WCHS (580 kHz) is a

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. N ...

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

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, ...

formatted broadcast

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 ...

licensed to Charleston, West Virginia, serving Southern West Virginia and Southwestern West Virginia. WCHS is owned and operated by

West Virginia Radio Corporation WVRC Media is a media corporation comprising radio stations and two radio networks based in the state of West Virginia. The company was known as the West Virginia Radio Corporation prior to a December 2021 rebranding. The company is controlle ...

. WCHS-AM is the Primary Entry Point Emergency Alert System station for West Virginia.

FM Translators

In addition to the main station broadcasting at 580 kHz, WCHS is relayed by two

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tra ...

s which are used to widen its broadcast area.

Programming

WCHS is the flagship station of the statewide

West Virginia MetroNews West Virginia MetroNews is a radio network heard on many radio stations throughout the State of West Virginia. The network is owned by the West Virginia Radio Corporation. West Virginia MetroNews offers a mix of news and talk. It held the ri ...

network. Prior to the mid-1990s switch to talk radio, WCHS was Charleston's

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as ...

station; the oldies format would move to 107.3 WKAZ-FM. Programming heard on WCHS consists of local and national news, talk and sports programs. The station's weekday morning schedule begins with the nationally syndicated " America in the Morning". "The Morning News" hosted by West Virginia MetroNews anchors Chris Lawrence and Shauna Johnson follows. A locally produced "Ask The Expert" then airs, followed by "MetroNews Talkline" hosted by Hoppy Kercheval. The weekday afternoon lineup beings with the nationally syndicated

Rush Limbaugh Show ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' is an American conservative talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh. Since its nationally syndicated premiere in 1988, ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' became the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States. At its ...

. "MetroNews Hotline" and "MetroNews Sportsline", hosted by Dave Weekley and Tony Caridi respectively, round out the afternoon. Various sports programs air in the evenings, with Dave Ramsey Show and "The Jim Bohannon Show" rounding out the night.

Red Eye Radio ''Red Eye Radio'' is a talk radio program currently hosted by Eric Harley and Gary McNamara. The program is syndicated nationwide by Westwood One, and originates from WBAP in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The show traces its history throug ...

is heard during the overnight hours. The weekend lineup includes nationally syndicated shows from

John Batchelor John Calvin Batchelor (born April 29, 1948) is an American author and host of ''Eye on the World'' on the CBS Audio Network. His flagship station is New York's 710 WOR. The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, world his ...

and

Kim Komando Kimberly Ann Komando (born 1967) is the host of two daily radio shows and one weekend radio show about consumer technology. On her weekly call-in show, she provides advice about technology gadgets, websites, smartphone apps, and internet security. ...

. "West Virginia Outdoors" and "Sunday Sportsline", hosted by Chris Lawrence and Travis Jones respectively, are also heard. "The Don Nehlen and Bob Pruett Show" also airs on WCHS. The program is hosted by former

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University, an American university located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Mou ...

football head coach

Don Nehlen Donald Eugene Nehlen (born January 1, 1936) is a former American football player and coach. He was head football coach at Bowling Green State University (1968–1976) and at West Virginia University (1980–2000). Nehlen retired from coaching ...

and former

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: ...

football head coach

Bob Pruett Robert Lewis Pruett (born June 20, 1943) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach Marshall University for nine seasons, from 1996 to 2004. During his tenure at Marshall, the Marshall Thundering Herd f ...

. Various programs, produced by West Virginia MetroNews, cover high school sports either live or with highlights during the week. The "MetroNews High School Scoreboard" airs highlights of games already played or to-be-played around the state. "High School Sportsline" is a mid-week call-in show, hosted by Garrett Cullen, exclusively about high school sports. "High School Game Night" is a live Friday evening program which features continuous score updates, interviews, and analysis. WCHS is also an affiliate of the

Cincinnati Reds Radio Network The Cincinnati Reds Radio Network is an American radio network composed of 69 radio stations which carry English-language coverage of the Cincinnati Reds, a professional baseball team in Major League Baseball (MLB). Cincinnati station WLW (700&n ...

Awards

A 1942 Peabody Award for Outstanding Public Service by a Regional Station for "The Home Front," a twice-weekly feature. A 2007 National Edward R. Murrow Award, in the category of "Continuing Coverage", for their reporting on the

Sago Mine disaster The Sago Mine disaster was a coal mine explosion on January 2, 2006, at the Sago Mine in Sago, West Virginia, United States, near the Upshur County seat of Buckhannon. The blast and collapse trapped 13 miners for nearly two days; only one su ...

Sago, West Virginia Sago is an unincorporated community in Upshur County, West Virginia, United States. It is located along the Buckhannon River The Buckhannon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Nati ...

. The station was presented with two 2011 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. The first, in the category of "Breaking News Coverage", was given for the station's coverage of the

Upper Big Branch Mine disaster The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster occurred on April 5, 2010 roughly underground in Raleigh County, West Virginia at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine located in Montcoal. Twenty-nine out of thirty-one miners at the site were killed ...

Montcoal, West Virginia Montcoal is an unincorporated community and coal town in Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. Montcoal is located on West Virginia Route 3, south of Whitesville. Coal mine explosion Montcoal is home to the Performance Coal Company, ...

. The second, in the category of "Audio News Documentary", was for "The Life of U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd". In 2011, the station was presented with a National Edward R. Murrow Award, for their Upper Big Branch Mine disaster coverage. WCHS, along with four other stations, were nominated for the 2011 Marconi Radio Award for "News/Talk Station of the Year" by the National Association of Broadcasters. WSB in Atlanta, however, won the award. In 2014, WCHS anchors and reports Chris Lawrence, Fred Persinger, Jeff Jenkins, Shauna Johnson, and Hoppy Kercheval were presented with various awards at that year's West Virginia Broadcasters Association "Excellence in Broadcasting Awards". In 2015, the station was again presented with two Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, one for "Overall Excellence" and the other for "Best Newscast".

References

External links

96.5 FM 580 AM WCHS Online
{{West Virginia Radio Corporation 1927 establishments in West Virginia News and talk radio stations in the United States Sports radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1927 CHS CHS