WCVL-FM (92.7
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
) is a
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
formatted
broadcast
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...
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
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...
, serving
Charlottesville
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...
and
Albemarle County, Virginia
Albemarle County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city and enclave entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Char ...
. The station is owned by the Charlottesville Radio Group subsidiary of Saga Communications, through licensee Tidewater Communications, LLC.
History
WCVL-FM was first licensed as an FM station, with the call letters WUVA, in 1979. However, the station evolved from an AM
carrier current station, located at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
, which had been in operation for over 30 years.
WUVA (carrier current)
WUVA originated in the fall of 1947 as the University of Virginia's student-run
carrier current station, transmitting at 640 kHz on the AM band. Carrier current stations use the electrical system of a building as their antenna. As they have a small coverage area – normally the interior of the building and up to 200 feet outside – carrier current stations are not licensed by the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
and are not issued a call sign, although the station used "WUVA" as a familiar form of identification.
Initially WUVA adopted a schedule of
pop standards
Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...
, news, and discussion. The station began playing newly popular
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
music in 1954. WUVA was run as a commercial operation that sold advertising, and it bolstered its coverage by gaining a
cable FM
Cable radio or cable FM is a concept similar to that of cable television, bringing radio broadcasting into homes and businesses via coaxial cable. It is generally used for the same reason as cable TV was in its early days when it was "community ...
slot on Charlottesville's cable TV system in the 1970s. An additional source of revenue came from renting out the student announcers as party DJs.
As the station became popular through the 1960s, management decided to abandon the antiquated network of carrier-current transmitters and pursue a full-market signal. In 1966,
WINA
WINA (1070 AM) is a news/talk/sports formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. WINA is owned and operated by the Charleston Radio Group subsidiary of Saga ...
received permission to move from 1400 to 1070
AM, vacating a valuable channel that allowed for 24-hour operation at one
kilowatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
. WUVA was one of three competitors for the allocation, but lost out when WELK (now
WKAV
WKAV (1400 AM) is a contemporary Christian formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. WKAV is owned and operated by Monticello Media.
History
In 1954, a const ...
) was the first to secure a transmitter site that satisfied regulators.
WUVA (FM)
In August 1974, WUVA proposed to add a 92.7 FM allocation to Charlottesville. This was granted in 1976 over the objections of
WCHV (1260 AM). Three applicants filed for the channel, and in January 1979 WUVA prevailed. WUVA was now officially assigned as the new station's call letters, and operations began on June 22, 1979, continuing the music programming (by then
album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock.
Album-oriente ...
) and news coverage.
An independent non-profit corporation, WUVA, Inc., was created to hold the FM station's license, and later to manage WUVA's digital operations. The corporation board consists of eleven directors, six of which are
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
alumnae and five of which are current students.
WUVA, Inc., is also registered as a university student organization (Contracted Independent Organization, CIO). Student organizations are legally unaffiliated with the university, conduct their own affairs unsupervised, and are liable for their own conduct, but are allowed to advertise to students and request funding. The station remained financially self-sufficient and never applied for student-activity funds.
This independent model contrasts with that of the university's traditional
college radio
Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...
station,
WTJU
WTJU is a Variety formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. WTJU is owned and operated by University of Virginia.
History
WTJU was founded in 1955 when ...
(91.1 FM), which it directly owns, funds, and manages.
WUVA served as a training ground for
media studies
Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...
program students with an interest in commercial radio management or journalism, as the university does not have a formal program in broadcast journalism or related fields. A student newsdesk evolved into the full-fledged online news operatio
WUVA Newsin 2011.
In the unusual position of being under public ownership but still running as a commercial operation, WUVA switched from rock to
top-40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "conte ...
to
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 ...
in an attempt to improve ratings. In 1996, the station settled on a locally originated
urban contemporary
Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...
format under the slogan "92.7 Kiss FM".
In the face of still-inadequate revenue, local programming was ended on September 17, 2015, and was replaced by syndicated classic
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
from
Nash Icon
Nash is a media brand owned by Cumulus Media. It covers country music-related properties owned by Cumulus, including radio stations, digital properties and publications ('' Nash Country Daily''), Nash TV (a video on-demand service operated in pa ...
. This change came as a competitor,
WVAI-LP
WVAI-LP is an urban contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County in Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid ...
, was preparing to sign on in the same week; station management indicated they were aware of its launch, which made the decision to flip "easier".
On January 17, 2017, WUVA, Inc., announced the sale of its FM license to Saga Communications of Charlottesville (owners of
WWWV
WWWV (97.5 FM) is a classic rock formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, and serves Central Virginia and the Central Shenandoah Valley. WWWV is owned and operated by the Charlottesville Radio Group subsidiary of ...
,
WQMZ
WQMZ (95.1 FM) is an adult contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. WQMZ is owned and operated by the Charlottesville Radio Group subsidiary of ...
, WINA,
WCNR
WCNR (106.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is an adult album alternative formatted Broadcasting, broadcast radio station licensed to Keswick, Virginia, serving Charlottesville, Virginia, Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle and Western F ...
, and
WVAX
WVAX (1450 AM) is a sports formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. WVAX is owned and operated by the Charlottesville Radio Group subsidiary of Saga Communic ...
) for $1.65 million, in order to provide long-term funding for the digital operations of WUVA News. WUVA, Inc., retains the right to the "WUVA" trademark, and WUVA News continues as a digital news organization.
Saga took immediate control of the station under a time-brokerage agreement. On March 1, 2017, it rebranded WUVA as "C-Ville Country 92.7", keeping the 1990s-based country format, but leaving Nash Icon in favor of returning to local programming.
WCVL-FM
On the day that Saga took legal ownership, April 18, 2017, the station's call letters were changed to WCVL-FM.
References
External links
C-Ville Country 92.7 Online*
{{Saga Communications
CVL-FM
Classic country radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1979
1979 establishments in Virginia
Mass media in Charlottesville, Virginia