WRVW

Infobox Radio Station
name = WRVW


city = Lebanon, Tennessee
area = Nashville, Tennessee
branding = 107.5 The River
slogan = All of Today's Best Music
airdate = March 31, 1980
frequency = 107.5 (MHz)
format = Top 40 (CHR)
power = 46,000 watts
class = C1
owner = Clear Channel Communications
sister_stations = WLAC, WNRQ, WRVW, WSIX, WUBT
website = [http://www.1075theriver.com/ www.1075theriver.com]
callsign_meaning = W-RiVer-W, reference to the Cumberland River

WRVW is a radio station broadcasting on the FM band at 107.5 MHz, licensed to the city of Lebanon, Tennessee, but serving the nearby Nashville market. It is currently branded as 107.5 The River, broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR) format, and has become something of a heritage station for Top-40 music in middle Tennessee. It is owned by Clear Channel Communications and operates out of studios in the world-famous "Music Row" area. Its transmitter is located just north of downtown Nashville.

History

WCOR-FM / US107

The station began its life on the 107.3 frequency as WCOR-FM in Lebanon, playing a country music format, on March 31, 1980. It soon branded itself US107 and changed its callsign to WUSW. This station proved to be short-lived; its absentee owner shut it down along with its AM sister, WCOR, in mid-1981. It was sold, moved to Nashville, and had its frequency changed to 107.5 in order to accommodate a power increase (The FCC ruled out a power increase for 107.3 because of its proximity to WQLT-FM in Florence, Alabama, which is also on 107.3).

Y107

The station received a complete overhaul when it moved to 107.5 FM in 1982, and went on to become one of Nashville's most successful radio stations. When the move was complete, the callsign was changed to WYHY. Those call letters and the station's nickname (Y107) lasted from 1982 until 1996.

Initially under its new incarnation, Y107 broadcast adult contemporary music. Within a few years, however, Y107 became a Top 40 station, competing with two other similar stations, "Kicks 104" (WWKX-FM) and "96 Kiss" (WZKS). Needing a dose of "attitude", Y107 hired Coyote McCloud away from WWKX in 1984 and launched a "morning zoo"-type morning show, called "Coyote McCloud and The Zoo Crew". The station quickly became a more aggressive radio station and branded itself "Y107, The Outrageous FM". This format, very edgy for its time but tame by today's standards, was popular among teenagers and its targeted demographic, young adults. The antics of the station infuriated older, more conservative area residents, and the station even became the subject of a report on CBS' "48 Hours" about "shock radio". During this time, however, WYHY enjoyed enormous popularity across the board, and was regularly Nashville's highest-rated radio station.

By the early 1990s, the station's act wore thin (and teenage tastes began changing to harder rock as well), and its popularity began to decline. Ratings went down (as was the case for most Top 40 stations across America around that time), and the "outrageous" gimmick no longer impressed advertisers as a result. After a brief stint with a rock-leaning Top 40 format in 1993 failed to improve ratings, the station quickly reverted to mainstream contemporary hits. Around this time, the station entered a local marketing agreement with SFX Broadcasting and became a sister station to WSIX-FM. SFX eventually purchased WYHY outright, and made some wholesale changes to the station. The "outrageous" gimmick was abandoned and the station again took a more straightforward approach, to make it more popular with advertisers. Despite the changes, the "Y107" branding still carried a negative connotation in the advertising community, due to the sheer number of "stunts" the station pulled in order to get publicity earlier in its life. The station also had its lowest ratings in over ten years during the mid-1990s. Additionally, McCloud and most of the airstaff left the station in early 1995. These factors led management to completely overhaul and rebrand the radio station.

107.5 The River

On February 15, 1996, at 3 p.m. Central time, air personality Gator Harrison was joined in studio by pop artist Lisa Loeb, and the station changed its nickname to "107.5 The River", and its format to Hot Adult Contemporary. A few days later, the callsign changed to WRVW. Over the next few years, the station's format gradually evolved back to Top 40. The station, to this day, still operates as "The River". After a series of ownership changes, WRVW was acquired by Clear Channel. The station's flagship show is "Woody and Jim in the Morning", hosted by Woody Wood and Jim Chandler, who previously worked together at stations in Albany, New York and San Diego. The staff has been remarkably consistent over the last five years as well. Rich Davis who joined from WZEE in Madison in 2000 is the OM/PD. Madison (who voice tracks out of WQEN) now handles 10a-12n but has been with the station since 2004 and tracked the whole midday show until 2008. Ryan Seacrest joined in August of '08 for 12n-3p. Ryno holds down afternoons and has done so since early 2003. Butter has been with the station on and off for years, but has been the full time night guy since 2004.

ee also

*List of Nashville media

External links

* [http://www.1075theriver.com/ Official site]
*fmq|WRVW
* [http://videocam.50megs.com/y107_archive/y107_archive_index.htm The Y107 Museum ]
* [http://www.mcsittel.com/assets/images/wyhy1075id.mp3 Y107 station ID] - MP3 file