WCYK-FM (99.7 FM) is a

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 ...

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

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

, 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 ...

, Harrisonburg, and Staunton in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. WCYK-FM is owned and operated by

Monticello Media Monticello Media is a broadcast corporation that operates six radio stations and two translators in the Charlottesville, Virginia area. The company was formed in 2007 following the purchase of stations previously owned by Clear Channel Communic ...

History

WANV-FM signed on August 1, 1984 with a light

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. The station was co-owned by M. Robert "Bob" Rogers' High Fidelity Music Show, Inc. with

WANV WANV (96.7 FM) is a radio station licensed to Annville, Kentucky, United States, and serving London. The station is owned by Forcht Broadcasting as part of a triopoly with classic country station WFTG (1400 AM) and Hot AC outlet WWEL (103.9 ...

(970 kHz) in Waynesboro. Bob Rogers was the former manager of WGMS in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, and with his wife Terry ran a series of annual High Fidelity Music Show expos to showcase the latest in home audio technology. The station initially transmitted from

Elliott Knob Elliott Knob is one of the highest mountains in the northern portions of the U.S. state of Virginia. At , the peak is located on the ridge known as Great North Mountain. A subpeak known simply as "Hogback" () is located to the southwest. A small, ...

west of Staunton, high enough to cover the Staunton-Waynesboro-Harrisonburg portion of the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...

. In 1989, WANV-FM received a permit to move to Bear Den Mountain, just east of Waynesboro and north of

Afton Mountain Rockfish Gap is a wind gap located in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlottesville and Waynesboro, Virginia, United States, through Afton Mountain, which is frequently used to refer to the gap. Joining the Shenandoah Valley to the Piedmont ...

. Although this site is roughly 1,500 feet lower than Elliott Knob, it affords a much wider coverage area, with local-grade service to the Charlottesville metro in addition to the valley to the west. The station flipped to

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

during 1991. Bob Rogers died in 1992, and the two stations passed to his son as

executor An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used. Overview An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker of a ...

, who began looking for a buyer. In March 1994, Michael Douglass' Clark Broadcasting Company bought WANV-FM along with longtime Charlottesville country stations WCYK (810 kHz) and

WCYK-FM WCYK-FM (99.7 FM) is a country formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Staunton, Virginia, serving Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, and Staunton in Virginia. WCYK-FM is owned and operated by Monticello Media. History WANV-FM signed on A ...

(102.3 MHz), based in Crozet. Clark changed the callsign to WVAO-FM and kept the oldies format. To take advantage of the 99.7 MHz facility's superior signal, Clark then moved the more popular

format and WCYK-FM callsign from 102.3 in February 1996. That station took the oldies and WVAO-FM callsign in return. Clear Channel entered the Charlottesville market by buying Clark's three FM stations in 1998. The company ran the station as "Country 99.7", but otherwise did not make changes. Clear Channel exited the Charlottesville market in June 2007 by selling all of its stations to George Reed's Sistema 102 LLC, which was later renamed

. On November 3, 2007, Monticello tweaked the station's branding to "Your Country 99.7". On the morning of September 16, 2010, the station adopted the "Hitkicker 99-7" brand, which came with changes to airstaff but not music. Exactly seven years later, on September 16, 2017, the station shifted brands again to "99.7 CYK", at the same time adding some recurrents to a music rotation that was largely hit-based. This occurred as a result of increased competition from

WCVL-FM WCVL-FM (92.7 MHz) is a country music formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. The station is owned by the Charlottesville Radio Group subsidiary of Saga Comm ...

(92.7 MHz), which airs a 1990-based country format, and a format change at Monticello's own classic country outlet

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 ...

References

External links

99-7 CYK Online
* {{Country Radio Stations in Virginia 1984 establishments in Virginia Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1984 CYK-FM