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WOOL
	WOOL studios at 33 Bridge Street in Bellows Falls
Bellows Falls, Vermont; United States;
Frequency	91.5 MHz
Branding	Black Sheep Radio
Programming
Format	Freeform
Affiliations	Pacifica Radio
Ownership
Owner	Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company
History
First air date	June 25, 2005, as a low-power station; March 9, 2014, on its current license
Former call signs	WOOL-LP (2005–2014, as a low-power FM station)
Former frequencies	100.1 MHz (2005–2014)
Call sign meaning	"Wool" refers to the sheep's coat, hence the branding
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	174862
Class	A
ERP	550 watts
HAAT	118 meters (387 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	43°8′14.2″N 72°25′57.3″W / 43.137278°N 72.432583°W
Links
Public license information	Public file; LMS;
Webcast	Listen live
Website	blacksheepradio.org

WOOL (91.5 FM, "Black Sheep Radio") is a community radio station broadcasting a freeform music and talk format. Licensed to Bellows Falls, Vermont, United States, the station is owned by Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company.

Four years after an initial application and a year and a half after construction was approved, WOOL began broadcasting as a low-power FM radio station in June 2005, bringing freeform radio programming to the area around Bellows Falls. The station upgraded from low-power to a full-service license in 2014, expanding its coverage area.

History

In June 2001, the Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company applied to bring a low-power FM radio station to Bellows Falls; one of its board members was record producer Gary Smith.^[2]^[3] The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted the construction permit for 100.1 MHz in February 2004. Taking the name "Black Sheep Radio" and the call sign WOOL-LP, the group began fundraising to defray the costs of station construction and searching for a tower site.^[4]^[5] Studio space in a building on Canal Street, as well as utility costs, were donated by telecommunications company SoVerNet.^[6] By late 2004, the station had selected a tower owned by cable company Adelphia on Fall Mountain (across the Connecticut River in Walpole, New Hampshire^[7]) for its transmitter, though it still needed to raise money to pay the site lease as well as purchase Emergency Alert System equipment.^[8] By March 2005, the station had switched from the Canal Street studio location to one on Bridge Street which required less investment to renovate.^[9]

WOOL-LP began broadcasting on June 25, 2005, featuring a freeform format. At the time, the station had some 140 members and 20 volunteer DJs; when local programming was not on air, Pacifica Radio programs were heard. The first 24 hours of WOOL's programming was dedicated to the pirate Radio Free Brattleboro in nearby Brattleboro, which had been shut down by the FCC just days before WOOL-LP debuted.^[2]

In 2007, Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company filed for a full-service—and higher-power—facility when the FCC opened up a window for new non-commercial educational stations.^[10] The FCC granted the construction permit in August 2010; the station barely made the deadline to complete the facility, beginning broadcasting on the higher-power facility on March 9, 2014.^[7] The new signal expanded WOOL's reach in Vermont and New Hampshire to include towns such as Grafton, Chester, and Claremont. Funding for the project was provided by the selectboard of Rockingham, Vermont.^[11]

References

^ "Facility Technical Data for WOOL". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
^ ^a ^b Barlow, Daniel (June 24, 2005). "100-watt radio station hopes community is all ears". Rutland Daily Herald. Rutland, Vermont. pp. B1, B3. Archived from the original on June 13, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Milliken, Joe (February 8, 2023). "Remembering Gary Smith: Studio Owner, Producer, Local Entrepreneur". The Shopper. Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023 – via Vermont Journal.
^ Weiss-Tisman, Howard (June 26, 2004). "Community radio coming to BF". Weekend Reformer. Brattleboro, Vermont. p. 13. Archived from the original on June 13, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ McKenna, Brendan (June 28, 2004). "Station eager to get on the air". Rutland Daily Herald. Rutland, Vermont. pp. B1, B3. Archived from the original on June 13, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Lockwood, Bill (July 9, 2004). "WOOL Radio Gears Up". Town Crier. Bellows Falls, Vermont. p. 2. Archived from the original on June 13, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ ^a ^b Holhut, Randolph T.; Potter, Jeff (March 12, 2014). "WOOL Radio extends its reach: Bellows Falls community station gets FCC go-ahead to shift frequency, boost its power". The Commons.
^ Barlow, Daniel (November 26, 2004). "Civic radio needs money". Rutland Daily Herald. Rutland, Vermont. pp. B1, B3. Archived from the original on June 13, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Weiss-Tisman, Howard (March 25, 2005). "WOOL radio may be on the air by June". Town Crier. Bellows Falls, Vermont. p. 4. Archived from the original on June 13, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Weiss-Tisman, Howard (October 12, 2007). "Turn up the volume: Community radio station seeking stronger signal". The Brattleboro Reformer. Brattleboro, Vermont. pp. 7, 10. Archived from the original on June 13, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Poli, Domenic (March 18, 2014). "Bellows Falls' WOOL Radio returns to the airwaves". Brattleboro Reformer. Retrieved June 13, 2024.