WZAP is a
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 ...
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
Bristol, Virginia, serving the
Tri-Cities area. WZAP is owned and operated by Glen & Rita Harlow, through licensee RGH Communications Inc.
History
The station was founded by Appalachian Broadcasting, a consortium of local businessmen, in December 1946 under the call sign WCYB. The station's initial format was
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, ...
, including such notable acts as the
Stanley Brothers
The Stanley Brothers were an American bluegrass duo of singer-songwriters and musicians, made up of brothers Carter Stanley (August 27, 1925 – December 1, 1966) and Ralph Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016). Ralph and Carter perfo ...
. Appalachian Broadcasting signed on
WCYB-TV
WCYB-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Bristol, Virginia, United States, serving the Tri-Cities area as an affiliate of NBC and The CW. It is one of two commercial television stations in the market that are licensed in Virgin ...
in 1956. In 1969, Appalachian's owners decided to retire. The FCC had by this time barred common ownership of television and radio stations, so the radio station was sold to another local businessman, James Ayers, who changed the call letters to WZAP. Ayers died in 1975, and in 1976 his estate sold the station to general manager Al Morris and his company, RAM Communications. In 2017 RAM Communications sold the station to Chuck Lawson and Awaken Broadcasting, Inc. The current owner Glen & Rita Harlow, RGH Communications, Inc. received transfer of the license on December 30, 2020.
Prior to the dominance of FM radio, WZAP was the number one station in the Tri-Cities TN/VA market, playing country/western music with a personality-DJ format. The station switched to its current Southern gospel format in 1982.
Some key on-air personnel over the years included Glen Harlow, Dave Ray, Ray Hutchins, Greg Hutchins, and Ed Spiegel. WZAP's longtime chief engineer was John Faniola, who could often be heard testing the station's transmitter late into the overnight hours.
Effective December 30, 2020, Awaken Broadcasting Inc. sold WZAP to RGH Communications Inc.
See also
*
Allmusic.com entry for ''Live Again: WCYB Farm & Fun Time'', a recording of live music broadcast from the station during the late 1940s and early 1950s
References
External links
WZAP 690 Radio OnlineWZAP 690 Radio on ''Facebook''
Radio stations established in 1946
1946 establishments in Virginia
Southern Gospel radio stations in the United States
ZAP
Bristol, Virginia
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