At home (literally) at WQSV

Chicken salad and indie rock mark Staunton’s community radio station

I pulled up to WQSV 106.3 FM in Staunton, VA as the station was playing Pavement’s “Summer Babe.” Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich, and the Pavement guys were DJs at my station (WTJU) when they were students at UVA, so I figured it was a good omen.

Staunton is not generally considered part of Appalachia, but it’s close enough for the purpose of this blog. I’m not going to tread water about where Appalachia’s borders start and stop. I just know that I parked my car on a downtown Staunton street that felt like the side of the Matterhorn.

WQSV’s studios were built in the second-floor apartment of station founder Tom DuMontier. In 2020, Tom moved from Staunton and handed the reins to Ben Leonard. But the radio station remained in the apartment. As such, it’s a comfy space to make radio.

There’s a GOP candidate for Senate who recently called Staunton a “podunk,” but I don’t think he has spent time here. Staunton is a cool city and WQSV’s sound matches that. Ben and I got sidetracked multiple times when I needed to remark about the high quality music playing.

Sitting in WQSV’s literal living room, Staunton native Ben says downtown was not a place many people sought out in the 1980s or 1990s. Nowadays, it’s a vibrant destination home to a variety of arts and cultural organizations. Ben traces the turning point to the 2001 opening of Blackfriars Playhouse, the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre. These days, downtown Staunton is also home to the Heifetz Institute, which leads classical musicians to explore their full creative potential and grow artistically. (WTJU is the home station for the weekly radio program “Heifetz On Air,” which WQSV also airs.)

On-air since 2016, WQSV is a space for creative expression, music, and discovery. Its programming includes 14 or so regular DJs, as well as an on-air arts calendar, book recommendations from local librarians, and a weekly guest DJ show on Fridays.

The music is mostly AAA during the day with jazz overnight. “AAA” is radio jargon for Adult Album Alternative - a fluid mix of indie rock, Americana, rock deep cuts, jam bands, occasional bluegrass, and more. Ben has added more variety to WQSV’s music library and reduced the heavy reliance on jam bands that marked the station’s early years.

“Local” and “unique to Staunton” came up a lot in our conversation. Ben likes when listeners say they don’t know what they’re going to hear next (in a good way).

That local flavor extends to off-air community events. WQSV hosts an annual Chicken Salad contest and fundraiser event. Ten home chefs dish out ramekins of chicken salad to 100+ tasters. Winners receive gift cards and a chicken-shaped trophy.

Meanwhile, during Staunton’s famed “Mischief & Magic” Harry Potter Days, WQSV sets up a faux radio booth to imitate Potterwatch. A Harry Potter wiki tells me that Potterwatch was a pirate radio station mentioned in “Deathly Hallows” that broadcasts the truth and opposes Lord Voldemort. In WQSV’s rendition, kids get to talk into a mic and hear their voices coming out of a nearby amp.

WQSV has the most compact on-air console I’ve personally seen, but it does everything they need it to. As for the nun looming behind the DJs… I guess she enforces FCC language rules?

Like many community radio stations, WQSV operates on a shoestring. Managing the station is one of Ben’s three jobs. He and the board want to raise funds for a better transmitter after some problems earlier this year. They’d also eventually like a better transmitter location on a real tower to strengthen their FM signal. Currently, WQSV broadcasts from a house in a higher elevation part of town. The transmitter is in the basement and the antenna is on a pole. It’s not ideal.

What’s next for Nathan’s travels?

I’ve arrived in the real mountains, and I’ll be talking with the team at Allegheny Mountain Radio.