Our History
This was truly a labor of love of thousands of hours of volunteers time, knowledge, talent, and generosity of heart who believe in community radio. We received the first new permit to build a local Savannah station in over 15 years!
Timeline
June 2013: “The Federal Communications Commission announced last week that the airwaves are open. Thanks to the Local Community Radio Act of 2010, groups of qualified non-profits around the country will have the opportunity to create their own low-power FM community radio stations for the first time in over a decade, application to the FCC are due October 29, 2013.”
Early Summer 2013: Conversation began. Planning/ Team/ Judging new program competition.
July 2013: Survey sent out to the community
December 2013: Savannah Soundings now has an FCC permit and 5 teams up and running with over 60 volunteers working to get us on air. We’ve got a great space in which to build our studio, and we’ve got a fabulous engineer to help us bring community radio to Savannah. All we need now is the equipment.
May 2014: The grant’s been approved. The I-team is kickin’ it hard. The P-team is doing auditions, The G-team is recruiting potential CAB and ETF members. Man, this is one hot project!
August 24, 2014: Let the conversations begin!
June 2015: WellFed article Check out the FABULOUS WRUU – Savanna Soundings coverage in this month’s “Well Fed.” Thank you Joanne, Rene, Wendy, Coco and the whole gang at Well Fed. You totally ROCK!!!
July 2015: Bakers dozen of blues – We are offering 10 CD’s to the first 10 folks to pledge $107.50 to the station. After months of planning, got new webmaster and upgraded Website.
September 7, 2015: Savannah Soundings is still rounding up a few more good-hearted volunteers and finalizing programming, while other volunteers check out prospective equipment. All of which constitutes the hearty do-do list before the station will launch its online streaming in late September 2015.
September 20, 2015: WRUU-LP 107.5 FM Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. After almost 3 years and the hard work of volunteers that shared the vision and excitement of seeing their efforts turn into a reality. There was a gathering of the community, a dedication, and a telethon.
January 2016: We started streaming through StreamLicensing online. We still needed to get the tower and equipment to broadcast locally on the air at 107.5 FM, we had many fundraising events to reach our goal.
April 2017: Official 107.5 FM Broadcast Launch Party! With the Tower up and running we started broadcasting on 107.5 FM to the Metropolitan area of Savannah! Great party and we raised a full month’s operating expenses! Thanks to all the volunteers that brought food like some kick butt chili, a Paella to die for, and for holding down the membership table. Also, thanks to all of our great WRUU – 107.5 Savannah hosts who came out to support the station! To see the photo album click Here
April 2017: Upgraded our website and streaming service through creek systems to be better integrated for our listeners. From now on you can hear WRUU live from our website, at home, work, car, or anywhere in the world!”
May 2018: WRUU is officially the runner-up for the Connect Savannah Best Local Radio Station of 2018! After only one year on air, we are pleased that so many of you voted for us.
May 2019: Voted Best Local and Talk Radio Station in Savannah!
We also introduced membership levels for our listeners and supporters:
Producer – $2500
Engineer – $1000
Broadcaster – $500
Serious Fan – $107.5
2020: The Covid Pandemic required complete transition in our operating procedures. Pre-Covid, all programming was produced in the station studio, but in 2020 this was no longer possible. However, thanks to the dedicated members of the infrastructure team, systems were put in place to enable remote access to the studio production broadcasting system.
2021: Thanks to grants from the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Savannah Downtown Neighborhood Association, and our loyal supporters, we were able to continue broadcasting 24/7 despite the inability to produce any fundraising events due ongoing Covid issues
2022: We hired and onboarded our first paid part time Station Manager
2023: We returned to an all volunteer operated and managed station in order to conserve funds.
2024: Long time, fabulously dedicated volunteer webmaster Paty Guerrero retires, and we Introduced the new Starburst fundraising program. Additionally we’ve revised the P-team handbook and application to allow members to select a team they’d like to join in addition to hosting. team leader and member descriptions have also been updated, and the program host agreement now asks hosts to select an additional team to serve on.
Timeline Gallery
Dave Lake's Retirement
WRUU 107.5 FM-lp AWARDS
Best of Savannah
May 2019: The readers of Connect Savannah have selected WRUU as the Best Local Radio Station AND Best Local Talk Radio Station in the 2019 annual Best of Savannah poll. Thank you, Savannah, for Giving Us a Listen!
Best of Savannah
May 2020: The readers of Connect Savannah have selected WRUU as the Best Local Talk Radio Station in the 2020 annual Best of Savannah poll. Thank you, Savannah, for Giving Us a Listen!
Best of Savannah
June 2021: The readers of Connect Savannah have selected again WRUU as the Best Local Radio Station AND Best Local Talk Radio Station in the 2021 annual Best of Savannah poll. Thank you, Savannah, for your support!
Best of Savannah
May 2022: Once again the readers of Connect Savannah have selected WRUU as the Best Local Radio Station.
Larry Dane-Kellog a WRUU's host was voted as Best Radio Personality in the 2022 Poll.
WRUU is an all volunteer station. Your donations will help maintain broadcast operations. We gratefully accept one-time or recurring donations in any amount. Thank you for your support!
