original air date: 08/03/18

EPISODE 21: Memory

Environmental lawyers explain all of the recent developments around stop work orders for the Mountain Valley Pipeline ahead of the next State Water Control Board meeting. Original air date: 08/17/18

EPISODE 22: Stop

Reverend William Barber of the Poor People's Campaign of North Carolina, and former Vice President Al Gore, recently visited the community of Union Hill in Buckingham County, VA for the Moral Call for Ecological Justice.  Original air date: 3/1/19

Episode 25: Moral Call

Hear Reverend William Barber's full speech at the Moral Call for Ecological Justice in Buckingham County, VA. Original air date: 3/15/19

Episode 26: Reverend Barber

In this episode, pipeline opponents talk about "hope", how to see uncertainty in an emergent way, and what it takes to keep fighting giants. Original air date: 4/5/19

Episode 27: Uncertainty

Wrapping up our regular installments of End of the Line, we will return for quarterly longer-format episodes in the future. For now, we speak to some familiar voices about where the pipeline struggles stand right now, and what lies ahead. Original air date: 07/05/19

Episode 28 - Finale

My latest project is a new audio documentary presenting the full and complete origin story of WRIR and community powered radio in Richmond, VA. As WRIR celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2025, we're celebrating the media activists, radio rebels and just everyday Richmond people who shaped WRIR. Featuring voices of the station's original founding members, DJ's, show hosts, producers and volunteers. Limited series airing on WRIR-LP 97.3 FM every First Friday at 9am following Democracy Now!

Whitney Whiting

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