WXTG (1490 kHz "The Groove") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to Hampton, Virginia, and serving Hampton Roads, including

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

and

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 ...

. WXTG is owned and operated by Terry Suggs, through licensee TL Broadcasting LLC. It carries a

classic soul Classic soul is a radio format that focuses on the more raw types of soul music from the 1950s-1970s that draw from certain rhythm and blues and soul music influences, after 1980 is generally considered “contemporary R&B” with the smoother ...

and

urban oldies Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

. WXTG’s transmitter power output is 970

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

s, using a

non-directional antenna In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is a class of antenna (electronics), antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an axis (mathematics), axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle ...

. Programming is also heard on

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 ...

station 101.9 W270DA, with an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...

(ERP) of 175 watts.

History

WVEC and WWDE

The station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

as WVEC in 1948. It broadcast at 1050

kilocycle The cycle per second is a once-common English name for the unit of frequency now known as the hertz (Hz). The plural form was typically used, often written cycles per second, cycles/second, c.p.s., c/s, or, ambiguously, just cycles (Cy./Cyc.). The ...

s and was owned by the Peninsula Broadcasting Company. WVEC was a

daytimer A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-co ...

, transmitting with 250 watts and required to go off the air at night. In 1953, the station launched a television station,

WVEC-TV WVEC (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Hampton, Virginia, United States, serving the Hampton Roads area as an affiliate of ABC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios on Woodis Avenue in Norfolk; its transmitter ...

. The station moved to full time broadcasting by switching to 1490 kHz. The station was later sold and changed its

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 assign ...

to WWDE, paired with

WWDE-FM WWDE-FM (101.3 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Hampton, Virginia, serving the Norfolk/Hampton Roads media market. WWDE-FM airs an Adult Contemporary radio format, with a Country format on their HD2 subchannel. The station is ow ...

. Several format changes followed over the years, from

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

music to

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 ...

. In the 1990s, the station played the "

Music of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and C ...

" adult standards format and adopted WBYM call letters.

WBYM

In the late 1990s, the station was purchased by Hampton Radio II, Inc., co-owned with the "Anna's Pizza" restaurant chain. It changed to

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 ...

as "Classic Hit Country 1490 The Goldmine." The station was the only one in the region to continue online streaming when all others stopped because of royalty disputes with copyrighted music. On several occasions, the classic country format saw the station make the top 20 in the Arbitron ratings for Hampton Roads. Listeners in foreign countries could hear the station via streaming.

WLRT

WBYM became WLRT in late 2003, and flipped to a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on ...

format, adding

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

coverage. It hosted several fundraising

radiothon A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or even days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other purportedly worthy cause. Most telethons f ...

s lasting over 72 hours to help victims of

Hurricane Isabel Hurricane Isabel was the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Mitch, and the deadliest, costliest, and most intense hurricane in the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Isabel was also the strongest hurricane in the open waters of the Atlan ...

, hosted continuously by morning

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

Chuck Hall. The station later switched to a hybrid

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featu ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

and

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, ...

format.

WXTG

On July 30, 2013, Red Zebra sold WXTG and sister station

WXTG-FM WXTG-FM (102.1 MHz, "Streetz 87.7 & 102.1") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Virginia Beach, Virginia, and serving the Southside of Hampton Roads. It is owned and operated by Davis Media, LLC. WXTG-FM airs an urban contemporary radi ...

to Williamsburg-based Davis Media, LLC for $1.2 million. Davis Media, LLC owns

WTYD WTYD (92.3 FM) is an adult album alternative formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Deltaville, Virginia, serving the Northern Neck The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas (traditionally called "necks" in Virginia) o ...

and

WBQK WBQK (107.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to West Point, Virginia, and serving the Virginia Peninsula and the Middle Peninsula. WBQK is owned and operated by Davis Media, LLC. It simulcasts the Adult Album Alternative (AAA) rad ...

. The sale to Davis Media was consummated on April 7, 2014. On August 1, 2013, sister station WXTG-FM broke from its simulcast of WXTG to simulcast new sister station

. WXTG continued to carry a sports format under the branding "1490 The Game" until April 14, 2014, when WXTG switched to simulcasting WTYD. On August 1, 2015, WXTG reverted to the

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 ...

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 ...

and

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, ...

hybrid format that aired on the station prior to 2007. The station again carried "The Outlaw" branding. The syndicated "

Imus in the Morning ''Imus in the Morning'' was a long-running radio show hosted by Don Imus. The show originated on June 2, 1968, on various stations in the Western United States and Cleveland, Ohio before settling on WNBC radio in New York City in 1971. In Octobe ...

" show was carried during the morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cl ...

. Davis Media, LLC began the process of selling WXTG to Speedway Media Group, owner of Langley Speedway, on August 6, 2016. Speedway Media Group began operating WXTG via a local marketing agreement (LMA) on August 1, 2015. The station continued to carry the Classic Country, Talk and Sports format launched on August 1. The LMA with Speedway Media Group expired in January 2017, and WXTG switched to a simulcast of

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

, branded as "The Tide." The station signed on a new

at 101.9 on April 27, 2018, continuing the album adult alternative (AAA) format.

News and Business

On January 7, 2019, WXTG and WXTG-FM flipped to a hybrid news and business format, branded as "All News 102". The station had a local staff for Virginia news, coupled with syndicated business programming from

Bloomberg Radio Bloomberg Radio is a radio service of Bloomberg L.P. that provides global business news programming 24 hours a day. The format is general and financial news, offering local, national and international news reports along with financial market up ...

and world news from

CBS Radio News CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

and Westwood One News.

The Tide and The Groove

On June 5, 2020, WXTG changed its format from news to AAA, branded as "The Tide", simulcasting

. On March 24, 2020, Davis Media sold WXTG to Terry Suggs' TL Broadcasting for $150,000.Terry Suggs Secures A Tidewater AM
Radio & Television Business Report - March 30, 2020 The sale was consummated on June 25, 2020. On June 30, 2020, WXTG dropped the WTYD simulcast and flipped to Classic R&B and

Urban Oldies Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

Translator

In addition to the main station, WXTG is relayed by an FM translator.

Previous logo

References

External links

The Tide Online
* * {{Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News Radio XTG (AM) Radio stations established in 1948 1948 establishments in Virginia Urban oldies radio stations in the United States