WVRX (104.9 FM) is a

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 ...

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

Strasburg, Virginia Strasburg is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States, which was founded in 1761 by Peter Stover. It is the largest town by population in the county and is known for its grassroots art culture, pottery, antiques, and American Civil W ...

, serving the Northern

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- ...

. WVRX is owned by Point FM Ministries. WVRX simulcasts sister station WVRS.

History

On January 31, 2018, the then-WZFC changed their format from

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

to a simulcast of sister news/talk station

WINC Winc is a workplace support company operating in Australia supplying office essentials, furniture, safety equipment and IT solutions. The company is focused on supporting businesses through the delivery of everything a workplace needs to work - s ...

(1400 AM) in nearby

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. On November 17, 2020, both WZFC and sister station WXBN (105.5 FM) became a simulcast of

WINC-FM WINC-FM (105.5 FM) is a radio station licensed to Berryville, Virginia, serving the Northern Shenandoah Valley. The station is currently stunting with Christmas music. WINC-FM is owned by Metro Radio, Inc. History In November 2020, the the ...

(92.5 FM) and its

hot 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 ...

format. WINC-FM's programming was migrated to the two stations in anticipation of the sale of the 92.5 FM signal to the

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest ...

. Upon the sale of the 92.5 FM signal to EMF, Centennial transferred the WINC-FM call letters to 105.5 FM. On April 30, 2021, Centennial Broadcasting announced it was selling

(105.5 FM) and sister-station WZFC to Fairfax, Virginia-based Metro Radio, Inc. for $225,000. Fellow sister station

was not included in the sale. Allen B. Shaw, Centennial's President and CEO, said in a May 2021 interview with ''

The Winchester Star ''The Winchester Star'' is a daily newspaper (Monday-Friday) based in Winchester, Virginia covering the Shenandoah Valley area. Subscribers may choose from either the print edition or a downloadable edition of the newspaper. On March 6, 2018, it ...

'' that Metro Radio, Inc. had had assured Shaw "they do not intend to" change the format of WINC-FM and WZFC. Shaw further said Metro thought WINC-FM's format was "probably the best format for the Winchester market" for ad revenue. On June 30, coincident with the consummation of the sale to Metro Radio, long-time morning show host Barry Lee signed off after 37 years at the station. Hours later, long-time afternoon host Paula Kidwell would also sign off. The same day, the callsign was changed from WZFC to WKDV-FM to match new sister station

WKDV WKDV may refer to: * WKDV (AM), a radio station (1460 AM) licensed to serve Manassas, Virginia, United States * WVRX WVRX (104.9 FM) is a Southern Gospel formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Strasburg, Virginia, serving the Northern ...

, licensed to Manassas. On September 30, just three months after Metro Radio purchased the station (and sister WINC-FM), Metro entered into an agreement to sell WKDV-FM to Point FM Ministries for $125,000. Point FM Ministries owns locally based,

-formatted WVRS. Metro Radio will retain WINC-FM. The sale was consummated on December 17, 2021. On January 13, 2022, the station changed its call sign to WVRX, and the station changed its programming to a simulcast of new sister station WVRS.

References

External links

* {{Winchester Radio 1987 establishments in Virginia Radio stations established in 1987 VRX Southern Gospel radio stations in the United States Shenandoah County, Virginia