New FM launches with 10,000-song commercial-free stretch

Asheville radio listeners got a new station last week that plays 80’s music — and they’ll get a kick-off month-long stream of music uninterrupted by commercials.

REWIND 100.3 FM is owned by the Asheville Radio Group. The station focus is “Fun, upbeat music,” which means mostly 80’s, bracketed by touches of 70’s and 90’s. Target audience is the “active female consumer.”

As a launch promo, REWIND 100.3 is playing 10,000 songs (“Songs of Summer”) without commercials, the latest terrestrial gambit to compete with the generally lower ad loads of Internet radio. It will take 27 days to get through that massive playlist, so Asheville listeners can rely on commercial-free listening until mid-July.