Unique retirement community radio station drawing younger listeners

An Ohio radio station that is the nation's only FM outlet licensed to a retirement community is slowly expanding its appeal to new generations.

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WMKV began in 1995 as a limited in-house service for Mary Knoll Village, a gated retirement community near Cincinnati. It was intended simply as a means of reaching infirm and immobile residents to announce such things as lap pool hours and delivery times for Meals-On-Wheels, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

But now, thanks to about 125 mostly senior volunteers, the station reaches 30,000 local listeners and as many as 60,000 people tune into its Web broadcast.

Although the tunes date from the 1920s to the 1950s, younger listeners are starting to tune in.

"It makes you feel happy," said Tamara Griggs, 34, who listens to WMKV as she works at Evers Greenhouse in Cincinnati. "I love hearing the deejays talk about their memories of these songs."