 Even though BU doubled WRNI's transmission power from 5,000 to 10,000 watts, its signal was not strong enough to reach the southern and western portion of the state (though it provides a city-grade signal to Newport, southern Rhode Island's biggest city).Accordingly, in 1999, BU bought WERI in Westerly, which had been on the air since 1949.BU changed WERI's calls to WXNI, and made it a full-time satellite of WRNI.