WVVR

Last updated

WVVR
Frequency 100.3 MHz
BrandingThe Beaver
Programming
Format Country
Affiliations Westwood One
Ownership
Owner
  • Saga Communications
  • (Saga Communications of Tuckessee, LLC)
WCVQ, WKFN, WNZE, WQEZ, WRND, WZZP
History
First air date
September 17, 1960;64 years ago (1960-09-17)
Former call signs
  • WKOF (1960–1976)
  • WKSD (1976–1977)
  • WKOA-FM (1977–1986) [1]
  • WZZF (1986–1994) [2]
Technical information [3]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 73970
Class C0
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 305 meters (1,001 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
 36°56′58″N87°40′18″W / 36.94944°N 87.67167°W / 36.94944; -87.67167
Links
Public license information
Webcast Listen live
Website beaver1003.com

WVVR (100.3 FM, "The Beaver") is a radio station licensed to serve Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The station is owned by Saga Communications through licensee Saga Communications of Tuckessee, LLC, and operates as part of its Five Star Media Group. It airs a country music format. [4]

Contents

History

The station's construction permit was issued by the FCC on February 27, 1960. [1] It went on the air on September 17, 1960, as WKOF under ownership of Pennyrile Broadcasting Company. [5] It was a part-time simulcast of WKOA (1480 AM), which was previously owned by the Kentucky New Era newspaper, [6] with 50% of WKOF's programming being a separate entity from the AM station. In 1968, its first power increase was granted for the station to increase its power from its original 7,950 watts to 30,000 watts. [1] The station then changed the callsign to WKSD on July 1, 1976. [1] The station was purchased in 1977 by a group of Hopkinsville, Kentucky investors, under the business name Pennyrile Broadcasting Company, with Hal King serving as the manager; the new owners changed the callsign to WKOA-FM on November 10, 1977. [1] In 1979, the station relocated its transmission facility from its original location near the Western Kentucky Fairgrounds to its current location, and increased its signal power to its current 100,000 watts, becoming one of the most powerful radio stations in the Hopkinsville area. [7]

Over time the station programmed beautiful music, stereo rock and contemporary hit radio, with brandings such as "K-100" and "Z-100". It then became known as Kool 100 when the station's call letters changed to WZZF-FM in late 1986. [8]

In 1994, the station was purchased by WRUS, Inc., of Russellville, Kentucky (a division of Forever Broadcasting at the time). [6] WZZF had been rock-n-roll oldies, [9] but changed call letters to the current WVVR on July 1, 1994, [2] when it joined forces with WBVR-FM 96.7 to simulcast the latter's country music format. [10] Prior to this, WBVR-FM (originally broadcast at 101.1 MHz) in Russellville was considered to be the "Original Beaver" radio station, with the hook phrase "The Beaver 1-oh-1 FM". That station had far less power and was separate until its purchase later on after the Beaver Branding was reallocated onto the former WMJM (96.7 MHz). [11] That changed after the tower and frequency were sold to Clear Channel in Nashville, Tennessee; although the license for the 101.1 MHz frequency remains licensed in Russellville, the frequency is now in use by Nashville-based hip hop station WUBT. This is when WBVR-FM (now licensed to nearby Auburn as of 2001) adopted the 96.7 FM frequency in Bowling Green after the closure of WMJM's previous operations. Afterward, the Hopkinsville station adopted a new branding, "The Beaver 100.3". Beaver Country programming was fed to both WBVR and WVVR from its Russellville studio. [12] This ended in the late 1990s, when the station moved out of its studios in Russellville, Kentucky, and split operations between new studios located in both Bowling Green and downtown Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The Beaver branding is still used by both WVVR and the current WBVR-FM 106.3, under separate ownership. After the sell off from Forever Broadcasting in the 2000s, the station was moved to a brand new location in Clarksville, Tennessee, along with the other main Clarksville stations including WCVQ.

Former on-air personalities

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "History Cards for WVVR". Federal Communications Commission. (Guide to reading History Cards)
  2. 1 2 "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database.
  3. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WVVR". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  4. ↑ "Winter 2008 Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  5. ↑ "WKOA Adds FM Service". Kentucky New Era . September 17, 1960.
  6. 1 2 "Oldies station going country". Kentucky New Era. June 15, 1994. p. 6B. Retrieved July 8, 2023– via Google Books.
  7. ↑ "WKOA Power Is Raised". Kentucky New Era . March 20, 1979. p. 11. Retrieved July 8, 2023– via Google Books.
  8. ↑ Nash, Francis M. (1995). Towers Over Kentucky: A History of Radio and TV in the Bluegrass State (PDF). HOST Communications. p. 91. ISBN   9781879688933 – via World Radio History.
  9. ↑ Ferguson, Mary D. (June 27, 1991). "Radio vets recall good old days". Kentucky New Era. p. B1. Retrieved August 4, 2023– via Google Books.
  10. ↑ Stark, Phyllis (July 30, 1994). "Vox Jox". Billboard . Vol. 106, no. 31. p. 122.
  11. ↑ "Where Did 101.1 FM Go?". News-Democrat and Leader. Russellville, Kentucky. July 28, 1994. p. 2. Archived from the original on February 5, 2022. Retrieved February 5, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Nash, Francis M. (1995). Towers Over Kentucky: A History of Radio and TV in the Bluegrass State. ISBN   9781879688933.
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