WTVR-FM

Infobox Radio Station
name = WTVR-FM


city = Richmond, Virginia
branding = "Lite 98"
slogan =
airdate = 1946
frequency = 98.1 (MHz) HD Radio
format = Adult Contemporary
erp = 50,000 Watts
class = B
owner = Clear Channel Communications
callsign_meaning = We're TeleVision Richmond
(after former sister, WTVR-TV)
website = http://www.lite98.com|

WTVR-FM (98.1 FM, "Lite 98") is an adult contemporary radio station broadcasting in Richmond, Virginia. It is one of the most powerful FM stations in Richmond, broadcasting at nearly double the height of other 50 kW class B stations. The station is home to longtime broadcaster Bill Bevins during the weekdays and broadcasts the "Delilah After Dark" program from 7PM-12 Midnight every evening.

History

98.1, originally WCOD (along with sister station WMBG-AM & WTVR-TV) were owned by Havens & Martin. The radio stations took up quite a bit of the building till 1965 and included a very large "performance studio" that was used in years past for large live and recorded presentations. The control room for WCOD looked onto that large studio as did the WMBG control room. But the WMBG control room was about three feet higher than the FM control room or the performance studio was. One of the good things about the Havens & Martin days was all of the radio "voices" even the part timers were given the chance to do booth announcing as needed for the TV side. It was always a thrill for a young announcer to be able to do TV work if only station breaks or "voice over" commercials. Sometimes a TV Director would poke his head into AM or FM control and ask for assistance with a "live break" giving only a min. or two notice before "the voice" was needed. The TV announce booth was directly behind AM control and could be accessed quickly while a record was playing.

In 1966, the stations were purchased by Roy H Park Broadcasting, the radio stations became WTVR-AM & FM. Shortly after the purchase by Park, the original rather large studios of WCOG and WMBG were taken over by the TV part of the business and the two radio stations were moved into what formerly was the large "performance studio". That performance studio was large enough to house the new AM control room, a production room and the FM control room with a sizable room left over which became the new "performance studio" and it still contained the Grand Piano that was a fixture in the old room. Duncan Moundsey became General Manager of the radio stations, Frank Dwyer became operations manager of the FM side and Rod Holt was the program director of the AM side.

News continued to be supplied by the stand alone news department which supplied news for TV, AM and FM as needed. That was one of the efficient ideas that Havens and Martin had introduced. By the late 1960s the stations had settled into a daily routine. The FM signed on at 5:30 am and simulcasted with 24 hour WTVR-AM ( which was a Top 40 station at the time ), and at 9:00 AM would break off the simulcast and go to an automated beautiful music format, returning to the simulcast at 9:00 PM, and signing off at 2:00 am. This routine continued after WTVR-AM changed to a country music format in 1973.

Until 1972, during the the AM's Top 40 days, the nighttime FM simulcasts with the AM's Top 40 format were the only contemporary & pop music broadcasts on the FM band in Central Virginia. This gave exposure to such young up and coming Top 40 deejays as the then-future WBBM-FM/B96 Chicago air personality and WRVQ/Q94 Richmond Program Director & Air Personality, Norman "Bob-A-Lou", Feedlander (who died in 2002), Dale Parsons, who years later became Program Director of WNBC-AM and WLTW-FM in New York, and Terry "Motormouth" Young, who is now on XM Radio's "60s at 6".

During this time, the radio stations were co-located with the television station on West Broad St. In 1974, the TV station needed to expand its facilities, so the radio stations were moved to a pair of townhouses behind the TV station on Cutshaw Ave. Also, the FM began 24/7 hour programming away from the AM, using a syndicated format called " The Great Ones" which mixed standards and soft adult contemporary music. In 1976 the station returned to a more traditional beautiful music format as "Stereo 98".( The station began broadcasting in stereo after the move )

On December 24th , 1976, the station was a victim of an elaborate prank set up by some disgruntled former staff members.At 11:30 pm that night, right in the middle of the station's traditional automated Christmas music programming, the rock song "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin was played by the station. The disgruntled staffers had managed to splice the song onto one of the station's automated taped music reels .The song was cut off after about 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Then after about 3 minutes of silence, the regular Christmas music returned. This stunt has become legendary among local radio insiders over the years.

In 1982, seeing a need for a full time, full powered country music FM station in Richmond, WTVR-FM flipped to country music as "Stereo Country 98" and enjoyed successful ratings. Some of the on air personalities during WTVR's country period included Mike Allen, Dave Shannon, Steve Kelly, and Hillary Kane.

By the late 1980s, even though country music was doing well on 98.1, two new country competitors came on the scene. Both WKHK-FM Colonial Heights and WSVS-FM in Crewe had upgraded their signals to cover Richmond, and were eroding listeners away. WTVR-FM dropped country in 1988, returning to its previous beautiful music format of the seventies and eighties calling itself "Nice & Easy 98". On air personalities on WTVR-FM's second life as an easy listening station included new Operations Manager/Program Director Mike Levay, Chuck Deel, Dick Grant, Mark Thomas, and Skip Durr.

In 1992, PD Mike Levay rebranded the station as "Lite 98" and added more light pop vocals to its beautiful music mix. In 1994, new General Manager Reggie Jordan & new Program Director Scott O'Brian brought in a whole new staff and the station adopted a more mainstream soft adult contemporary format and added live announcers. Drewe Phinney was hired as the original morning host. In 1994 Adam Stubbs joined for afternoons. In late 1994,. Phinney was replaced by Bill Bevins. In 1998 Kat Simons joined as middays. In 1999 morning show producer & overnight host Shelly Perkins joined the station. The station added the syndicated "Delilah" show around this time. Charlie Fox & Linda Webster came aboard as weekend hosts around this time as well, and Ilyse Johnson joined for the weekend staff in 2008. WTVR-FM has been in the top 3 ratings-wise in Richmond since then.

Park Broadcasting owned WTVR AM/FM/TV from 1966 through the early 90s. In 1992, Roy H Park died and his company was purchased by a group of investors from Lexington Ky, who later sold off the radio stations to separate owners. In 1995, Clear Channel bought WTVR-AM & FM. In 2000, Clear Channel moved WTVR-FM's studios to Basie Road, joining sister stations WRXL, WRVQ, WRCL( which became WBTJ shortly after the move ), WRNL and WRVA. (The AM station was not part of the move. During this time, to comply with local station ownership restrictions, Clear Channel sold WTVR-AM, which is now separately owned Spanish Religion WBTK). The FM antenna is still on the self-supporting 850' mast in downtown Richmond, along with WTVR-TV and NPR station WCVE-FM.

Over the last several years, even though WTVR-FM has continued to call itself "Lite 98" and continues to program soft adult contemporary favorites , the station has added many more uptempo songs and straight ahead rock songs that have tested well in it's target audience musical research to it's regular rotation that it had avoided playing in the past such as "More Than A Feeling " by Boston , "LeFreak" and "Good Times" by Chic, "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" by Bachman Turner Overdrive, "Get Down Tonight" by KC & The Sunshine Band, "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry , "Rock Steady" by The Whispers, "Mambo # 5" by Lou Vega, "Twist & Shout" by The Beatles, and "Long Train Running" by The Doobie Brothers. Although the station continued to broadcast the nightly syndicated "Delilah After Dark" program, it has since switched to the "Hot A/C" version of the show . Most market observers blame this change of musical approach on competition from new stations as Adult Hits WLLB-FM and Oldies WBBT-FM ,as well as a revitalized Hot A/C WMXB-FM .

External links

*FMQ|WTVR
*FML|WTVR
*FMARB|WTVR
* [http://www.w9wi.com/articles/grand_fm.htm List of "grandfathered" FM radio stations in the U.S.]