WKVU (107.3 FM) is a

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 ...

broadcasting a

Contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

format. Licensed to

Utica, New York Utica () is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the ...

, United States, the station serves the Utica-Rome area. The station is currently owned by the Educational Media Foundation, and is an affiliate of the '' K-Love'' network.

History

WKVU signed on in 2001 on 100.7 FM, when Bethany Broadcasting sold its religious station broadcasting on that frequency, WVVC, to the Educational Media Foundation. Upon acquiring WVVC, EMF changed its call letters to WKVU and began simulcasting its K-Love satellite format of

music on the station. Its current frequency was previously owned by Galaxy Communications, who ran a

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

format on the frequency under the callsign WRCK and slogan Rock 107. Prior to this WRCK was a longtime powerhouse

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 "cont ...

station. During this time, WRCK was known as Power Hits Rock 107 until March 17, 1994 when they changed their name to Hot 107. However, their Top 40 format lasted until June 1994 when The Radio Corporation (now Galaxy Communications) purchased the station from H & D Entertainment Incorporated saddening and upsetting listeners who listened to Top 40 music in the Utica-Rome area about the takeover and format change to classic rock. In October 2007 Galaxy purchased a portion of Clear Channel Communications' Utica cluster, including WRCK's rival,

WOUR WOUR (96.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Utica, New York. It broadcasts a classic rock radio format, with occasional recent rock hits, calling itself "The Rock of Central New York." The station is owned by Townsquare Media a ...

. WOUR's signal was deemed to be stronger and more favorable than WRCK's and so WRCK was spun off to EMF. Some of WRCK's former staff moved to WOUR. EMF then announced that it would keep the WRCK call letters and simulcast their Christian rock satellite format

Air 1 Air1 is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), it primarily broadcasts contemporary worship music, and is a sister to the EMF's K-Love network. History In 1986, KLRD began broadcasting Christian ...

on the station. WRCK's last song as Rock 107 was

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

's "Stairway to Heaven" before the

satellite feed was picked up. Back during the early 1980s, the WRCK calls belonged to

ABC Radio Networks ABC Radio may refer to: Australia * History of ABC Radio (Australia), the division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) responsible for: ** ABC Classic, a classical music radio station ** ABC Classic 2, an un-presented streaming-only c ...

owned-and-operated WRCK-FM 95 (dial position 94.7) in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1980, the station changed its calls to WLS-FM to join with its sister AM station,

WLS-AM WLS (890 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, through licensee Radio License Holdings LLC, the station airs a talk radio format. WLS has its radio studios in the NBC Tower on North Columbus Driv ...

, while the WRCK calls went to 107.3 FM. On December 15, 2010, WRCK swapped frequencies with WKVU, with WRCK (and its

affiliation) moving to 100.7 FM and WKVU moving to 107.3 FM. The next year, EMF sold WRCK to Ken Roser, who renamed the station

WUTQ-FM WUTQ-FM (100.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Utica, New York. The station serves the Utica-Rome region of New York State. The station is owned by Roser Communications Network and it airs a talk radio format. The studios and of ...

and began simulcasting the full service

soft 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, quiet sto ...

format then heard on sister stations WUTQ and WADR, which assumed the WRCK call letters. EMF then moved its

affiliation to WOKR, which would change its call letters to WARW in January 2015.

Former on-air staff

*Gomez and Dave (Mornings as classic rock now on WOUR) *Paul Szmal *Bill Keeler (Morning announcer under the Top 40 & classic rock formats) *Gary Spears *Frank McBride *J.P. Marks *Bill Whiteman *'Big' Larry Williams (deceased) *B.B. Good *Bud in the Night Time *John Carucci *JR Jim Reitz (deceased) *Karen Hanna (deceased) *Scott Burton *Ugly Michaels Mike Hotaling *Kevin Quinn *Sherry *Rich Lundy Bramley *Nick at Night Norod *Kelly Steve Abel *Rick Pendleton *Becky Williams *Janet Bauer *Kym Charmicheal

References

External links

* {{Utica Radio KVU KVU K-Love radio stations Educational Media Foundation radio stations