Radio Rehoboth increases range, set to move downtown

After two years of limited exposure, Radio Rehoboth recently increased its listening range and is about to move to downtown Rehoboth Beach.

In an interview Jan. 17, Radio Rehoboth General Manager Jeff Balk said the station has recently moved its antenna from a 35-foot tower at its studio on Rehoboth Avenue Extended to the tower behind Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Company off Route 1 near Rehoboth. He said the station’s antenna is now 100 feet in the air.

With reports of signals being picked up in Angola, Georgetown and Milton, Balk estimated the new antenna would more than double the station’s previous range. It’s important, because people don’t want to invest if there’s not an audience, he said.

In addition to a new tower, Balk said, the station is moving to 7 S. First St., in a space between The Pond and Goolee’s Grille. He said the new studio, visible from the street, will allow for more interaction among hosts, businesses, elected officials and people on the street.

Radio Rehoboth, 99.1, first hit the local airwaves in October 2017, after nearly a decade of work. Tom Dooley, East Sussex Public Broadcasting past president and a station founder, said back in 2009, the founding group thought the station would be immediately embraced by the community. It hasn’t been easy, he said, but after much hard work, the audience has come. 

“It has been a labor of love and sometimes sheer creative willpower to get it on the air and into its present form,” said Dooley. 

Dooley said from the time the station went on the air, the next goal became getting Radio Rehoboth broadcasting from a large tower to get a full range. Now that the antenna has been extended and the station has a new home, he said, the final piece is community financial support, which is growing because the station has demonstrated it does have a positive community presence.

Dooley predicted Radio Rehoboth, a 501c3 nonprofit, will soon become sustainable, and once that happens, more and varied programming will be possible. The future now looks very bright for Radio Rehoboth, said Dooley, adding that volunteers are always welcome.

For more information go to www.radiorehoboth.com or call 302-401-9991.