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WOWI (102.9 FM) – branded ''103 Jamz'' – 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 ...
urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...
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 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
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 ...
,
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 ...
. Owned by
iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
, the station services
Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...
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 ...
, and is the local affiliate for ''
The Breakfast Club ''The Breakfast Club'' is a 1985 American teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. It stars Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The film t ...
''. The WOWI studios are located in Norfolk, while the transmitter is in nearby
Chesapeake Chesapeake often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated plac ...
. Besides a standard
analog transmission Analog transmission is a transmission method of conveying information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that information. It could be the transfer of an analog signal, using an ana ...
, WOWI broadcasts over two
HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
digital subchannels In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...
, and is available online via
iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...
.


History


Early years

On June 6, 1948, 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 WRVC at 102.5 MHz. It was owned by
Larus and Brother Company Larus and Brother Company (1877–1968) was a diversified tobacco company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The company manufactured pipe tobacco, cigarettes, and charcoal. It also operated local radio and television stations. History Cha ...
, a
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
company which also owned WRVA and WRVB (now
WRVQ WRVQ (94.5 FM "Q94") is a commercial radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia, and serving Central Virginia. WRVQ is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. It airs a Top 40 (CHR) radio format. The syndicated Elvis Duran show from former siste ...
) in
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...
. WRVC simulcast some of WRVA's
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
network and local programming, while originating its own; while WRVA's 50,000-watt signal is audible in the Norfolk area, Larus and Brother wanted this additional outlet for its programs to be heard in the
Tidewater region Tidewater refers to the north Atlantic coastal plain region of the United States of America. Definition Culturally, the Tidewater region usually includes the low-lying plains of southeast Virginia, northeastern North Carolina, southern Maryl ...
of Virginia, even though few radios at the time could receive FM broadcasts. By 1954, the network radio era was winding down, and WRVC became a "good music" station. Two years later, however, Larus and Brother threatened to close it outright on October 31, 1956. A group composed of the station's sales manager and program director and a Richmond attorney organized as the Virginia Good Music Company, and with contributions from thousands of supporters, bought WRVC from Larus for $13,500. Six years later, Virginia Good Music was authorized to move WRVC from 102.5 to 102.9 MHz, a move that became possible when WRFK-FM in Richmond moved to 106.5.


Progressive rock era 1970-75

The good music era came to an end in 1970 when the Brinsfield Broadcasting Company, owned by J. Stewart Brinsfield Sr. and Jr., acquired WRVC for $80,000. The call letters were changed to WOWI-FM on May 21, 1970; the FM suffix was dropped on March 11, 1971. While the station originally ran an automated "Solid Gold Rock and Roll" format, it flipped to
progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
on May 15, 1971. Additionally, the station raised its power to 18,500 watts in two stages in 1971, then to 50,000 watts in 1973. One particular air personality sparked controversy. In October 1972, John Frank Nesci was indicted by the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton Roa ...
on federal obscenity charges for playing lyrics on June 8 that the court refused to transcribe in its indictment. Those lyrics came from an altered version of " Country Joe McDonald’s Fish Chant" from the film ''
Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
'', with the chant of "F-I-S-H" altered to "F-U-C-K". Nesci's lawyers motioned to dismiss the case in November, saying that the relevant law was being used to punish him for his anti-war and other broadcasts, including reading the license plate numbers of unmarked police vehicles on air. While Nesci lost his job, the case was dismissed in early December, as station management had no involvement and it was no longer a wise use of time to prosecute the case.


Switch to urban contemporary

In 1974, Metro Communications Corporation—which changed its name to Willis Broadcasting Corporation in 1976—acquired WOWI from Brinsfield for $765,000; at the same time, it acquired Norfolk AM station WWOC in a separate transaction. Metro was headed by Bishop L. E. Willis, president of the Atlantic National Bank and pastor of the Garden of Prayer Church of God in Christ; at the time, Hampton Roads had one African American-oriented radio station, WRAP, but it was European-American-owned. WWOC and WOWI represented the first black-owned stations in the region. Even though one newspaper article claimed that WOWI was top-rated in the area at the time of the Willis purchase, that was not the case according to
Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...
, whose survey earlier in the year had given the station a 1.7 rating—far behind market leader WRAP at 19.4. WOWI switched to an urban contemporary format, the first of its kind on FM. The late 1970s presented WOWI with a near-existential crisis. In the culmination of a 15-month investigation by 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 jurisdiction ...
, the FCC designated the station's license renewal for hearing. Key in the case were three allegations: one that the station's sales manager in 1975 and 1976 used coercion and threats of boycotts to secure advertising from
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
,
Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
and a Norfolk tire shop; another about the airing of misleading advertising and information about illegal lotteries; and another alleging Willis had taken over station WBLU at Salem. The case was ended in 1982 when an administrative law judge recommended a $10,000 fine to Willis and the renewal of its licenses. For the first few years, WOWI was
automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
, but by 1980, the station had added live air talent. However, turnover meant that the station's ratings suffered in the 1980s, and in 1984, a competitor emerged:
WMYK WMYK (98.5 FM "Rock 98.5") is a mainstream rock 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 rad ...
. In response, WOWI retooled, adopting the moniker "Hot 103". In addition, Willis turned down a sale offer from Glenn Mahone, owner of WPLZ-FM in Petersburg.


Ratings rise

After 15 years, Willis sold WOWI in 1989 to Ragan Henry and his U.S. Radio Company for $8.3 million. The new ownership tweaked the station's format to be faster-paced and include more rap and dance music. WOWI's ratings surged; from 1990 to 2000, WOWI led the Hampton Roads ratings and posted a double-digit ratings figure in all but one year. In the second half of the 1990s, WOWI also took the mantle of top-billing station in the market. The station also was the first urban-format outlet in the United States to break gospel artist
Kirk Franklin Kirk Dewayne Franklin (born January 26, 1970) is an American songwriter, choir director, gospel singer, and rapper. He is best known for leading urban contemporary gospel ensembles such as The Family, God's Property, and One Nation Crew (1NC) a ...
, playing "Why We Sing"; soon,
WGCI-FM WGCI-FM (107.5 MHz) is an urban contemporary radio station that is licensed to Chicago, Illinois, serving the Chicago metropolitan area and Northwest Indiana. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia (formerly known as Clear Channel Communication ...
followed, and Franklin's career surged. U.S. Radio was sold to Clear Channel Communications, forerunner to iHeartMedia, in a $140 million, 18-station transaction in 1996. In the 2000s, WOWI fell to second place behind
Entercom Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...
-owned
WVKL WVKL (95.7 FM) – branded ''95-7 R&B'' – is a commercial urban adult contemporary radio station licensed to serve Norfolk, Virginia. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station services the Hampton Roads region, and is the market affiliate for ''The S ...
.


References


External links

*
"Progressive WOWI-FM"
* * {{IHeartMedia OWI Urban contemporary radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1948 IHeartMedia radio stations