WROV-FM
Encyclopedia
WROV-FM is an Album Oriented Rock formatted broadcast
radio station
licensed to Martinsville, Virginia
, serving the New River Valley
and the Southside of Virginia
. WROV-FM is owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications
.
The original WROV signed on in 1946 at 1490 kc., but in 1948 moved to 1240 kc. (formerly occupied by WSLS, who had moved to 610 kc.) to improve its signal range. The station carried live and network programming through the end of the 1950s. Jerry Joynes was a popular personality on WROV in the 1950s.
In 1950, a sister FM station, WROV-FM, signed on and simulcasted the AM's programming. In 1952, WROV-TV
, UHF Channel 27, signed on but later signed off in 1953. Later, Channel 27 was home to WRFT, an ABC affiliate from around 1961 to 1974, and independent WVFT from 1981 to 1993, and Fox affiliate WFXR in 1993.
In 1955 the stations were sold to Burt Levine, who moved the station into a Rock & Roll Music direction starting with a popular R&B & Jazz show hosted by "Jivin" Jackson. By the end of the 1950s, WROV was a Top 40 station 24 hours a day. Also, shortly after the purchase, Levine sold WROV-FM, at the time on 103.7, citing the unprofitability of FM. Later, after the sale, the station was relocated by the FCC to 92.3 and became WLRG, a beautiful music station.
It has been said that "The Cheater", a national 1965 Top 40 Hit by Bob Kuban & The In-Men, became a national hit after a teenager from Boston, where the record had been locally popular, on a visit to Roanoke, let the DJs at WROV hear the record. WROV then added the song to their playlist, and it became a national hit afterwards, and remains a staple in the East Coast Beach & Shag Music community.
The station had continued success in the 1970s. One the most popular personalities on WROV-AM in the 1970s was Bart Prater. In 1975, the station had a hand in convincing Warner Brothers Records to release "Black Water" by The Doobie Brothers , which had originally been issued on the "B" side of a modest 1974 hit "Another Park , Another Sunday", as an "A" sided single. "Black Water" later became a number one hit for the Doobie Brothers in 1975 , and remains a staple of Classic Rock and Adult Contemporary radio stations.
"The Game" in September 1998.
, where it played adult contemporary music. Joyner Communications had been shopping around for a signal to put an album rock format in the Roanoke area.
Throughout the 1980s, Roanoke had no album rock station since the early 80s when the original Album Rock station, WSLQ, flipped formats to Adult Contemporary, forcing residents to listen to spotty signals from Blacksburg and Greensboro. Joyner had originally considered country station WJLM 93.5 as the most likely candidate for purchasing, but the owner wanted more money.
In 1987, discovering that WMVA's 50 thousand watt signal could be moved closer to Roanoke while maintaining what is called a "City grade signal" over Martinsville, WMVA-FM's official city of license, as required by the FCC, Joyner purchased WMVA-AM & FM, and moved the FM tower closer to Roanoke in order to upgrade the signal to serve Roanoke and Lynchburg. ( WMVA-AM was later sold off shortly after the FM's move to Roanoke )
Taking its inspiration from stations such as WKRR
in Greensboro, WRXL
in Richmond, and WNOR in Norfolk, the station signed on from its new tower on Cahas Mountain as an album rock station on February 14, 1989.
The Heritage WROV call letters were obtained when Joyner, in need of a new base of operations in Roanoke, purchased long-time Top 40 station WROV-AM from long-time owner Burt Levine. WROV-AM had been the leading Top 40 station in Roanoke during the 1960s & 1970s, but lost most of its audience during the eighties to WXLK-FM, "K92".However,the WROV call letters were still well known in Roanoke and during its Top 40 years had been frequently referred to as "The Rock Of Virginia". After the WROV-AM purchase, Joyner moved the WMVA-FM studios from Martinsville to Roanoke, and into the WROV-AM facility, and WMVA-FM became WROV-FM.
in June 2007. WROV-HD1 simulcasts WROV-FM's AOR
format, while WROV-HD2 broadcasts an Alternative Rock
format completely independently of WROV-FM.
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed to Martinsville, Virginia
Martinsville, Virginia
Martinsville is an independent city which is surrounded by Henry County, Virginia, United States. The population was 13,821 in 2010. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Martinsville with Henry County for statistical purposes...
, serving the New River Valley
New River Valley
The New River Valley is a region in the eastern United States along the New River in the Commonwealth of Virginia . The valley comprises the counties of Montgomery , Pulaski, Floyd, Giles and the independent City of Radford...
and the Southside of Virginia
Southside (Virginia)
Traditionally, the term Southside refers to the portion of Virginia east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and south of the James River, the geographic feature from which the term derives its name....
. WROV-FM is owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
.
Pre-History as WROV (AM)
Previously, these call letters had been at 1240 AM and had been a very popular Top 40 station in the 1960s and '70s.The original WROV signed on in 1946 at 1490 kc., but in 1948 moved to 1240 kc. (formerly occupied by WSLS, who had moved to 610 kc.) to improve its signal range. The station carried live and network programming through the end of the 1950s. Jerry Joynes was a popular personality on WROV in the 1950s.
In 1950, a sister FM station, WROV-FM, signed on and simulcasted the AM's programming. In 1952, WROV-TV
WROV-TV
WROV-TV, UHF Channel 27 in Roanoke, Virginia, was the second-oldest TV station in Roanoke . Established February 15, 1953, it left the air on July 13, 1953, becoming the first UHF television station in the United States to have ceased operations.- History :In 1950s, the Federal Communications...
, UHF Channel 27, signed on but later signed off in 1953. Later, Channel 27 was home to WRFT, an ABC affiliate from around 1961 to 1974, and independent WVFT from 1981 to 1993, and Fox affiliate WFXR in 1993.
In 1955 the stations were sold to Burt Levine, who moved the station into a Rock & Roll Music direction starting with a popular R&B & Jazz show hosted by "Jivin" Jackson. By the end of the 1950s, WROV was a Top 40 station 24 hours a day. Also, shortly after the purchase, Levine sold WROV-FM, at the time on 103.7, citing the unprofitability of FM. Later, after the sale, the station was relocated by the FCC to 92.3 and became WLRG, a beautiful music station.
The "Rock Of Virginia"
The 1960s were considered the "Golden Age Of Top 40" for WROV-AM and many other stations like it around the country. After some musical "doldrums" in the early sixties, Top 40 began attracting new listeners with a variety of new musical trends such as the "British Invasion" led by the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the unique R&B records being produced by such labels as Motown, Stax, and Atlantic, the American "Garage Band" sound with such American groups as Paul Revere & The Raiders , Question Mark & The Mysterians, and The Young Rascals, and the "San Francisco" sound dominated by groups like Jefferson Airplane. One of WROV-AM's most popular 1960s personalities was Fred Frelantz.It has been said that "The Cheater", a national 1965 Top 40 Hit by Bob Kuban & The In-Men, became a national hit after a teenager from Boston, where the record had been locally popular, on a visit to Roanoke, let the DJs at WROV hear the record. WROV then added the song to their playlist, and it became a national hit afterwards, and remains a staple in the East Coast Beach & Shag Music community.
The station had continued success in the 1970s. One the most popular personalities on WROV-AM in the 1970s was Bart Prater. In 1975, the station had a hand in convincing Warner Brothers Records to release "Black Water" by The Doobie Brothers , which had originally been issued on the "B" side of a modest 1974 hit "Another Park , Another Sunday", as an "A" sided single. "Black Water" later became a number one hit for the Doobie Brothers in 1975 , and remains a staple of Classic Rock and Adult Contemporary radio stations.
1980 - FM Top 40 comes to Roanoke
In 1980 the AM station got a new FM competitor when WLRG-FM (Ironically, WROV's former sister station in the 1950s) flipped from its long-time beautiful music format to Top 40 as WXLK/"K92". By August 1980 K92 had pushed WROV from first place to 5th in the ratings. At that point, the station modified it format from Top 40 to adult contemporary. Though WROV-AM continued to be competitive, the ratings slipped throughout the eighties. In 1988, after a deal to buy crosstown WJLM-FM fell through, Levine finally sold WROV to North Carolina broadcaster Tom Joyner for $500,000. After Joyner purchased the station, he moved WMVA-FM, a Martinsville, Va licensed radio station he had just previously purchased, in with WROV-AM, and changed the FM station's calls to WROV-FM, and implemented a separately programmed Album Rock Format. (See the WROV-FM History section) In 1991, WROV-AM went to a partially satellite delivered Oldies format. In 1992 Joyner sold WROV-AM/FM to Weil Enterprises, a family-owned company out of North Carolina.End of an era on AM
In 1996, Weil sold WROV-AM/FM to Benchmark Broadcasting, who sold them to Capstar Broadcasting. In 1998 Capstar decided that the AM's long-time music format was no longer competitive, and another format had to be selected. While that decision was being researched, to save money, Capstar decided to simulcast WROV-FM's programming on WROV. The last live DJ on WROV was long-time personality Larry Bly, who played Don McLean's "American Pie" (with the lyrics "-the day the music died --" ) as his last song to signify the end of an era of live music programming on WROV. A few months later WROV became an all-sports station, WGMNWGMN
WGMN is a Sports Radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, serving the Metro Roanoke area. WGMN is owned and operated by 3 Daughters Media.-History:...
"The Game" in September 1998.
A New Owner
Capstar went through two mergers over the next few years, first as AMFM, and finally, Clear Channel. In 2007, as part of massive divestiture of smaller stations, Clear Channel sold WGMN to 3 Daughters Media, owned by Gary Burns, who continued with the all sports format.WROV-FM History
The FM station was originally a local station, WMVA-FM, serving Martinsville, VirginiaMartinsville, Virginia
Martinsville is an independent city which is surrounded by Henry County, Virginia, United States. The population was 13,821 in 2010. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Martinsville with Henry County for statistical purposes...
, where it played adult contemporary music. Joyner Communications had been shopping around for a signal to put an album rock format in the Roanoke area.
Throughout the 1980s, Roanoke had no album rock station since the early 80s when the original Album Rock station, WSLQ, flipped formats to Adult Contemporary, forcing residents to listen to spotty signals from Blacksburg and Greensboro. Joyner had originally considered country station WJLM 93.5 as the most likely candidate for purchasing, but the owner wanted more money.
In 1987, discovering that WMVA's 50 thousand watt signal could be moved closer to Roanoke while maintaining what is called a "City grade signal" over Martinsville, WMVA-FM's official city of license, as required by the FCC, Joyner purchased WMVA-AM & FM, and moved the FM tower closer to Roanoke in order to upgrade the signal to serve Roanoke and Lynchburg. ( WMVA-AM was later sold off shortly after the FM's move to Roanoke )
Taking its inspiration from stations such as WKRR
WKRR
WKRR is a radio station broadcasting a classic rock format. Licensed to Asheboro, North Carolina, USA. The station is currently owned by Dick Broadcasting Company, Inc...
in Greensboro, WRXL
WRXL
WRXL is an Alternative Rock formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia, serving Central Virginia. WRXL is owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications.-External links:*...
in Richmond, and WNOR in Norfolk, the station signed on from its new tower on Cahas Mountain as an album rock station on February 14, 1989.
The Heritage WROV call letters were obtained when Joyner, in need of a new base of operations in Roanoke, purchased long-time Top 40 station WROV-AM from long-time owner Burt Levine. WROV-AM had been the leading Top 40 station in Roanoke during the 1960s & 1970s, but lost most of its audience during the eighties to WXLK-FM, "K92".However,the WROV call letters were still well known in Roanoke and during its Top 40 years had been frequently referred to as "The Rock Of Virginia". After the WROV-AM purchase, Joyner moved the WMVA-FM studios from Martinsville to Roanoke, and into the WROV-AM facility, and WMVA-FM became WROV-FM.
Broadcasting in HD
WROV-FM began broadcasting in HDHD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
in June 2007. WROV-HD1 simulcasts WROV-FM's AOR
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
format, while WROV-HD2 broadcasts an Alternative Rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
format completely independently of WROV-FM.