WXVA (610
AM) – branded as ''102.9 Valley FM'' – is a
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...
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
Winchester, Virginia
Winchester is the most north western independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester wit ...
, 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- ...
.
WXVA is owned and operated by Winchester Radio Broadcasters, LLC.
History
Edwin Fisher's Shenval Broadcasting Corporation signed on WHPL on January 27, 1961. The station was programmed with a mix of top-40 and modern
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 ...
music to compete directly against the
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 ...
music of
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). WHPL 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 ...
on December 1, 1964.
In 1966, Shenval signed on a companion FM station, WHPL-FM on 102.5. Unlike most co-owned AM-FM pairings of the time, this station was programmed independently from the start, and is now country
WUSQ-FM
WUSQ-FM is a country formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Winchester, Virginia, serving the Northern Shenandoah Valley and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia
The Eastern Panhandle is the eastern of the two panhandles in the U.S ...
.
Arthur H. Holt purchased the two stations from Shenval in 1982. was flipped to
adult standards under the callsign WVAI. In 1986, it went back to
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 ...
as WUSQ before switching again to a country simulcast of WUSQ-FM in 1990. Benchmark Communications purchased the two stations in 1991 and left the simulcast intact. Three years later, the AM side changed to news-talk-sports WNTW with newscasts from
CNN Radio
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
.
Benchmark sold all of its holdings to Capstar Broadcasting, then the largest station owner in the country, in 1997. Capstar then merged with Chancellor Media to form AMFM, Inc. in 1999. The new ownership brought a
contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...
format on December 26, 1999.
Clear Channel bought AMFM in 2002, and instituted the new callsign WTFX and an all-
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 ...
format anchored by talk programming from
Fox Sports Radio
Fox Sports Radio is an American sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports division and iHeartMedia, parent company ...
.
In November 2008, Clear Channel sold the land on which the station's towers stood, leaving it without a transmitter site. Accordingly, WTFX went off air on November 17 and its transmitter was physically dismantled. The sports talk programming was immediately moved to
WMRE
WMRE (1550 AM) is a sports formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charles Town, West Virginia, serving Charles Town and Jefferson County, West Virginia. WMRE is owned and operated by iHeartMedia.
While the station is licensed to Charles ...
(1550 AM), where it remains today.
Clear Channel opted not to return the license while it sought a new transmitter site. The callsign WLVE (long associated with what is now
WMIA-FM
WMIA-FM (93.9 MHz) is a hot adult contemporary radio station that is licensed to Miami Beach, Florida. The station is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. Its studios are located in Miramar, and the transmitter site is in Miami Gardens.
History ...
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
) was "parked" on the license beginning in April 2009, in order not to lose control of the sign to another station operator. Low-powered transmissions resumed for a few days each November – by way of a wire strung up at WUSQ-FM's site – as the
Telecommunications Act mandates automatic deletion of a station that is continuously silent for one year.
WLVE was later one of several moribund AM stations that made up a planned 2009 donation to the
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
nonprofit Minority Media and Telecommunications Council; however, for unclear reasons, it is absent from later reports on the plan and never changed hands.
Clear Channel eventually sold the license in 2011 to Ted Schober's Winchester Radio Broadcasters for $5,000. By this time, the license was the only asset. The sale included no studio, transmitter site, or any "significant equipment", according to Schober.
Winchester Radio rebuilt and launched in June 2011 a locally-oriented
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 ...
station with news, talk and eclectic
variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
music programming that ranged from the 1950s to the present. With the new ownership came the callsign WXVA, which had previously seen longtime use on
98.3 FM and 1550 AM in neighboring
Charles Town. The music was tweaked to
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...
, focusing on pop hits from the 1960s through 1980s, in February 2014.
Winchester Radio purchased translator W275BV on November 5, 2014 from
Starboard Media Foundation for $11,000.
The translator simulcasts WXVA on 102.9 FM, with a signal covering
Frederick County.
The translator began broadcasting on May 4, 2015.
Emphasizing the identity of its translator, WXVA relaunched as "102.9 Valley FM" without any change to its music on March 27, 2017.
Technical
Nighttime operation
WXVA is licensed for 380 watts non-directional during the day from a site due south of Winchester near
Kernstown, Virginia
Kernstown is an unincorporated community within the independent city of Winchester, Virginia. Parts of Kernstown also lie within Frederick County. It is centered along the Valley Pike U.S. Route 11. During the American Civil War, the first and ...
. The station is also licensed for 500 watts directional at night, tightly oriented northwest-southeast to protect
WTEL Philadelphia
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 ...
,
WTVN
WTVN (610 AM) – branded as "News Radio 610 WTVN" – is a commercial talk radio station licensed to Columbus, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station serves the Columbus metro area. The WTVN studios area located in Downtown Columbus, and it ...
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
, and
WPLY Roanoke. This means a different transmitter site is required for night operation, as running the licensed night signal from the same location would not cover Winchester as required.
Since relaunching, Winchester Radio has not been able to find an adequate nighttime site. WXVA has operated nights under a succession of
special temporary authorities at 125 watts non-directional from its daytime site.
Translator
Under the FCC's AM revitalization program, WXVA has applied for a new translator on 92.1 MHz from
Signal Knob
Signal Knob is the northern peak of Massanutten Mountain in the Ridge and Valley Appalachians with an elevation of . It is located in George Washington National Forest in Shenandoah County, Virginia, Shenandoah County and Warren County, Virginia, ...
near
Strasburg.
References
External links
*
*
{{Classic Hits Radio Stations in Virginia
1961 establishments in Virginia
Classic hits radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1961
XVA
An X-Value Adjustment (XVA, xVA) is an umbrella term referring to a number of different “valuation adjustments” that banks must make when assessing the value of derivative contracts that they have entered into. The purpose of these is twofold: ...