Local fans of public radio can expect to hear their favorite shows better beginning sometime in the first half of 2011.

Bert Schmidt, president and CEO of the Suffolk-based WHRO Public Television and Radio, said that new antennas on towers in Gloucester and Mathews will improve radio coverage in the counties and in Williamsburg.

An antenna to boost reception for WHRO 90.3 FM, which provides 24-hour classical music programming, will be placed atop a tower belonging to local radio station WXGM in Gloucester, said Schmidt.

An antenna for better reception of 89.5 WHRV-FM, which provides a wide variety of news, documentary, and information programs from National Public Radio, Public Radio International, and the British Broadcasting Corporation, will be located on a tower at Thomas Hunter Middle School in Mathews.

Schmidt said the equipment is being installed in response to requests from listeners who get frustrated when their reception is interrupted by broadcasts from radio stat...