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WSRV (FM)
Encyclopedia
WSRV is a classic-rock
-leaning classic-hits
-format
ted radio station
that plays hit music from the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. It is broadcast from the Cox Media Group
facility on West Peachtree Street
near the Brookwood
area (between Midtown
and Buckhead
) of Atlanta
, Georgia
in the United States. It transmits from a broadcast tower at the northeastern edge of metro Atlanta
, which it now shares with sister station WSBB-FM, and a permit for a broadcast translator for WSB-TV on physical (RF
) TV channel 46.
(its city of license
) until 1985, when it moved into the Atlanta media market
and switched to adult contemporary. From 1989 to early 2003, the station was oldies
"Fox 97". In 2000, Cox Radio
acquired the station from AMFM, which divested it in order to complete the merger between AMFM and Clear Channel Communications
.
In February 2003, the station switched formats to R&B "97.1 Jamz", after briefly running various shows from other Cox stations around the country as an apparent stunt. The station ran with no disc jockey
as a supplement for another Cox Radio property, WALR-FM
(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
and WHTA
, with whom it competed for the coveted 18 to 34 demographic, which is the same demo that WFOX's rhythmic contemporary
sister station
WBTS targeted.
On January 1, 2006, the station abandoned its format and became "97.1 The River", a classic-hits station targeting people ages 25-54. The playlist is currently a mixture of the type of music heard on former classic-rock stations WKLS
and WZGC
, as well as Cox Radio's own WSB-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
. It is now fully classic rock, but without the 1990s
hard rock or partial 2000s
music.
On June 19, 2006, Lexie Kaye became the River's first on-air personality doing mornings weekdays from 5:30 am-8:30 am. Kaedy Kiely, previously of WZGC Z93, became morning host on September 18, 2008. Other personalities include Dave Clapper, promotions director for WSRV and WSB-FM.
On October 5, 2011, it was announced that rocker Eddie Money
would become the new morning host, effective Oct. 10th.
This FM radio station is currently broadcasting digital radio using the HD Radio
system, and simulcast
ed sister station WSB
on its HD-2 channel
until WBTS dropped rhythmic CHR in August 2010 to simulcast WSB as WSBB-FM. The former WBTS format is now heard on WSRV's HD-2 channel.
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 broadcast range covers almost all of northeast Georgia
, from just southwest of Atlanta, and a tiny portion of upstate South Carolina. This includes Atlanta, Athens, Cartersville, Roswell, and Toccoa. Weaker portions of the signal include Rome and Dalton in northwest Georgia
, Peachtree City south of Atlanta, and Anderson, South Carolina
. Depending on radio propagation
conditions, with no other stations located on 97.1 FM, and with a good radio antenna, the station can be clearly heard as far away as Knoxville
, Tennessee
and at times, Greenville
, South Carolina
.
The station has volunteered to downgrade to class C0 in exchange for moving its transmitter closer to the Atlanta metro area.
as its city of license, and transmitting from west-northwest of Winder, about halfway to Auburn, Georgia
. License
d for just five watts of effective radiated power
, it is owned by Davis Broadcasting of Atlanta. It was originally permitted in 2004 and started in 2007 by Radio Assist Ministry, a company that speculative
ly filed for thousands of translator stations and then rented
or resold them for profit
.
The station has a construction permit
to move to the WSRV/WSBB radio tower, increase to the maximum translator power of 250 watts, and exponentially increase its height from 4 to 392 metres (1,286 ft). This will give it the broadcast range of a class-A station, while allowing Cox to circumvent U.S. Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) caps that prevent the excessive concentration of media ownership
in a market, if the station relays a digital channel from WSRV (or is reassigned to retransmit another station). The translator was and will still be entirely within the main station's range, making it redundant if it retransmits the main analog audio of WSRV.
Davis actually owns a different station in the area: WLKQ-FM
, which ironically has a translator station (W264AR) owned by a different company. That station transmits from near W243CE's current location, and is also upgrading and moving.
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
-leaning classic-hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
-format
Radio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
ted 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...
that plays hit music from the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. It is broadcast from the Cox Media Group
Cox Media Group
Cox Media Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, is an integrated broadcasting, publishing and digital media company that also includes Valpak and the national advertising rep firms of Cox Reps...
facility on West Peachtree Street
Peachtree Street
Peachtree Street is the main street of Atlanta. The city grew up around the street, and many of its historical and municipal buildings are or were located along it...
near the Brookwood
Brookwood Hills
Brookwood Hills is an historic neighborhood located in intown Atlanta, Georgia, USA, north of Midtown and south-southwest of Buckhead. Home to about 1000 people, it was founded in the early 1920s by Benjamin Franklin Burdett and his son, Arthur...
area (between Midtown
Midtown Atlanta
Midtown is the second largest financial district in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, situated between the commercial and financial districts of Downtown and SoNo to the south and the affluent residential and commercial district of Buckhead to the north...
and Buckhead
Buckhead (Atlanta)
Buckhead is the uptown district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, comprising approximately the northern one-fifth of the city. Buckhead is a major commercial and financial center of the Southeast, and it is the third-largest business district in Atlanta, behind Downtown and Midtown...
) of Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
in the United States. It transmits from a broadcast tower at the northeastern edge of metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta
The Atlanta metropolitan area or metro Atlanta, officially designated by the US Census Bureau as the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ninth-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States...
, which it now shares with sister station WSBB-FM, and a permit for a broadcast translator for WSB-TV on physical (RF
RF
-Science and technology:* Radiative forcing, a measure of the change in balance of the energy absorbed and emitted by the Earth's atmosphere* "Rate of flow", as in Volumetric flow rate* Radio frequency...
) TV channel 46.
History
The station took the WFOX broadcast callsign in 1972. It was a top-40 station targeting Gainesville, GeorgiaGainesville, Georgia
-Severe Weather:Gainesville sits on the very fringe of Tornado Alley, a region of the United States where severe weather is common. Supercell thunderstorms can sweep through any time between March and November, but are concentrated most in the spring...
(its city of license
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
) until 1985, when it moved into the Atlanta media market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
and switched to adult contemporary. From 1989 to early 2003, the station was oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
"Fox 97". In 2000, Cox Radio
Cox Radio
Cox Radio, Inc. is a division of Cox Enterprises that holds a number of radio stations. Cox Radio is headquartered at 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs, Georgia....
acquired the station from AMFM, which divested it in order to complete the merger between AMFM and 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...
.
In February 2003, the station switched formats to R&B "97.1 Jamz", after briefly running various shows from other Cox stations around the country as an apparent stunt. The station ran with no disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
as a supplement for another Cox Radio property, WALR-FM
WALR-FM
WALR-FM is an urban adult contemporary-formatted radio station owned by Cox Media Group. WALR-FM is licensed to Greenville and broadcasts on a class C0 100-kilowatt signal on the 104.1 megahertz frequency...
(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
WVEE (FM)
WVEE is one of the most popular urban-formatted radio stations in the country and the highest-rated station of the Atlanta radio stations by Arbitron. WVEE has Atlanta as its city of license, and is owned by CBS Radio, a subsidiary of the CBS Corporation...
and WHTA
WHTA (FM)
WHTA FM 107.9, "Hot 107.9") is a mainstream urban radio station that plays hip-hop & R&B. It has done so since the autumn of 2001, after the programming format and callsign were moved by owner Radio One from "Hot 97.5" . Its city of license is Hampton, Georgia, and its radio tower is located in...
, with whom it competed for the coveted 18 to 34 demographic, which is the same demo that WFOX's rhythmic contemporary
Rhythmic Contemporary
Rhythmic contemporary, also known as rhythmic top 40, rhythmic contemporary hit radio or rhythmic crossover, is a music radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary rarely uses rock music or country music in its airplay, but it may...
sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
WBTS targeted.
On January 1, 2006, the station abandoned its format and became "97.1 The River", a classic-hits station targeting people ages 25-54. The playlist is currently a mixture of the type of music heard on former classic-rock stations WKLS
WKLS (FM)
WKLS FM 96.1 is a radio station in Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting an Active Rock format.-History:The 96.1 frequency was originally WGAA-FM in Cedartown, Georgia, the FM counterpart to WGAA AM 1340. WKLS' callsign stands for the initials of the founding owners: Don Kennedy, James Lathom, and Arthur...
and WZGC
WZGC (FM)
WZGC FM is an Atlanta FM radio station playing the adult album alternative radio format.Dave Roots, 92.9 HD-2 WZGC FM ("92.9 dave fm") is an Atlanta FM radio station playing the adult album alternative radio format.Dave Roots, 92.9 HD-2 WZGC FM ("92.9 dave fm") is an Atlanta FM radio station...
, as well as Cox Radio's own WSB-FM
WSB-FM
WSB-FM is an Atlanta radio station. Along with several other Atlanta radio stations, WSB-FM is owned by Cox Enterprises' Cox Media Group subsidiary, and is the group's flagship FM station...
. On April 17, 2006, the WFOX call sign was changed to WSRV. The WFOX
WFOX (FM)
WFOX is a radio station broadcasting a Classic rock format. Licensed to Norwalk, Connecticut, USA, it serves the Bridgeport area. The station is currently owned by Cox Radio.-External links:...
calls moved to another Cox Radio station, 95.9 the Fox (formerly WEFX), in Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...
. The "River" branding is a local reference to the Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River flows through or along the borders of the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and emptying into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of...
. It is now fully classic rock, but without the 1990s
1990s in music
For music from a year in the 1990s, go to 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99This article includes trends in popular music in the 1990s....
hard rock or partial 2000s
2000s in music
For music from a year in the 2000s, go to 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 2000s....
music.
On June 19, 2006, Lexie Kaye became the River's first on-air personality doing mornings weekdays from 5:30 am-8:30 am. Kaedy Kiely, previously of WZGC Z93, became morning host on September 18, 2008. Other personalities include Dave Clapper, promotions director for WSRV and WSB-FM.
On October 5, 2011, it was announced that rocker Eddie Money
Eddie Money
Eddie Money is an American rock guitarist, saxophonist and singer-songwriter who found success in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of Top 40 hits and platinum albums...
would become the new morning host, effective Oct. 10th.
This FM radio station is currently broadcasting digital radio using the HD Radio
HD 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...
system, and simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
ed sister station WSB
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
on its HD-2 channel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
until WBTS dropped rhythmic CHR in August 2010 to simulcast WSB as WSBB-FM. The former WBTS format is now heard on WSRV's HD-2 channel.
Signal
Its city of licenseCity of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
is Gainesville, Georgia
Gainesville, Georgia
-Severe Weather:Gainesville sits on the very fringe of Tornado Alley, a region of the United States where severe weather is common. Supercell thunderstorms can sweep through any time between March and November, but are concentrated most in the spring...
in Hall County
Hall County, Georgia
Hall County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. In 2000, the population was 139,277. It is included in the Gainesville, Georgia, Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, although as one of metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta
The Atlanta metropolitan area or metro Atlanta, officially designated by the US Census Bureau as the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ninth-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States...
's first move-ins, it now transmits
Transmission (telecommunications)
Transmission, in telecommunications, is the process of sending, propagating and receiving an analogue or digital information signal over a physical point-to-point or point-to-multipoint transmission medium, either wired, optical fiber or wireless...
from the southern tip of Hall County, just across the line from Braselton
Braselton, Georgia
Braselton is a town in Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall, and Jackson Counties in the U.S. state of Georgia, about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 7,511....
. Its broadcast range covers almost all of northeast Georgia
Northeast Georgia
Northeast Georgia is a region of the Georgia in the United States. The northern part is also in the north Georgia mountains, while the southern part is still hilly but much flatter in topography....
, from just southwest of Atlanta, and a tiny portion of upstate South Carolina. This includes Atlanta, Athens, Cartersville, Roswell, and Toccoa. Weaker portions of the signal include Rome and Dalton in northwest Georgia
Northwest Georgia
Northwest Georgia includes the counties of:*Dade County*Walker County*Catoosa County*Whitfield County*Murray County*Gordon County*Chattooga County*Floyd County*Bartow County*Paulding County*Polk County*Haralson County...
, Peachtree City south of Atlanta, and Anderson, South Carolina
Anderson, South Carolina
Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was estimated at 26,242 in 2006, and the city was the center of an urbanized area of 70,530...
. Depending on radio propagation
Radio propagation
Radio propagation is the behavior of radio waves when they are transmitted, or propagated from one point on the Earth to another, or into various parts of the atmosphere...
conditions, with no other stations located on 97.1 FM, and with a good radio antenna, the station can be clearly heard as far away as Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and at times, Greenville
Greenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
.
The station has volunteered to downgrade to class C0 in exchange for moving its transmitter closer to the Atlanta metro area.
Broadcast translator
WSRV is also heard on W243CE (96.5 FM), a broadcast translator having Winder, GeorgiaWinder, Georgia
Winder is a city in Barrow County, Georgia, United States. The population was 10,201 at the 2000 census. Census Estimates of 2005 indicate a population of 12,451...
as its city of license, and transmitting from west-northwest of Winder, about halfway to Auburn, Georgia
Auburn, Georgia
As of 2010 Auburn had a population of 6,887. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 85.3% white, 4.9% black or African American, 0.4% Native American, 4.1% Asian, 3.3% from some other race and 2.1% reporting two or more races...
. License
Broadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
d for just five watts of effective radiated power
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
, it is owned by Davis Broadcasting of Atlanta. It was originally permitted in 2004 and started in 2007 by Radio Assist Ministry, a company that speculative
Speculative
Speculative may refer to:*For economics usage, see Speculation*For usage in literature, see Speculative fiction*For philosophical usage, see Speculative philosophy and Speculative reason...
ly filed for thousands of translator stations and then rented
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
or resold them for profit
Flipping
Flipping is a term used primarily in the United States to describe purchasing a revenue-generating asset and quickly reselling it for profit...
.
The station has a construction permit
Construction permit
A construction permit or building permit is a permit required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existing structures, and in some cases for major renovations. Generally, the new construction must be inspected during construction and after completion to ensure compliance...
to move to the WSRV/WSBB radio tower, increase to the maximum translator power of 250 watts, and exponentially increase its height from 4 to 392 metres (1,286 ft). This will give it the broadcast range of a class-A station, while allowing Cox to circumvent U.S. Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) caps that prevent the excessive concentration of media ownership
Concentration of media ownership
Concentration of media ownership refers to a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media...
in a market, if the station relays a digital channel from WSRV (or is reassigned to retransmit another station). The translator was and will still be entirely within the main station's range, making it redundant if it retransmits the main analog audio of WSRV.
Davis actually owns a different station in the area: WLKQ-FM
WLKQ-FM
U.S. radio station La Raza 102 is an Atlanta FM station that plays Mexican music. It is owned by Davis Broadcasting. It is simulcast on WNSY 100.1 in Canton, due to WPZE being next door at 102.5....
, which ironically has a translator station (W264AR) owned by a different company. That station transmits from near W243CE's current location, and is also upgrading and moving.