WIOV-FM (105.1 FM, "The Big I 105") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 radi ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to serve

Ephrata, Pennsylvania Ephrata ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Effridaa'') is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located east of Harrisburg and about west-northwest of Philadelphia and is named after Ephrath, an ancient Israelite town, Bethl ...

. The station is owned by Radio License Holding CBC LLC, a part of

Cumulus Media 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 8 ...

, and broadcasts 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, ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

. The station's studios and offices are located on South Reading Road, along PA 272, at Rothsville Road in

Ephrata Ephrata may refer to: Places * Ephrata, Suriname * Ephrata, Pennsylvania, U.S. *Ephrata, Washington, U.S. * Ephrata Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. Other uses *Ephrata Cloister, a religious community in Ephrata, Pennsylvania See also * * Efrata or E ...

. The station's broadcast tower is located off Tower Road near Ephrata at (). WIOV-FM has local DJs in the daytime with syndicated shows at night from Whitney Allen (evenings) and

Blair Garner Blair Garner is an American radio personality best known for his work in country radio. Garner spent over two decades as a nationally syndicated overnight disc jockey, first hosting ''After Midnite'' for Premiere Networks and then ''The Blair Gar ...

(overnight).

History

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 jurisdicti ...

granted Garden Spot Broadcasters, Inc. a construction permit for the station on April 24, 1962 with the WGSA-FM call sign. On November 9, 1962, the station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

for the first time. It was the FM counterpart to

AM 1360 The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1360 kHz: 1360 AM is a regional broadcast frequency. Class B and D stations broadcast on 1360 AM. Argentina * AM 1360 in Maria Grande, Entre Rios (still have no callsign assigned) Mexi ...

WGSA (now

off the air In the broadcasting industry, a dark television station or silent radio station is one that has gone off the air for an indefinite period of time. Usually unlike dead air (broadcasting only silence), a station that is dark or silent does not e ...

). WGSA-AM-FM were both owned by Garden Spot Broadcasters with the two stations

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...

ing part of their day. At the time, WGSA-FM was licensed for only 1,580 watts, a fraction of its current

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...

(ERP). The station was granted its first license by the FCC on January 23, 1963. On April 4, 1970, Garden Spot Broadcasters was granted a construction permit by the FCC to increase the station's ERP to 50,000 watts while its

height above average terrain Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site is above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it i ...

(HAAT) remained at 500 feet, followed by a new license with the upgraded facilities on October 19, 1970. By 1970, the FM station was running an

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

format, with the new

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...

WIOV, using a mix of western and

Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...

s to represent the dial position at 105 MHz. Over time,

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

s were added and the automation was scaled back. In 1984, the FM station was acquired by Brill Media. Brill moved the studios to 44 Bethany Road. On April 14, 1999, the FCC granted a construction permit to increase the station's HAAT to while decreasing the station's ERP to 25,000 watts. In 2004, Citadel Broadcasting acquired WIOV-FM. In 2011, the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

approved the purchase of

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media ...

. The sale was completed September 18, 2011. Longtime morning host Jerry Murphy was found dead in his home on February 14, 2018, when he failed to show up for work. Murphy (born Gerald Gebhard) had been the wake up voice on WIOV-FM since 1999. He was 61. Casey Allen, his co-host, is now paired with Program Director Rich Creeger for morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cl ...

. On March 2, 2018, Cumulus Media announced that two stations in its Harrisburg cluster,

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 ...

formatted 106.7 WZCY-FM, would trade places with Top 40/CHR formatted 93.5

WWKL WWKL (106.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Hershey, Pennsylvania. Owned by Cumulus Media, it broadcasts a contemporary hit radio format. History Originally WMSH-FM, the station changed its call sign to WRKZ and branded a ...

effective March 15. WIOV and WZCY had service contours that overlapped in much of

South Central Pennsylvania South Central Pennsylvania is a region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the fourteen counties of Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry, Snyder, and York. Portions of w ...

. The move to the lower-powered Class A station on 93.5 MHz would allow WZCY to continue focusing on covering the Harrisburg market, while WWKL, at 106.7 MHz, would get a Class B signal having a larger service contour, covering Lancaster, York and Lebanon in addition to Harrisburg.

Signal note

WIOV-FM is short spaced to three other Class B stations:

WDAS-FM WDAS-FM (105.3 MHz) is a commercial radio station, licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It carries an urban adult contemporary radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia. WDAS-FM is widely regarded as one of the originators of the Urban ...

''105.3 WDAS-FM'' (licensed to serve

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

WWPR-FM WWPR-FM (105.1 FM) is an urban contemporary music radio station licensed to New York City. WWPR-FM is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios in the former AT&T Building in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan; its transmitter is lo ...

''Power 105.1'' (licensed to serve

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

) and

WAVA-FM WAVA-FM (105.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Arlington, Virginia, and serving the Washington metro area. The station is owned and operated by the Salem Media Group, and airs a Christian talk and teaching radio format. Religio ...

''105.1 WAVA'' (licensed to serve

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

). WIOV-FM and WDAS-FM operate on first adjacent channels (105.1 MHz and 105.3 MHz) and the distance between the stations' transmitters is 49 miles as determined by FCC rules. The minimum distance between two Class B stations operating on first adjacent channels according to current FCC rules is 105 miles. WIOV-FM and WWPR-FM operate on the same channel and the distance between the stations' transmitters is 121 miles as determined by FCC rules. WAVA-FM also operates on the same channel as WIOV-FM and the distance between the stations' transmitters is 103 miles as determined by FCC rules. The minimum distance between two Class B stations operating on the same channel according to current

FCC 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 jurisdictio ...

rules is 150 miles.

References

External links

Official website
{{Cumulus Media IOV-FM Country radio stations in the United States Cumulus Media radio stations Radio stations established in 1962 1962 establishments in Pennsylvania