The city's daily newspaper, The Roanoke Times, has been published for 120 years and edited for many years in the twentieth century by famed editor John W. Eure. The newspaper's current owner is Berkshire Hathaway. Weekday circulation averages a little over 90,000 with Sunday circulation around 103,000. In 2002, it was designated the best-read daily newspaper in the country, according to the 2002 Scarborough Report. Of 162 newspapers in top U.S. metropolitan areas, The Roanoke Times ranked first in the percentage of adults who read their daily newspaper. It ranked first again in 2006.[43] The Roanoke Times established a web site in 1995 and has developed a web portal at Roanoke.com.
The Roanoke Times formerly published Blue Ridge Business Journal which served the business community in Roanoke and the surrounding region, however publication ceased freestanding publication in 2010[44] and was folded into the newspaper's Sunday Business Publication as The Ticker. Valley Business Front is a monthly publication that targets the business community in the region. The weekly Roanoke Tribune was founded in 1939 by Fleming Alexander and covers the city's African-American community. Main Street Newspapers publishes weekly newspapers for surrounding communities such as Salem, Vinton, southwest Roanoke County, and Botetourt County. Play by Play is a monthly publication dedicated to local and regional sports.
The Roanoke Star-Sentinel is a weekly newspaper which covers the city of Roanoke. The South Roanoke Circle is an independent monthly newspaper for the neighborhood of South Roanoke.
The Roanoker is the area's bi-monthly lifestyle magazine and is published by Leisure Publishing, which also publishes the bi-monthly Blue Ridge Country magazine.
Broadcast
Television
Roanoke and Lynchburg are grouped in the same television market, which currently ranks #67 in the United States with 440,398 households. There are affiliates for all networks as well as independent stations.Other stations in the market include Fox affiliate WFXR Fox 21/27 in Roanoke, PBS affiliate WBRA-15 in Roanoke, Liberty University's WLHG-43 in Lynchburg, independent WFFP-TV-24 in Danville, and ION Television affiliate WPXR-38 in Roanoke.
Radio
The following is a partial list of radio stations in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market, which has a population of 412,300 and is ranked #115 in the US.| FM stations | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| call letters | frequency | format | location | Owner |
| WVTF | 89.1 | Public Radio | Roanoke | Virginia Tech Foundation |
| WVTW | 89.7 | Public Radio | Charlottesville/Roanoke | Virginia Tech Foundation |
| WRXT | 90.3 | Christian Contemporary | Roanoke | Positive Alternative Radio |
| WUVT-FM | 90.7 | Student-Run Community Radio | Blacksburg/NRV/Salem | EMCVT, Inc. |
| WPAR | 91.3 | Christian Contemporary | Salem | Positive Alternative Radio |
| WXLK | 92.3 | Top-40 Radio | Roanoke | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WSNV | 93.5 | Adult Contemporary | Salem | iHeart Media |
| WSLC | 94.9 | Country | Roanoke | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WROV | 96.3 | Classic Rock | Martinsville/Roanoke | iHeart Media |
| WSLQ | 99.1 | Adult Contemporary | Roanoke | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WVBE | 100.1 | Urban Adult Contemporary | Lynchburg | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WZZI | 101.5 | Rock | Vinton | Centennial |
| WJJX | 102.7 | Rhythmic Top-40 | Lynchburg | iHeart Media |
| WSNZ | 101.7 | Adult Contemporary | Appomattox/Lynchburg | iHeart Media |
| WSFF | 106.1 | Adult Contemporary | Roanoke | iHeart Media |
| WJJS | 104.9 | Rhythmic Top-40 | Vinton | iHeart Media |
| WYYD | 107.9 | Country | Amherst | iHeart Media |
| AM stations | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| call letters | frequency | format | location | Owner |
| WPLY | 610 | Sports | Roanoke | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WFJX | 910 | News/Talk | Roanoke | Perception Media |
| WFIR | 960 | News/Talk | Roanoke | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WGMN | 1240 | Sports | Roanoke | 3 Daughters Media |
| WRTZ | 1410 | Oldies/Classic Hits | Roanoke | Metromark Media |
| WTOY | 1480 | Urban Contemporary/Gospel | Salem | Ward Broadcasting Corp. |
| WKBA | 1550 | Religious | Vinton | Tinker Creek Broadcasters |
Arts, history and culture
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Roanoke's festivals and cultural events include the Chili Cook-Off, Festival in the Park, Local Colors Festival, Henry Street Festival, Big Lick Blues Festival, Strawberry Festival, and the large red, white, and blue illuminated Mill Mountain Star (formerly illuminated in red following drunk driving fatalities in the Roanoke Valley; temporarily illuminated in white on April 22, 2007 in remembrance of the Virginia Tech Massacre of April 16, 2007) on Mill Mountain, which is visible from many points in the city and surrounding valley.
Museums
Center in the Square was opened in downtown Roanoke on December 9, 1983 near the city market as part of the city's downtown revitalization effort. The Center, a converted warehouse, houses the History Museum of Western Virginia, which contains exhibits and artifacts related to the area's history and has a library of materials available to scholars and the public. The Center also houses the Science Museum of Western Virginia and the Hopkins Planetarium. The Science Museum maintains a permanent installation of neon sign art featuring the work of local Mark Jamison, the subject of Slash Coleman's PBS special "The Neon Man and Me."[citation needed]
The Virginia Museum of Transportation houses many locomotives that were built in Roanoke, including the Norfolk and Western J class #611 and Norfolk & Western 1218 steam engines, and other locomotives and rolling stock. The museum also houses exhibits covering aviation, automobiles, and buses.
Roanoke's landmark former passenger rail station hosts the O. Winston Link Museum dedicated to the late steam-era railroad photography of O. Winston Link since 2004.
The Harrison Museum of African-American Culture is dedicated to the history and culture of Roanoke's African-American community and is currently located at a former school in the Gainsboro section of Roanoke. Gainsboro, originally Gainesborough for founder Major Kemp Gaines, was originally a separate community that petitioned for township status in 1835.[45][46] The Harrison Museum will move to Center in the Square after the Center's remodeling is completed.
Arts
Roanoke Children's Theatre is Roanoke's professional children's theatre. It can be found within the new Taubman Museum of Art in downtown Roanoke. The theatre delivers four shows a year that are geared towards a family audience. The theatre extends their programming in various arts outreach programs throughout the valley and surrounding areas.Mill Mountain Theatre, a regional theatre, is located on the first floor of Center in the Square. As the name implies, the theatre was originally located on Mill Mountain from 1964 until 1976 when its original facility was destroyed by fire. The theatre has both a main stage for mainstream performances and a smaller black box theatre called Waldron Stage which hosts both newer and more experimental plays along with other live events.
The Roanoke Civic Center's auditorium and newly renovated theatre, now known as the Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre, host concerts, touring Broadway theatre performances, the Miss Virginia pageant, and other events. The city's first permanent artwork funded by the Percent for Art ordinance stands before the theater. Dedicated in 2008, the 30-foot (9.1 m) stainless steel sculpture, "In My Hands," by Baltimore artist Rodney Carroll is one of more than 100 works in the city's public art catalogue.
The Shaftman Performance Hall, which opened in May 2001 and is located at the Jefferson Center, has become a prominent part of Roanoke's performing arts scene. Shaftman Hall hosts a regular season of concerts and other performances from the fall through the spring as well as other entertainment events and lectures. The Jefferson Center formerly served Roanoke as Jefferson High School and now also houses offices and display spaces for cultural organizations.
In November 2006, the former Dumas Hotel was reopened as the Dumas Center for Artistic and Cultural Development. The hotel is located on a segment of First Street NW commonly known as Henry Street. Located literally across the railroad tracks from the center of downtown Roanoke, Henry Street served as the commercial and cultural center of Roanoke's African American community prior to desegregation. The Dumas Hotel hosted such guests as Louis Armstrong, Ethel Waters, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole when they performed in Roanoke. The renovated Dumas Center houses an auditorium with more than 180 seats, the Downtown Music Lab: a recording studio and music education center for teens, the Dumas Drama Guild, and the offices of Opera Roanoke.
The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra has performances at Shaftman Hall, the Salem Civic Center, and the Roanoke Civic Center. Current conductor David S. Wiley (conductor) and his predecessor Victoria Bond have made the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra nationally respected.
The Grandin Theatre in the Grandin Village of Southwest Roanoke regularly screens art house films, family features, and mainstream movies. The Grandin Theatre was the home of Mill Mountain Theatre from 1976 until 1983.
Virginia Western Theatre has performances in Whitman Auditorium at Virginia Western Community College, and has been performing original and well known theatrical productions since 1968.
Roanoke has also been home to the Showtimers Community Theatre since 1951. The Star City Playhouse began performances in 2007 at its theatre on Williamson Road.
Sports
Professional
The 1971–1972 Virginia Squires of the ABA were the only major league sports team to regularly play home games in Roanoke. During the 1971–1972 season, the Squires split home games between Richmond, Norfolk, Hampton Roads, and Roanoke.[47] Julius Erving played his professional rookie season with the Squires in 1971–1972.Minor league baseball has been more successful in building and maintaining a fan base than have the Roanoke Valley's other minor league sports teams. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Roanoke was home to a class B farm team of the Boston Red Sox. Since 1955, neighboring Salem has hosted the local minor league baseball team, currently the Salem Red Sox of the high Class A Carolina League. The team had previously been affiliated with the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies and known as the Avalanche until becoming an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, whose ownership group purchased the Avalanche in 2007, for the 2009 season.
Minor league hockey has a history in the Roanoke Valley dating to the 1960s. It reached a zenith of popularity in the mid- to late-1990s with the Roanoke Express of the ECHL. The team's attendance declined due to a lack of post-season success and management turmoil. The Express folded after the 2003–2004 season.
The 2005–2006 revival by the UHL's Roanoke Valley Vipers failed after one season. The team had a losing record and the midwestern-based league was unable to rekindle the interest of the local fanbase. The team was formed to provide a travel partner for a UHL franchise in Richmond which also folded after the 2005–2006 season.
In 2016, professional hockey returned to Roanoke after ten years when the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs of the Southern Professional Hockey League began play.
The Roanoke Dazzle of the NBDL and the Roanoke Steam of the af2 (Arena Football) folded after never developing consistent followings. The Dazzle's attendance was similar to other inaugural franchises in the league. It was one of the last two teams to remain in its original city. Over the years, Roanoke has also had teams in soccer and men's and women's semi-professional football.
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