WINA (1070
AM) is a
news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...
/
talk
Talk may refer to:
Communication
* Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people
* Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people
* Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct
...
/
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
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 ...
. WINA is owned and operated by the Charleston Radio Group subsidiary of Saga Communications.
History
WINA was granted its license to broadcast on October 10, 1949; the station signed on soon afterwards as a 1,000-watt
daytimer
A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-coun ...
on 1280 kHz with a
full service Full service or Full Service may refer to:
* Full-service radio, a wide range of programming
* Full Service Network, a communications company
Entertainment
* "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block from their album ''The Block''
* F ...
format. Behind
WCHV, it was the city's second radio station. It was owned by Charlottesville Broadcasting Corp. and had studios at 4th and East Main Streets in downtown Charlottesville.
In the earliest advertisements, the station was branded as "The WINA!", implying a pronunciation as the word "winner". In modern times, the station's callsign is pronounced phonetically.
Network radio was still dominant in 1949, but there were no available networks with which to affiliate, and so WINA was to start entirely reliant on local programming. WCHV was affiliated with
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
,
WJMA
WJMA is a Country formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Culpeper, Virginia
Culpeper (formerly Culpeper Courthouse, earlier Fairfax) is an incorporated town in Culpeper County, Virginia, United States. The population was 20,062 at the 2 ...
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
was affiliated with
Mutual, and
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
and
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
were available to some from
WRVA and
WMBG
WMBG (740 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed in Williamsburg, Virginia, serving the Virginia Peninsula. WMBG is owned and operated by Gregory H. Granger. It airs local news and talk, as well as a mix of adult standards, oldies, a ...
in Richmond, respectively. In 1951, it obtained a short-lived affiliation with the
Liberty Broadcasting System
The Liberty Broadcasting System was a U.S. radio network of the late 1940s and early 1950s founded by Gordon McLendon, which mainly broadcast live recreations of Major League Baseball games, by following the action via Western Union ticker reports. ...
. After LBS went under in 1952, WINA gained affiliations with Mutual and the Keystone Broadcasting System, a
radio transcription network rebroadcasting major-network scripted programs to areas that lacked local affiliates. By then, the station had settled into a format of
middle-of-the-road music, news, and scripted network programs.
WINA changed frequencies twice during this period. In 1954, it moved to 1450 kHz and gained permission to commence night operation at 250 watts, reducing daytime power to match. Two years later, it moved to 1400 kHz in order to increase back to 1 kW during the day.
In May 1957, Charlottesville Broadcasting merged with the James Madison Broadcasting Corporation, owners of WJMA. The combined entity was still known as Charlottesville Broadcasting Corp., and the stations were managed independently.
The two stations joined
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
together on October 1, 1958. WJMA was sold off in April 1961.
After eight years with NBC, WINA switched to
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
on October 30, 1966, an affiliation that lasts to the present day. This was concurrent with a change to 1070 kHz and another power upgrade to the current 5 kW day and night.
Laurence E. Richardson, former president of
Post-Newsweek Stations
Graham Media Group (formerly Post-Newsweek Stations) is the television broadcasting subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company. It is now headquartered in Detroit, co-locating with its local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV, after spending 10 years in Chic ...
, bought Charlottesville Broadcasting Corp. from Don Heyne in 1969.
In 1970, farm director Bill Ray began syndicating regional farm news reports in a network known as Agrinet. In the mid-1970s, this involved into the full-fledged Virginia Network, carrying news bulletins and
Virginia Cavaliers
The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as ''Wahoos'' or ''Hoos'', are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic C ...
sports. WINA spun off the network news operation in 1982, but remains the flagship of the
Virginia Sports Radio Network.
As late as 1991, WINA's full service format (with the music having evolved to modern
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 ...
) was still the top rated station in Charlottesville, despite having multiple FM competitors. Starting in 1992, the station added satellite-fed talk in addition to some remaining adult contemporary programming. Around 1995, WINA eliminated its remaining music-formatted blocks and transitioned to a full news/talk format. The station now runs news in morning drive and locally produced talk in afternoon drive, with satellite-fed talk and
CBS news
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
bulletins filling the rest of the time.
Charlottesville Broadcasting concluded a merger deal with Eure Communications, owners of ratings rival
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 ...
(97.5 MHz) and
WCHV (1260 kHz), in 1997. The FCC scrutinized the sale, as it would have resulted in common ownership of five stations – which it saw as a potential competition-killer in the small market. The sale proceeded after the new company was forced to spin off the two least-valuable properties, WCHV and
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 ...
(1400 kHz), to
Clear Channel. Saga Communications bought Eure's three stations in 2004.
WINA added an FM translator on 98.9 MHz in November 2015. This translator is fed by an HD subchannel of co-owned
WCNR
WCNR (106.1 FM) is an adult album alternative formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Keswick, Virginia, serving Charlottesville, Albemarle and Western Fluvanna counties in Virginia. WCNR is owned and operated by the Charlottesville R ...
(106.1 MHz).
The translator augments WINA's reception in the city, as AM signals become increasingly difficult to receive due to electrical interference.
FM and television
In 1954, WINA began simulcasting on the city's first
FM station, WINA-FM on 95.3 MHz. Like many early AM-FM combinations, the FM station was merely a relay for the AM station. In order to encourage unique FM programming, the FCC limited simulcasting on a co-owned AM-FM pair to twelve hours per day in 1964. WINA-FM was initially exempt because the rule only applied to large markets, but the FCC made programming separation a condition of Richardson's purchase of Charlottesville Broadcasting. The FM station began airing a separate day (except for a morning drive simulcast) in 1971, followed quickly by a callsign change to WQMC. This station is now
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 ...
on 95.1 MHz.
Charlottesville Broadcasting was also the first permittee of television channel 29, which was duly given the callsign WINA-TV.
The construction permit was issued on July 13, 1965, and no further actions besides two extensions are recorded. During the company's 1969 sale, then-owner Don Heyne indicated he no longer wanted to build out the permit and could not find a buyer. Richardson also indicated that he did not want to purchase it, but was required to by the purchase agreement. As FCC rules only allow the sale of a permit to an entity that intends to build, the board ordered the permit cancelled and the $55,000 Charlottesville Broadcasting invested into it deducted from the sale price.
WVIR
WVIR-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on East Market Street ( US 250 Business) in downtown Charlottesvill ...
, which was to occupy channel 64, then moved to channel 29 and signed on in 1973.
Programming
WINA's normal broadcast days consist of a block of news in morning drive and local and satellite-delivered talk for the remainder of the day. The station is affiliated with
CBS Radio News
CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...
, broadcasting hourly bulletins and the ''
CBS World News Roundup
The ''CBS World News Roundup'' is the longest-running network radio newscast in the United States. It airs weekday mornings and evenings on the CBS Radio Network.
It first went on-air on March 13, 1938, at 8 p.m. ET as a one-time special in res ...
'' at 7 p.m. Syndicated hosts heard on weekdays are
Mike Gallagher,
Laura Ingraham
Laura Anne Ingraham (born June 19, 1963) is an American conservative television host. Gale Biography In Context. She has been the host of ''The Ingraham Angle'' on Fox News Channel since October 2017, and is the editor-in-chief of LifeZette. ...
,
Mark Levin
Mark Reed Levin (; born September 21, 1957) is an American lawyer, author, and radio personality. He is the host of syndicated radio show
Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and rad ...
, and
John Batchelor
John Calvin Batchelor (born April 29, 1948) is an American author and host of ''Eye on the World'' on the CBS Audio Network. His flagship station is New York's 710 WOR. The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, world his ...
.
WINA is the flagship station of the
Virginia Sports Radio Network, originating the network's live coverage of all men's basketball and football games, as well as weekly coaches' shows. The coaches' shows are scheduled in a 54-minute timeslot, from 7:06 p.m. to 8 p.m., to accommodate the ''World News Roundup''. WINA also carries selected baseball, women's basketball, and men's and women's lacrosse games. The station produces live coverage of the Charlottesville Ten Miler footrace in late March, with commentary duties handled by current Voice of the Cavaliers John Freeman.
Translator
WINA is relayed by one FM translator. The translator launched on November 29, 2015.
References
External links
NewsRadio 1070 and 98-9FM WINA Online
*
*
{{Saga Communications
1949 establishments in Virginia
News and talk radio stations in the United States
Sports radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1949
INA
Mass media in Charlottesville, Virginia