The WRIR Capital Campaign 

WRIR’s mission is to air underrepresented news, music, and views in order to provide a platform for diversity in the City of Richmond. A truly independent and non-profit community radio station, WRIR is donor-funded and volunteer-run.

We’ve gone from here…

Since our very first broadcast from a tiny corner in the basement of the Camel on Broad Street, WRIR has always dreamed big. Those dreams took us from being an online-only community radio station (created so Richmonders could hear Democracy Now) to an over-the-air low power station that quickly moved to a full floor above the Camel, then filled every inch of that floor with news, performance, and broadcast studios – until we outgrew that space too. 

Along the way – thanks to our mission to air underrepresented news, views and music – we have become a Richmond Original, proud to air programming that truly reflects the mosaic that is Richmond, from the city’s thriving music and art scenes to its calls for justice, inclusion, and creative expression.

…to here. 

Today, we’re in our new forever home in historic Shockoe Bottom, a space that looks out onto the city we love – and lets Richmond look back at its very own Community Radio Station. And instead of renting we’re now building equity and deepening our Richmond roots by owning the building at 1806 Main Street. To make sure the space reflects our needs and values, we completely renovated it to create a home that’s ADA-compliant, dynamically engineered, and features spacious studios that deliver ideal sound and production for high quality talk and live music programming, space for community gatherings, more educational programs, and more collaborations. .  

Which puts us here.  

All those amazing changes, well, they cost money. To cover those costs, our Capital Campaign needs to raise $1 million in the next 3 years. Our hope is that listeners will contribute at least $125,000 towards our goal, with the remaining funds coming from grants, partnerships, and sponsorships from values-aligned RVA businesses (aka, naming rights for our studios and other spaces). If all goes as planned, Studio A would bear the name of an amazing, locally-focused Richmond business. Maybe our back-up studio will bear the name of a local brewery. Perhaps a Richmond book store will buy the naming rights to our live performance space, and our other spaces will bear the names of other forward-thinking, First Amendment-loving businesses or organizations. 

Looking much further ahead – say, the next five to ten years – we hope to raise an additional $1 million so we can, among other things, hire a station manager and have a reserve to pay our property taxes in perpetuity.

Here’s how our Capital Campaign will be utilized. 

Our new building – With the desire to be accessible to all, own our own home, and leave our moldy, inaccessible, and ever-more-expensive former home, WRIR moved into our new building at 1806 East Main Street in January 2026. Now, we have to pay for it.

• $900k pays for the complete renovation:including a wheelchair lift, security upgrades, 2 fully accessible bathrooms, live streaming capability, a community flex space, a live performance studio & sound engineering space for bands, acoustically sound talk and broadcast studios, and so much more!

Equipment – Upgraded equipment will not only improve the quality of WRIR’s sound and programming, but will also provide a better quality experience for volunteers and guests.

• $50,000to pay for moving expenses

• $25,000 for furnishings

• $25,000 for new Sound boards and other broadcast equipment and software upgrades

And, finally, here’s why all this matters so much. 

We can all see the direction the world is moving in. More than ever, access to trustworthy free speech platforms is essential, especially for vulnerable communities. Knowledge, as they say, is power, and WRIR is Richmond’s unfiltered, unmatched, and undeterred source of knowledge and power. And our plan is to keep getting better and better at it far into the future. 

Beyond that, our plans to expand opportunities for education and engagement with Richmonders where they live and where WE live is a no-brainer. WRIR volunteers are scrappy. Mission is everything. We walk it like we talk it. 

So join a Richmond Original  in making Richmond more accessible, more informed, more entertained, and more amazing. Donate today!