Stafford, Va. — A group of radio stations known for classic rock and country music wants to improve their signal, but they’ll to have to wait a bit longer.
WGRQ plays classic rock on 95.9 FM, and WGRX plays country music on 104.5 FM, and the company that owns them both, Telemedia Broadcasting, wants to move its transmitter from King George County to southern Stafford County.
The newly proposed tower would stand 480 feet tall, just 75 feet shorter the Washington Monument in the nation’s capital, and would be located at 494 Hollywood Farm Road – a rural area of Stafford County.
“Our weakness has been signal strength into the marketplace, because we have a signal not that is not strong enough to penetrate office buildings in the area,” said Telemedia Broadcasting Manager Tom Cooper. “That’s been a real thorn in our side for the past 25 years.”
While car radios have less difficulty picking up the radio signal transmitted from the current tower, this new site would increase the stations’ signal coverage in portions of eastern Prince William County, according to county documents.
But some neighbors who didn’t appear at an earlier public hearing held last year about the proposed tower decided to speak out Tuesday night.
“We’re called the country and we are, because everything is zoned agriculture in our neighborhood. All of the houses out there are $500,000 plus and you’re talking about trashing the neighborhood by putting up this tower,” said Anthony Costo, who lives near the site of the proposed tower.
Residents also brought up concerns about radio signals the tower would transmit, likening them to the much-debated radio waves emitted by cell phones.
Joseph Davis of Chesapeake RF Consultants, who appeared before the Stafford County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night, said the signals emitted from the tower are nothing like those from cell phones.
“If a signal from a cell phone is dangerous when you hold it up to your head, well, the signal from this tower is transmitted upward, and we’re not asking anyone to hold the tower up to their head,” said Davis.
The Board Tuesday did not approve the tower, but decided to take more time to study the issue at the request of Stafford George Washington District Supervisor Robert Thomas. Thomas and Cooper over the next two weeks have agreed to meet with concerned residents who have questions about the tower.
County officials said the tower would not affect flights in and out of airports in Quantico, or in Spostsylvania or Stafford counties.
