We’re moving to Downtown Napa!! Article by Press Democrat:

“Tuning into downtown: The Vine makes historic move to Napa’s First Street“

Making the move downtown will be a remarkable achievement given the radio station’s historical footprint in south Napa.

DEREK MOORE
FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

January 17, 2025, 7:31AM

With a self-imposed deadline rapidly approaching, Will Marcencia stood in an empty room at a downtown Napa office building last week, pondering the herculean task of moving his radio station about two miles across town. At the 39-year-old’s feet, masking tape marked the outline of a console where Barry Martin, Bob St. Laurent and other local radio legends for 99.3 “The Vine” will broadcast once the sound equipment arrives. That won’t happen until sometime after Wine Down Media ceases broadcasting from the company’s current South Napa Marketplace location ― an event scheduled for Jan. 18 ― and moves lock, stock and microphone to the new First Street headquarters.

Logistical details aside, what had Marcencia’s attention at the moment was the intense purple of the freshly painted walls inside the future broadcast booth.

“Oh, that’s a little loud. That’s gonna take some getting used to,” he said. Marcencia and his wife Julissa, who co-own Wine Down Media, were under no illusions that moving Napa Valley’s local radio station into a downtown building owned by the Napa Chamber of Commerce would be as easy as flipping a switch. “It’s been months of budgeting and preparation, but with any move, there’s unexpected surprises or last-minute changes,” Marcencia said. As another example, he said he only recently considered whether to purchase “on-air” signs for the window of the main broadcast booth fronting First Street. “Literally, that is still on the pending list that we have until, like, tomorrow to decide, according to our engineer,” Marcencia said.

It was only 11 a.m. on this Monday, but already it had been a long day. Marcencia started it off by downing four espresso shots at a local Starbucks. Several hours later, he had barely managed a few sips of a 20-ounce green tea he’d taken with him as a to-go order. “I think I’ve been on, just today, like six engineer calls,” he said. Paint and signs are one thing. Much larger considerations include how to squeeze Wine Down Media’s broadcast and business operations into 1,000 square feet at the First Street location, roughly half the space the business currently occupies in south Napa.

The company employs 15, all of whom are making the move, Marcencia said. The technical details of broadcasting from a downtown building constructed in 1973 include how to do so without interfering with public safety transmissions from the city’s police department across the street. In lieu of a rooftop antenna, the station will employ a new internet protocol system to connect with radio towers at Kennedy Park in south Napa to avoid such interference and hopefully reach listeners across Napa County.

Making the move downtown will be a remarkable achievement given the radio station’s historical footprint in south Napa. For years, the station broadcast out of a building on Foster Road, prior to the Marcencias purchasing it from Wine Country Broadcasting for $425,000 in May 2017. Two years later, the couple moved the business to South Napa Marketplace. Bringing the operation downtown should raise the station’s public profile. A covering on the First Street window will be removed so that passersby can look in at the main broadcast booth. “People walking by on a Saturday morning stroll will be able to look into our studios,” Marcencia said. “I think it will allow a new presence and commitment, and credibility to the company.” The station’s centralized location across from Napa’s City Hall, police department and main fire station could also prove beneficial during major breaking news events, such as wildfires and other disasters. Marcencia said he’s sort of hoping the new soundproofing equipment planned at the new headquarters will allow for the occasional sound of fire engines and other ambient downtown noise to bleed through live broadcasts and add to the sense of the station being at the center of things.

The new site does not have space for a sound studio similar to what Wine Down Media used at the South Napa Marketplace for artist interviews and performances. To compensate, the Marcencias and owners of the nearby Garden food and beer establishment agreed the station can use a stage there for such recordings.

For now, the pressing concern is making the transition to the new site. Wine Down Media was planning to begin broadcasting a pre-programmed playlist on “The Vine” and “Megamix,” the station’s all-Spanish format on KVON 1440 AM/96.9 FM, starting Jan. 18, until the move is complete. Marcencia expressed hope the station will be broadcasting live from the new downtown location no later than Feb. 2.

He and Julissa, who live in Napa and are raising a 1-year-old daughter, had long dreamed of bringing their radio station downtown when real estate broker Michael Holcomb turned them on to the lease opportunity at the First Street location.

Neither Will Marcencia nor Jeri Hansen, president and CEO of the Napa Chamber, provided details of the lease agreement, other than to say it’s longer than a year and includes options for renewal. “Let’s just say we’re no longer just dating. We’re in a long-term relationship,” Hansen said inside her office. Hansen said the radio station and the chamber are a good fit. “It’s more than radio interviews and playing great music,” she said. “It’s really about this community-serving ethos that Wine Down Media has always had. It fits right in with the chamber and with this community. Having them here accessible is great.”