WKVG (FM)

WKVG

Greenville, South Carolina
Broadcast area	Upstate South Carolina Western North Carolina
Frequency	94.5 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	K-LOVE
Programming
Format	Christian contemporary
Subchannels	HD2: K-Love 2000s HD3: Christian talk and teaching "The Truth"
Affiliations	K-Love
Ownership
Owner	Educational Media Foundation
Sister stations	WLTE, WLTS
History
First air date	August 15, 1960;63 years ago (1960-08-15) (as WMUU-FM)
Former call signs	WMUU-FM (1960–2013) WGTK-FM (2013–2023)
Call sign meaning	K-Love Greenville
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	73296
Class	C
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	454 meters (1,490 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	34°56′29.00″N82°24′41.00″W / 34.9413889°N 82.4113889°W / 34.9413889; -82.4113889
Translator(s)	HD3: 96.9 W245CH (Travelers Rest)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen Live Listen Live (HD2)
Website	klove.com

WKVG (94.5 MHz) is a radio station in Greenville, South Carolina, serving Upstate South Carolina including the Greenville-Spartanburg radio market. WKVG is owned and operated by the Educational Media Foundation, and is an affiliate of K-Love.

WKVG has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts, the maximum for most FM stations. The transmitter is on Tower Road in Travelers Rest. ^[2] WKVG broadcasts using HD Radio technology. WKVG is north western South Carolina's primary entry point station for the Emergency Alert System.

History

WMUU-FM

Bob Jones University (BJU) applied for an AM license in May 1948. It was granted a construction permit with a new station signing on the air on September 15, 1949. The call sign was WMUU and it broadcast at 1260 kilocycles (today's WPJF). The programming was sacred and classical music, along with dramatic readings, and evangelical Christian preaching. The call sign stood for "World's Most Unusual University", an early promotional slogan of BJU. Bob Jones, Sr., the founder of BJU, intended the station to operate independently by accepting advertising rather than being supported by the university, but he did not expect the station to make a profit. The AM station eventually increased its power from 1,000 to 5,000 watts.

An FM station was added, signing on the air on August 15, 1960;63 years ago (August 15, 1960). ^[3] The call sign was WMUU-FM. In 1965, it became the second FM stereo station in South Carolina. In 1963, WMUU-FM became one of the most powerful FM stations in South Carolina, radiating 100,000 watts and increasing its listening radius from fifty to a hundred miles. Bob Jones University also bought WAVO 1420 AM in Atlanta but later sold it in order to focus on the Greenville station.

Paris Mountain and Wade Hampton Boulevard

In 1973, the WMUU building on the BJU campus was demolished to build Founder's Memorial Amphitorium, completed in 1973. For several years, the studios were located in the FM transmitter building on Paris Mountain. ^[4] WMUU-AM-FM eventually moved to 920 Wade Hampton Boulevard, and BJU transferred ownership of the station to the Gospel Fellowship Association, its missionary arm, headquartered in the same building. WMUU became an independent corporation, although it maintained a close relationship with BJU, and most of its employees were graduates.

Many faculty members in the university's Fine Arts division participated in the station's early operation. For the first year, Bob Pratt served as a temporary manager. He was succeeded by James Ryerson who was station manager for nearly three decades. Jim Dickson, who had earlier managed WAVO, became manager in 1979, and Paul Wright took his place in 1996. ^[5]

Bob Jones University eventually devoted the FM station to beautiful music, Sacred Christian music and preaching, ^[6] with the AM station airing preaching and some religious music. In 2008, WMUU-FM sold its AM station, which became WPJF, a station with a Spanish Christian format. Some of the programming heard on AM 1260 moved to WMUU-FM, airing late nights.

Salem Media

On August 24, 2012, Bob Jones III announced the sale of WMUU-FM to Salem Communications, co-founded by BJU graduate Stuart Epperson. The sale price listed with the FCC was $3 million. The terms were $1 million in cash and $2 million in a promissory note. ^[7] Salem introduced a conservative talk format on December 3, 2012, as "Conservative Talk 94.5", and the former WMUU-FM moved to online streaming exclusively. ^[8]

Programming included a local news and call-in show hosted by Joey Hudson, later known as The Morning Answer. The rest of the schedule was nationally syndicated conservative talk, mostly from the co-owned Salem Radio Network, hosted by Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Charlie Kirk, Brandon Tatum and Sebastian Gorka, and others. The Sean Hannity Show from Premiere Networks aired in afternoon drive time. Weekends featured shows on money, health, religion, real estate and travel, some of which were paid brokered programming, as well as repeats of weekday talk shows. Most hours began with an update from Townhall News.

On February 11, 2013, Salem Communications changed the call sign of the station to WGTK-FM. At the time, Salem also owned WGTK (970 AM) in Louisville, Kentucky, which carried a similar format. In April 2016, to better align with other Salem conservative talk stations, the station re-branded as 94.5 The Answer.

K-Love

On August 23, 2023, an FCC filing disclosed that Salem would sell WGTK-FM, along with WRTH and WLTE, to the Educational Media Foundation for $6.775 million. EMF would take over operations before the sale's closure by a local marketing agreement, at which time the station would flip to EMF's K-Love network. ^{[9] [10]}

WGTK-FM joined K-Love on October 29, 2023, at 12:01 am. ^[11] The sale was consummated on November 6, 2023, ^[12] and the call sign was changed to WKVG on November 15. ^[13]

HD radio

• WKVG's HD2 digital subchannel currently broadcasts K-LOVE 2000s. Prior to the sale to EMF, the Classic hits format aired on “Earth FM” (95.5 WLTE and 103.3 WRTH) was simulcast, and prior to May 2016, the format on this subchannel was called "Lite 102.9" with a soft adult contemporary format.

• WKVG's HD3 subchannel broadcasts a religious teaching format from Truth Broadcasting Network. From November 6, 2017, until October 2023, it broadcast an urban gospel format branded as "Rejoice 96.9". It feeds FM translator W245CH at 96.9 MHz in Travelers Rest. ^[14]

WKVG's HD4 subchannel broadcast a Regional Mexican format branded as "Poder 102.9" and fed FM translator W275BJ at 102.9 MHz in Greenville until November 2023. Poder was previously heard on HD2 and on the FM translator at 96.9 MHz. ^[15] Following the sale of WGTK-FM to EMF, the Poder format moved to WROQ’s HD3 subchannel while also remaining on the 102.9 translator.

References

1. "Facility Technical Data for WKVG". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
2. Radio-Locator.com/WKVG
3. Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-188, Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
4. Rumminger, Barbara. "WMUU: Greenville's Unique Radio". Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
5. When the station was sold to Salem Communications, it hired Paul Wright to serve as its manager as well. Tom Tradup, "The Birth of a Station," Townhall (February 2013), 74-75.
6. "Bob Jones University Sells 94.5 WMUU Greenville to Salem". Radionisight. August 24, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
7. AllAccess.com; RBR.com, September 17, 2012.
8. "BJU-affiliated group selling WMUU," Greenville News, August 25, 2012, 2B. Jones promised "listeners that the new owners will continue to webstream the easy listening music and Christian programming that's now offered."
9. "EMF Enters Greenville-Spartanburg, SC As Salem Downsizes Its Holdings". Inside Radio. August 23, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
10. Salem Sells Greenville/Spartanburg Trio to Educational Media Foundation
11. Jeter, John (October 20, 2023). "End of the Earth: Upstate radio sale rankles fans, but it's a common tune". GREENVILLE JOURNAL. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
12. https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/views/public/consummationDraftCopy.html?displayType=html&appKey=25076f918bac0b34018baf29b0df0106&id=25076f918bac0b34018baf29b0df0106&goBack=N FCC Consummation Notice
13. Miller, Joseph (November 8, 2023). "Form 380 - Exchange Request". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission . Retrieved November 15, 2023.
14. Salem Brings Rejoice to Greenville Radioinsight - November 7, 2017
15. Venta, Lance. "Salem Swaps Greenville Translator Formats". radioinsight. Retrieved May 6, 2016.

• Barbara Rumminger, "WMUU: Greenville's Unique Radio"

External links

• Official website
• WKVG in the FCC FM station database
• WKVG in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
• W245CH in the FCC FM station database
• W245CH at FCCdata.org