WROX-FM (96.1 MHz) is an

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

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 wi ...

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

Exmore, Virginia Exmore is the largest town in Northampton County on the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 1,460 at the 2010 census. A popular story is that Exmore received its name because it is the tenth railroad station south of ...

, serving

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, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic ...

and the

Eastern Shore of Virginia The Eastern Shore of Virginia consists of two counties ( Accomack and Northampton) on the Atlantic coast detached from the mainland of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The region is part of the Delmarva Peninsula and is s ...

. WROX-FM is owned and operated by Sinclair Telecable, Inc. WROX's studios are located on Waterside Drive in Downtown Norfolk, and its transmitter is located in Cape Charles.

History

The station signed on in 1986. Though it initially was planned to be a

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

station as WWGH, it instead signed on as WIAV, "Wave 96", with a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

/ CHR format. It was then co-owned with WVAB (1550 AM). Bishop L.E. Willis later bought the two stations and then bought 92.1, later spinning off WVAB. It then shifted to a dance-leaning CHR as WKSV, "Kiss 96", in December 1988. Six months later, in May 1989, it flipped to

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

after WXRI was sold. On June 21, 1991, WKSV adopted WMYK's urban format as 'Touch 96' and adopted the call letters WMYA on August 5, 1991. In October 1993, Willis sold the station to current owner Sinclair Telecable. Shortly after the sale, WMYA flipped to its current format and "96X" branding on October 25. In 1995, in order to fill a coverage gap in the core portion of Hampton Roads, they put their new 250 watt translator at 106.1 MHz (W291AE) on the air; it was best heard in downtown Norfolk to help eliminate signal dropout in the downtown area. The translator existed until 2004, when WUSH was born. On July 22, 1998, WROX-FM shifted to Top 40/CHR. The station terminated all of their on air personalities. This proved to be extremely unpopular with locals, as the station reverted back to Alternative Rock one year later on July 16, 1999. The station's call letters didn't change during this time. In June 24, 2019, WROX-FM shifted its format from alternative rock to adult album alternative, still branded as "96X".96X Norfolk Moves Towards AAA
Radioinsight - June 25, 2019 On June 29, 2020, 96X quietly changed its format back to alternative rock in the midst of iHeartRadio's abrupt format flip of WNOH, launching an African American-oriented national news radio network.

References

External links

96X Online
* 1986 establishments in Virginia Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1986 ROX-FM {{Virginia-radio-station-stub