WOAY (860 AM) is a

Religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

-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

Oak Hill, West Virginia Oak Hill is a city in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States and is the primary city within the Oak Hill, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area. The micropolitan area is also included in the Beckley-Oak Hill, WV Combined Statistical Area. The ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, serving Oak Hill and Beckley. WOAY is owned and operated by Foothills Broadcasting.

History

WOAY was founded in 1947 by local businessman Robert R. Thomas, Jr., and was the flagship of a family-owned communications group that would later include WOAY-FM (94.1, now

WAXS WAXS (94.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is a classic hits formatted Broadcasting, broadcast radio station licensed to Oak Hill, West Virginia, serving Beckley, West Virginia, Beckley/Oak Hill, West Virginia, Oak Hill/Hinton, West Virginia, Hinton area. ...

) in 1948 and

WOAY-TV WOAY-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Oak Hill, West Virginia, United States, serving the Bluefield– Beckley–Oak Hill market as an affiliate of ABC. It has been locally owned by the Thomas family since its inception, and ...

(channel 4) in 1954. Thomas originally planned to use "WOAK" as the

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 assigne ...

(standing for its

city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broa ...

"OAK" Hill), but the handwritten application was misread 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 ...

(FCC), with the "K" mistaken for a "Y". Early programming on the station included

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 ...

, bluegrass, and

Southern gospel Southern gospel music is a genre of Christian music. Its name comes from its origins in the southeastern United States. Its lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as ...

music. On January 1, 1953, WOAY began its broadcast day with what may have been the first announcement of the death of

Hank Williams, Sr. Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

The performer was discovered dead in Oak Hill in the early morning hours of

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

of an apparent heart attack, while en route to an appearance in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

. In the early morning hours of September 30, 1977, WOAY's studio building was destroyed in a fire. The radio and television stations reset their operations in what had been the undamaged production auditorium for WOAY-TV's local professional wrestling show, and would resume operations over the following weeks; WOAY (AM) returned to the air five weeks after the fire. By this time the station had changed formats and was playing

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

in a simulcast with WOAY-FM. Three months prior to the fire, in July 1977 station owner and founder Robert R. Thomas Jr. died, and ownership of the WOAY stations was passed onto his wife Helen and their five children. Robert R. Thomas III succeeded his father as president of the stations. In the mid-1980s WOAY began to evolve into a full-time Christian station, with music and teaching programs; the station was also affiliated with the

Moody Broadcasting Network Moody Radio is one of the largest Christian radio networks in the United States. Located in downtown Chicago, Moody Radio has 71 owned and operated stations

. The Thomas family sold both radio stations in 1990,"Changing hands."
''Broadcasting'', April 23, 1990, pg. 62. though they continue to own WOAY-TV as of 2019. Former West Virginia

state senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

Shirley Love began his broadcasting career at the station as an announcer and sportscaster. The station must power down to 11 watts at night to protect CJBC in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, rendering it all but unlistenable even in Oak Hill.

References

External links

AM 860 WOAY Online

{{Religious Radio Stations in West Virginia OAY Southern Gospel radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in West Virginia