WVAB

Last updated

WVAB
Broadcast area Hampton Roads (limited)
Frequency 1550 kHz
Programming
Format Defunct
Ownership
Owner Birach Broadcasting Corporation
History
First air date
1954;69 years ago (1954)
Last air date
September 7, 2018 (2018-09-07) (date of license surrender) [1]
Former call signs
WBPA (1954)
WAVA (1954)
WBOF (1954–64)
WKVK (1964–66) [2]
Former frequencies
1600 kHz (1954–60)
Call sign meaning
Virginia Beach
Technical information
Facility ID 57611
Class D
Power 5,000 watts (daytime)
9 watts (nighttime)
Transmitter coordinates
 36°49′20.0″N76°5′30.0″W / 36.822222°N 76.091667°W / 36.822222; -76.091667

WVAB was a commercial radio station licensed to serve Virginia Beach, Virginia, at 1550 AM, and serviced parts of the Hampton Roads region. The station broadcast from 1954 to 2018, ceasing operations when owner Birach Broadcasting Corporation voluntarily turned their license back to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for cancellation. The license surrender had followed an investigation by the commission into a decade of limited operations for it and co-owned WBVA (1450 AM). [3]

Contents

History

WVAB had a long history in Virginia Beach, moving from a popular music station to strictly news and finally gospel programming. [4]

Sidney Kellam, a scion of political and economic power in Princess Anne County and Virginia Beach during mid-20th century, and members of the Kellam family, were the original owner and founders of WVAB. The studio and offices were long-located over the Jewish Mother Restaurant on Pacific Avenue, its headquarters for the first 34 years of its existence. WVAB had been a pop and rock music station, relying on a series of itinerant disc jockeys to purvey their various musical tastes to a limited local audience. Don Beckstrom was a constant figure on WVAB both on the air and as Program Director during this period.

Eventually, advertising revenues trickled to a halt at the end of the 1980s. A succession of new owners followed beginning in the early 1990s. [5] [6]

Since March 19, 2008, the station was off the air, following financial problems and an apparent vandalism incident of March 16. The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported that both WVAB—which had carried local gospel programming—and WBVA were off the air, with was no word on when or if they would return. [7]

According to Virginia Beach police, on March 16, 2008, someone felled the stations' 200-foot (60 m) tower. Margie Long with the Virginia Beach Police Department was quoted in local media as saying "The tower, approximately 200 ft. of it, collapsed to the ground. It appears there were numerous lines, support lines that were cut. We are investigating this as a destruction of property. There are no suspects, he said, but the investigation is ongoing." The tower stood in the 500 block of de Laura Lane, just off North Witchduck Road and north of Virginia Beach Boulevard. [8]

WVAB was in bankruptcy and the station was sold to Birach Broadcasting Corporation on April 1, 2008, according to FCC records.

On January 22, 2018, the FCC designated WVAB and WBVA's license renewals for a hearing. [9] According to the commission's records, WVAB operated for a total of 357 days in the two license terms between April 1, 2008, and November 30, 2017, and was silent for the remaining period of nearly nine years. When it did operate, in order to avoid automatic deletion of its license after one continuous year of silence, it was at 6 watts from a temporary transmitter site at the western edge of Virginia Beach, Virginia; the FCC estimated that WVAB covered two percent of its licensed service area from that site. Birach claimed since acquiring the stations that it had been unable to get zoning approval for a new tower. The full board of five commissioners would have determined whether renewing WVAB and WBVA's licenses would serve the public interest. [10] [11]

Before the FCC came to a decision, Birach attempted to donate WVAB's license and audio equipment—but not any transmission equipment or facilities—to two different nonprofits. [11] [12] When both donations fell through, Birach surrendered the WVAB license on September 7, 2018. [1] The FCC cancelled the station's license on September 10, 2018.

Related Research Articles

WLRO (1210 AM was a radio station serving the Baton Rouge area of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The station broadcast with powers of 10 kilowatts daytime and 1 kilowatt at night, and was licensed to Denham Springs, where the transmitter was also located. Its studios were located east of downtown Baton Rouge near the I-10/I-12 interchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WPNI</span> Radio station in Amherst, Massachusetts

WPNI was an American radio station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to serve the community of Amherst, Massachusetts.

WDCD was a news/talk radio station licensed to Albany, New York, United States and served New York's Capital District, Adirondacks, and much of western New England. The station was owned by DJRA Broadcasting, and broadcast on 1540 kHz at 50 kilowatts from a three-tower directional antenna array adjacent to the station's studios in Colonie, New York.

KWDZ was a broadcast radio station licensed to Salt Lake City, Utah, serving the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The station was owned and operated by iHeartMedia. The KWDZ broadcast license was held by Citicasters Licenses, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WJFV</span> Radio station in Portsmouth, Virginia

WJFV is a commercial AM station licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia, and serving Hampton Roads. It broadcasts a conservative talk radio format and is owned by the Chesapeake-Portsmouth Broadcasting Corporation. The studios are on Brightwood Avenue in Richmond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WDCR (New Hampshire)</span> Radio station in Hanover, New Hampshire

WDCR was a radio station broadcasting an oldies format during the day, and a variety format at night. Licensed to Hanover, New Hampshire, United States, the station served the Hanover and greater Upper Valley area. The station carried broadcasts of several Dartmouth College sports teams in association with the Dartmouth Sports Network, a division of Dartmouth Broadcasting. The station's license was held by the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College.

WMTE was a radio station broadcasting a news/talk format. Licensed to Manistee, Michigan, it first began broadcasting on June 7, 1951 from facilities located on "Radio Hill" on the southern city limits of Manistee near the intersection of 10th and Olga Streets. The station surrendered its license on August 15, 2017.

WXMY was a broadcast radio station licensed to Saltville, Virginia, serving the Saltville/Marion. WXMY was owned and operated by Continental Media Group, LLC.

KIIS was a commercial radio station licensed to Thousand Oaks, California, United States. It operated from 1971 to 2004. At the time of its sign-off, KIIS was owned by Salem Media Group and broadcast a top 40 music format as a simulcast of KIIS-FM in Los Angeles.

WHKT is a currently silent radio station licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia, serving Hampton Roads. The station is owned by Chesapeake-Portsmouth Broadcasting Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WJYI (AM)</span> Radio station in Norfolk, Virginia

WJYI was a soft oldies and adult standards formatted radio station. It was licensed to Norfolk, Virginia and served the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. WJYI was owned by Saga Communications, Inc. and operated under their Tidewater Communications, LLC licensee. It featured programming from "America's Best Music" syndicated by Westwood One.

WBVA was a commercial radio station licensed to serve Bayside, Virginia, at 1450 AM, and serviced parts of the Hampton Roads region. The station broadcast from 1998 to 2018, ceasing operations when owner Birach Broadcasting Corporation voluntarily turned their license back to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for cancellation. The license surrender had followed an investigation by the commission into a decade of limited operations for it and co-owned WVAB.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KCOD</span> Radio station in Palm Springs, California

KCOD was a radio station licensed to Palm Springs, California, United States. It served the Coachella Valley area. The station was last owned by College of the Desert. Programming was also simulcast on translator station K260DE in Palm Desert.

WPAY was an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Portsmouth, Ohio. The station was last owned by Douglas L. Braden and the final broadcast license was held by Radio Stations WPAY/WPFB, Inc. Established in 1925 in the village of Bellefontaine, Ohio, the station ultimately moved to Portsmouth in 1935. WPAY fell silent in June 2011 following the divestiture of sister station WPAY-FM and its license was revoked in June 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KLLB</span> Former radio station in West Jordan, Utah, United States

KLLB was a Christian/Gospel formatted radio station licensed to West Jordan, Utah. The station served the Salt Lake City area. The station was owned by United Security Financial, Inc.

WXJO is a daytime-only radio station, broadcasting with a power of 1,000 watts, licensed to serve the city of Douglasville, Georgia and reaching western portions of the metro Atlanta radio market, mainly within Douglas County. The station is currently owned by Cory Condrey, through licensee Condrey Media LLC. The station had originally been broadcasting a variety of music, and public-service announcements in what appeared to be an early test period since it had been moved to Douglasville. WXJO's transmitter is co-located with WDCY AM 1520, and the station's signal is diplexed on to WDCY's antenna towers.

WASN was a commercial daytime-only radio station licensed to serve Youngstown, Ohio at 1500 AM, and covered the Mahoning Valley region. The station broadcast from 1976 to 2013, with intermittent broadcasting over the next four years, and ceasing operations when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) cancelled the license due to over a year of inactivity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WAIK</span> Radio station in Galesburg, Illinois

WAIK was a radio station licensed to Galesburg, Illinois, with studios in Monmouth, Illinois. It went silent in January 2019 and its license was cancelled in June 2019. At the time it closed, it was operating a full service format with oldies.

Special Temporary Authority (STA) 74 CFR 73.1635 in U.S. broadcast law is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters. In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) station database (CDBS), broadcast STA applications have a prefix of BSTA (general), BLSTA (legal), BESTA (engineering), or BLESTA (both). STAs can also be issued for other telecommunication services under FCC regulation. Often an STA is necessary due to an unforeseen event. A station operator must exhibit why the STA is necessary and serves the public good.

References

  1. 1 2 Trent, John C. "Re: Surrender of Radio Station License WVAB (AM) Virginia Beach, VA (Fac Id. 57611)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission . Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  2. ↑ FCC History Cards for WVAB
  3. ↑ "WVAB Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  4. ↑ WTKR NewsChannel 3: News, Weather and Traffic in Hampton Roads and North Carolina | Two AM Radio Stations Now Silent In Virginia Beach [ permanent dead link ]
  5. ↑ WVAB-AM and sister Beach station off air after tower felled
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ↑ WVAB-AM and sister Beach station off air after tower felled | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
  8. ↑ WAVY TV 10 : Virginia and North Carolina News -Vandals may have targeted radio tower in Va. Beach [ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ "Hearing Designation Order" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission.
  10. ↑ "FCC's Silent Station Crackdown Targets Virginia AMs". Insideradio.com.
  11. 1 2 "WVAB Facility Data". FCCData.
  12. ↑ "[Re: Donation of Radio Stations]". FCC CDBS.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.