University of Virginia’s 91.1 WTJU Charlottesville VA has opted out of its LMA with Fifth Estate Broadcasting’s 1430 WHAN/102.9 W275BQ Ashland VA.

The LMA, which began in February 2015, was set to run until February 2018 and included an option for UVA to purchase the station. The station has now flipped to a locally programmed Community based AAA branded as “The Mator“.

WTJU programmed WHAN/W275BQ in an attempt to reach nearby Richmond, but the station was 20 miles north of the city and barely reached its intended market. The station also carried programming from the Richmond based Virginia Commonwealth University’s WVCW.org at night.

In a memo to WTJU staffers, General Manager Nathan Moore stated:

I’m writing today to let you know that WTJU’s broadcasting on WHAN is ending next week.

WTJU’s lease agreement with WHAN in Ashland, VA was slated to end on Jan 31, 2018. However, through mutual agreement with the owners of WHAN (and VCU student radio), we’ll be saving a bundle of money by ending our lease agreement with WHAN sooner than that. We’ll be turning programming back over to WHAN’s owners next Wednesday, August 16th.