WRVA-FM

Infobox Radio Station
name = WRVA-FM


city = Rocky Mount, North Carolina
area = Rocky Mount, North Carolina Greenville, North Carolina Research Triangle Area of North Carolina
branding = 100.7 The (New) River
slogan = "It's All About The Music"
airdate =
frequency = 100.7 (MHz)
format = Classic rock
erp = 100,000 watts
haat = 600 meters
class = C
facility_id = 74125
coordinates = coord|35|49|53|N|78|8|50|W|type:landmark
callsign_meaning = W RiVer A| sister_stations = WDCG, WKSL, WRDU
owner =Clear Channel Worldwide
webcast = [http://www.1007theriver.com/cc-common/streaming_new/index.html?refreshed=yes Listen Live]
website = [http://www.1007theriver.com www.1007theriver.com]

WRVA-FM "100.7 The (New) River" is a classic rock radio station that serves the Raleigh-Durham market of North Carolina. Even though its studios are located at Smoketree Court in Raleigh, its city of license is in Rocky Mount and its signal also covers a considerable chunk of the Eastern North Carolina market. WRVA-FM is owned and operated by Clear Channel Worldwide, whose sister stations include G105, 106.1 the Rooster, and 93.9 KISS-FM. "The River" is a local reference to the Neuse River.

Even though it shares the same call letters as fellow Clear Channel station WRVA-AM out of Richmond, Virginia, the station is programmed completely independently. Since Richmond is approximately 170 miles from Raleigh, the -FM suffix had to be attached to the call letters to avoid any confusion.

History

In 1947, Mel Warner and his father-in-law, Rocky Mount Evening Telegram founder Josh Horne, signed an AM/FM combo in this Eastern North Carolina town. WCEC was heard at 810 AM and WCEC-FM 100.7. The stations hired legendary agricultural broadcaster Ray Wilkinson in 1948 and, along with Raleigh's WRAL-FM, and Goldsboro's WGBR started the Tobacco Network. It was sold to WRAL-FM owner A. J. Fletcher, and has grown into what is now known as the North Carolina News Network. Several years after their sign on, WCEC-FM became WFMA.

WFMA had a country format when Ken Johnson's Birmingham, Alabama-based Capital Broadcasting (no relation to Raleigh's Capitol Broadcasting Company) bought it and moved it's studios to Raleigh as WTRG around August 1986. (WCEC 810, now a stand-alone which was authorized for daytime operation only, went dark and its license was subsequently turned into the FCC.) Along with the studio move, WTRG was upgraded to a 100,000-watt signal from one of the tallest FM towers in North Carolina. The station, now with a 10,227 square-mile coverage area, claimed the 17th largest coverage area of any FM station in America. WTRG signed on with the fight songs from Duke, UNC and NC State before debuting with an oldies format, only to quickly shift gears to an adult contemporary format. They returned to oldies in 1989 as "Oldies 100.7".

Tom Joyner purchased WTRG in 1991 and built a very community-minded station not afraid to take editorial stances: an example of this was the station's 1993 crusade for increased rights of victims of violent crimes. With the relaxation of dual ownership rules, WTRG was sold in 1994 to Hicks Muse of Dallas, along with Carl Venters' WRDU, a move-in from nearby Wilson.

Through several mergers, WTRG, WRDU and three other local stations became part of Clear Channel Worldwide. On November 8th, 2004, WTRG axed its longtime oldies format and began stunting with simulcasts of Clear Channel sister stations WRSN (now WKSL), WDCG, WDUR and WRDU. At 5 p.m. on November 12th, the station switched to country as "100.7 The Bull"; however, this "new" country format was exactly that.

On November 15th, also at 5 p.m., they became adult hits-formatted "100.7 The River", with the new call letters WRVA-FM following shortly thereafter. Nighttime AM radio listeners may recognize these call letters from another Clear Channel Radio property, 50,000-watt WRVA 1140 in Richmond, VA (hence the "-FM").

On September 25th, 2006, The River shifted to a rock adult contemporary format, albeit with the same handle and imaging. In anticipation of sister station and heritage rocker WRDU's move to a country format, "The River" went classic hits.

On October 6, 2006, sister station WRDU abandoned its longtime rock format for country music. WRVA-FM has since taken WRDU's place in the Clear Channel Raleigh stable as the market's Classic rock station.

External links

* [http://www.1007theriver.com WRVA-FM Website]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savetheriver Save the River]
*FMQ|WRVA
*FML|WRVA
*FMARB|WRVA