- WRVS-FM
Infobox Radio Station
name = WRVS
area = ECSU/Elizabeth City/Northeastern North Carolina /Hampton Roads,VA
branding = "89-Nine ECSU"
slogan =Your Community Voice
airdate =1986
frequency = 89.9 MHz
format = Urban/Urban AC
erp = 41,000watt s
class = C2
owner =Elizabeth City State University
website = [http://www.wrvsfm.org/ http://www.wrvsfm.org/]
callsign_meaning = W R V S "Wonderful Radio Viking Style"WRVS-FM, "89-Nine ECSU", is an Black Urban music radio station run from
Elizabeth City State University inElizabeth City, North Carolina . It has 41 kilowatt s (kW) power.History
The station originally began broadcasting on Tuesday
March 18 1986 with 10 kW at 90.7 MHz from a little white houselike building that currently houses other offices of the university.WRVS at one point used the slogan "The Rhythm of the River City". The original slogan was "Wonderful Radio Viking Style". The station later moved to its current location in Williams Hall.
The station was the brainchild of former Chancellor Jimmy Jenkins. He hired David C.Linton, from WSHA-FM at
Shaw University to help the University realize his dream. Linton was brought in as Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Media Development. Linton,worked with the FCC, engineers and others to get the station on the air. Linton,who served as the stations first General Manager & Program Director also coined the slogan, as well as, the station call letters. The original staff consisted of Paula Sutton, Public Affairs Director, Andre Smith,Sports Director, Gospel announcer Dorothy Keith and a group of talented students. It was David Linton and Paula Sutton who shared the on-air debut honors by playing the song "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" by McFadden and Whitehead.The station call letters stand for Wonderful Radio Viking Style. In 1990 the station received several upgrades, including a new transmitter allowing an
effective radiated power of 41 kW (the old transmitter now serves as a backup transmitter) as well as a new frequency of 89.9 MHz.On
July 3 1996 the station went dark for weeks due to water and smoke damage to equipment due to an electrical fire that occurred upstairs in Williams Hall. The station signed back on in October and later went to a Jazz based format as "Jazzy 89-Nine".In 2003, the station reverted back to its original and current Urban/Urban AC based format, and began broadcasting 24 hours a day.
In the 1990s WRVS was one of the best programmed student operated stations of its kind. WRVS is Public Supported NPR Affiliated Radio Station. Its 280 foot (85 m) transmitter and studios are located on the campus of Elizabeth City State University. WRVS will soon broadcast in HD radio; equipment upgrades are in progress.
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