WALV-FM (95.3
FM, "ESPN Chattanooga") is a
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
formatted
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
licensed to
Ooltewah, Tennessee
Ooltewah ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. It is a community near Chattanooga. The population was 684 at the 2020 census. Ooltewah is an enclave in the city of Collegedale.
History
Ooltewah wa ...
, United States, and serves the Chattanooga area. The station is currently owned by J. L. Brewer Broadcasting of Cleveland, LLC. and airs programming from
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
.
WALV-FM has their home studio at the Chattanooga offices of Brewer Broadcasting at 1305 Carter Street, along with sister stations
Power 94 and
Groove 93. Its transmitter is located in
Signal Mountain.
History
The station first signed on as WQNE, a religious format on February 27, 1980. The format used until 1984, when it became an
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
format as WALV, known as "Alive 95". WALV was Chattanooga's dominant affiliate for
Rick Dees Weekly Top 40
''Rick Dees Weekly Top 40'' (sometimes known as ''The Weekly Top 40'') is an internationally syndicated radio program created and hosted by American radio personality Rick Dees. It is currently heard on over 200 radio stations worldwide. It is di ...
. The adult contemporary format continued throughout the 1980s and the 1990s. By the early-2000s, WALV's adult contemporary format became a hot adult contemporary format.
The "Alive 95" name was used for 22 years in total. The station then carried the
Jack FM
Jack FM is a radio network brand, licensed by Sparknet Communications, with the exception of the European Union where it is licensed by Oxis Media. It plays an adult hits radio format, format, in most cases not using disc jockey, DJs.
Format c ...
format ("Playing what we want") from 2006 until May 1, 2009, when it switched to News/Talk using the name "Pulse News", with the Jack FM format relocating to
WSAA
WSAA (93.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Christian worship format from Air 1. Licensed to Benton, Tennessee, United States, the station serves the Cleveland, Tennessee area. The station is owned by WSAA, LLC.
History
The station was ...
93.1. The station was launched as a companion to the Brewer Media-owned alternative
weekly newspaper
A weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly new ...
''The Chattanooga Pulse'' and featured longtime radio hosts Dale Deason in the morning and Zach Cooper (who is also the Publisher for the ''Chattanooga Pulse'') in afternoons in its lineup. Former
WRCB-TV
WRCB (channel 3) is a television station in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC. The station has been owned by Sarkes Tarzian, Inc. since 1982. WRCB's studios are located on Whitehall Road on Chattanooga's north side; its ...
reporter Louis Lee served as
News Director
A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, ph ...
for the entire run of the station.
A year after launching, WPLZ separated itself from the ''Chattanooga Pulse'' editorially and changed its slogan to "News Talk 95.3 WPLZ". Among the many hosts who worked on air at the station were Jay "The Jammer" Scott, Bobby Byrd, Max Hackett, Ed Ramsey, Logan Carmichael, Stuart James, and Gary Poole. Among the main syndicated shows carried included
Glenn Beck
Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
,
Clark Howard
Clark Brian Howard (born June 20, 1955) is a popular consumer expert and podcast host of ''The Clark Howard Show''.
Life and career
Howard grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents, Bernard and Joy Garson Howard, were prominent members of Atl ...
,
Dennis Miller
Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian.
He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a stri ...
,
Jason Lewis, and
Phil Hendrie
Philip Stephen Hendrie (born September 1, 1952) is an American radio personality and actor. He is widely known for his voiceover talent throughout the radio and film industry. He came to prominence in the 1990s hosting ''The Phil Hendrie Show'', a ...
. The station had news affiliations with both
Fox News Radio
Fox News Radio is an American radio network owned by Fox News. It is syndicated to over 500 AM and FM radio stations across the United States. It also supplies programming for three channels on Sirius XM Satellite Radio.
History
In 2003, ...
and the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
.
The news department won two
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe f ...
awards for its longform coverage of gang issues, and received several honorable mentions for news reporting from the Associated Press. Among the reporters and anchors who worked at the station were Jeremy Lawrence, Misty Brandon, Lysa Greer, Chris Peddie, and Mike Chambers.
In March 2011, Jim Brewer II, station owner, revamped the lineup with Gary Poole and Louis Lee in morning drive, former
WGOW-FM
WGOW-FM (102.3 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, and serving the Chattanooga metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media, and broadcasts a talk radio format. Cumulus also owns WGOW 1150 AM, which simul ...
host Robert T. Nash in early afternoons and WRCB-TV's David Karnes in afternoon drive. While the station started to show some modest ratings growth, Brewer felt that it wasn't growing fast enough to justify the expense, citing economics and inability to compete with
Clear Channel Communications
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
(now
iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
) and
Cumulus Broadcasting
Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...
as the reason.
[Chattanooga Times Free Press: "Radio station WPLZ to drop news-talk format after three years", December 17, 2011](_blank)
/ref> In light of that, the station decided to let the entire staff go effective December 23, 2011.
On January 2, 2012, WPLZ changed their format to country, branded as "Cat Country 95.3", adopting the branding previously used by WQMT.
On June 1, 2015, WPLZ and WPLZ-HD2/W295BI swapped formats—the "Cat Country" format moved to WPLZ-HD2 and W295BI 106.9, while WPLZ's main 95.3 frequency switched to classic hits, branded as "Big 95.3". "Cat Country 106.9" lasted just over five months, as the station began playing Christmas music on November 2, 2015 as "Santa 106.9". On December 28th, WPLZ-HD2 and W295BI flipped to oldies as a spinoff from Big, "106.9 The Big Easy", playing hits from the 50s to 70s. This lasted until November 1, 2016, when WPLZ-HD2 and W295BI switched to Christmas music (again as "Santa 106.9") On December 26, 2016, WPLZ-HD2 and W295BI switched to soft AC, branded as "Easy 106.9".
On September 1, 2021, WPLZ changed their format from classic hits (which continues on WPLZ-HD2/W295BI) to sports, branded as "ESPN Chattanooga" under new WALV-FM call letters (format moved from 105.1 FM, which switched to American Family Radio as WUIE).
WALV-HD4
On April 19, 2017, WPLZ added a news/talk format owned by Hot News Talk LLC. on its HD4 subchannel, and relays to a translator 92.7 (W224AZ) branded as NoogaRadio. The format moved from WSDT 1240 AM Soddy Daisy, whose license was deleted by the FCC in September 2017. It changed to Christmas music In October 2021.
On September 7, 2022 WALV-HD4 changed their format from Christmas music to Spanish CHR, branded as "Tu Radio 92.7".Tu Radio Debuts in Chattanooga
Radioinsight - September 7, 2022
References
External links
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{{ESPN Tennessee
ALV-FM
Sports radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1980
1980 establishments in Tennessee
ESPN Radio stations