conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
religious
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...
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 ...
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and
Northeastern North Carolina
The Inner Banks is a neologism made up by developers and tourism promoters to describe the inland coastal region of eastern North Carolina. Without historical precedent, the term "Inner Banks" is an early 21st-century construct that is part of a ...
. WYFI is owned and operated by
Bible Broadcasting Network
The Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN) is a listener-supported global Conservative Christian radio network staffed and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was founded in 1971 by Lowell Davey, who was the network's president until his dea ...
.
History
The pre-BBN years
WYFI first came to air on February 15, 1959, under the ownership of Electronic Research, Inc., owned by two employees of
WAVY-TV
WAVY-TV (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia, United States, serving the Hampton Roads area as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Virginia Beach–licensed Fox affiliate WVBT (cha ...
. The station's first incarnation on air was short-lived, lasting only until October. Ambert Dail, the radio columnist for the '' Daily Press'', said it had lasted "on faith and LPs" and that it had ended in an "
Edsel
Edsel is a discontinued division and brand of automobiles that was marketed by the Ford Motor Company from the 1958 to the 1960 model years. Deriving its name from Edsel Ford, son of company founder Henry Ford, Edsels were developed in an effor ...
-like burn".
WYFI was back on the air by late November, in no small part thanks to having been sold to WBOF radio of
Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...
. The purchase was made official in early 1960, with WYFI selling for a mere $7,000. WBOF-WYFI was sold later in 1960 to Washington, D.C., attorney Temple Seay for $260,000. In 1961, WBOF and WYFI both affiliated with the
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...
, giving the network one of its first separately programmed FM affiliates.
Seven years off the air
WBOF filed to sell WYFI in 1963 to five local businessmen for $53,100. The sale, however, was never closed. On February 28, 1964, WBOF and WYFI received permission to remain off the air, authorization that would be continuously extended for WYFI for years. Roy Marsh resigned from the Hampton Roads Educational Television Authority to become the receiver for Metro-WBOF, Inc., the licensee of the two radio stations. (He would be replaced in 1966 by Andre Evans.)
The WBOF stations went up for auction in 1964. The winning bid for WYFI, at $36,000, came from Continental Broadcasting, owners of WRAP. (The AM station, by comparison, fetched $136,000.) Continental also owned four additional radio stations outside of Norfolk, and it would be an action involving one of them that would ultimately kill its chances at acquiring the station. In June 1965, 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 ...
designated the license renewal of Continental's WNJR in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. The next month, the FCC deferred action on the sale to Continental on the result of the Newark hearing. While a hearing examiner initially slapped WNJR with a short-term renewal, the FCC voted 4-1 in November 1968 to deny its renewal application altogether.
Return to the air and BBN operation
The summer of 1969 brought a new party to the long-running WYFI proceedings. On June 26, Christian Communications, Inc., filed an application to build a new radio station on WYFI's frequency. Christian Communications, headed by Lowell W. Davey, had previously attempted to buy another Norfolk FM outlet, WRVC. That November, receiver Evans filed to relocate the WYFI transmitter and increase its effective radiated power to 50,000 watts from the 11,500 it had used; the FCC initially approved the application, but set it aside when Christian Communications petitioned to deny the grant. Receiver Evans and Christian Communications ultimately reached a settlement agreement: in July 1970, Christian Communications agreed to buy WYFI, with the 1964 sale application to Continental and the 1969 facility change dismissed as part of the settlement. The new owners then were approved for their own grant to increase power to 50,000 watts. The facility's construction had its own challenges; none of the equipment ordered to put WYFI back on the air worked out of the box.
After more than seven years of silence, WYFI returned to the air at 5 p.m. on October 2, 1971. It would be the first station in a series. In 1974, the newly renamed
Bible Broadcasting Network
The Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN) is a listener-supported global Conservative Christian radio network staffed and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was founded in 1971 by Lowell Davey, who was the network's president until his dea ...
High Point, North Carolina
High Point is a city in the Piedmont Triad region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Most of the city is in Guilford County, with parts extending into Randolph, Davidson, and Forsyth counties. High Point is North Carolina's only city that ...