WSRV

Infobox Radio Station
name = WSRV


airdate =
frequency = 97.1 (MHz) HD Radio
97.1 HD-2 for News-Talk 750 WSB
city = Gainesville, Georgia
area = Atlanta metropolitan area
format = Classic Hits
owner = Cox Radio
sister_stations = WALR, WBTS, WSB, WSB-FM
part of Cox cluster with WSB-TV and "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution"
erp = 98,000 watts
haat = 483 meters
branding = "97.1 The River"
slogan = Atlanta's Classic Hits Station
class = C
facility_id = 59970
former_callsigns = WFOX
webcast = [http://uni6.cox.streamaudio.com/WSRV_FM Listen Live]
website = [http://971theriver.com/ 971theriver.com]
callsign_meaning = W S RiVer

WSRV "97.1 The River" is a Classic Hits formatted radio station that plays hit music from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Its city of license is Gainesville, Georgia in Hall County, although as one of metro Atlanta's first move-ins, it now transmits from the southern tip of Hall County, just across the line from Braselton. Its service area covers almost all of northeast Georgia, from just southwest of Atlanta, all they way to a sliver of The Upstate in South Carolina. This includes Atlanta, Athens, Cartersville, Roswell, and Toccoa. Weaker portions of the signal include Rome, Dalton, Peachtree City, and Anderson, South Carolina. Depending on conditions, with no other stations located on 97.1 FM, and with a good antenna, the station can be clearly heard as far away as Knoxville, Tennessee and at times, Greenville and Spartanburg, SC.

The station has volunteered to downgrade to a class C0 signal in exchange for moving its transmitter closer to the Atlanta metro area.

History

The station took the WFOX calls in the late 1970s. It was a top 40 station targeting Gainesville until 1985, when it moved into the Atlanta market and switched to AC. From 1989 to early 2003, the station was oldies "Fox 97". In 2000, Cox Radio acquired the station from AMFM, in order to complete the merger between AMFM and Clear Channel. Then in February 2003, the station switched formats to R&B "97.1 Jamz". The station ran with no jocks as a supplement for another Cox Radio property Kiss 104.1, which played older-skewing R&B while Jamz was a mix of older R&B/hip-hop and current songs targeting primarily 25 to 39 year olds. The station's main competitors were WVEE, "V-103", and WHTA, "Hot 107.9," with whom it competed with for the coveted 18 to 34 demo, which by the way are also the same demos that WFOX's Rhythmic Contemporary sister station WBTS targeted.

On January 1, 2006, the station surrendered its format and has become "97.1 The River", a Classic Hits formatted station targeting people aged 25-54. The playlist is currently a mixture of the type of music heard on former classic rock stations WKLS (96.1; 96 Rock) and WZGC (92.9; Z93), as well as Cox Radio's own WSB-FM (98.5; B98.5 FM). On April 17, 2006, the WFOX call sign was changed to WSRV. The WFOX calls moved to another Cox Radio station, 95.9 the Fox (formerly WEFX), in Norwalk, Connecticut. The "River" branding is a local reference to the Chattahoochee River.

On June 19, 2006, Lexie Kaye became the River's first on-air personality doing mornings weekdays from 5:30 am-8:30 am. Radio personality Kaedy Kiely (of WZGC Z93) became morning host on September 18, 2008. Other personalities include program director Chris Miller, voice tracked middays from 10am-3pm, and Jordan Graye (from sister station WSB-FM, who uses the stage name Kate McCarthy) voice tracks afternoons from 3 pm-7 pm.

This FM radio station is currently broadcasting digital radio using the HD Radio system from iBiquity, and is simulcasting sister station WSB-AM on its HD-2 setting.

Past logos

External links

* [http://971theriver.com/ 97.1 The River]
*FMQ|WSRV
*FML|WSRV
*FMARB|WSRV