WVJS (1420 AM) is an American

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

licensed to serve the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Owensboro, Kentucky Owensboro is a Home rule in the United States, home rule-class city in Daviess County, Kentucky, United States, of which it is also the county seat. It is the List of cities in Kentucky, fourth-most populous city in the state. Owensboro is loca ...

. The station is owned and operated by Hancock Communications, Inc.,

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

the Cromwell Radio Group. The station airs an

Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

/ Classic hits format. WVJS operates with an Effective radiated power (ERP) of 980

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s during the day, and 20 watts during the night. This makes it a class D radio station. The station also has two translators, 92.9 W225CL and 93.3 W227CO. These translators both operate at 250 watts, making them class D translators.

History

WVJS programming began November 27, 1947, from studios located at 324 Allen Street in downtown Owensboro. The station's transmitter building and multi tower directional array were located on a 26-acre tract of land on U.S. Highway 60, just west of the Owensboro city limits. The station operated on 1420 kilocycles with 1,000 watts of power. The following year WVJS-FM went on the air on 96.1 megacycles. The stations were owned and operated by Owensboro on the Air, Incorporated. Owensboro developer Vincent J. Steele was majority owner. Owensboro radio veteran Malcolm Greep, who was a driving force in starting WVJS, was named general manager of the new station. In early 1960, WVJS closed its downtown studios on Allen Street and consolidated all of its operations at the company's transmitting site on Highway 60. The station began play-by-play coverage of the Kentucky Wesleyan College basketball games in 1961. In 1962, WVJS was granted FCC approval to boost daytime power to 5,000 watts. In 1963, the station's FM callsign was changed to WSTO and it became Kentucky's first full-time stereo broadcasting station. In 1973, Owensboro on the Air was granted a franchise by the city to provide cable television service to Owensboro and a new building to house Owensboro Cablevision was constructed at the company's Highway 60 site. In 1983, V.J. Steele's heirs sold WVJS, WSTO and the cable TV operations to Century Communications Corporation of New Canaan, Connecticut. At the end of 1996, Century sold WVJS and WSTO to Brill Media which already owned Owensboro stations WOMI and WBKR. WSTO was later sold to South Central Communications of Evansville, Indiana. In 2002, WVJS was purchased by its current owner, Cromwell Radio Group, and shares facilities at 1115 Tamarack Road in Owensboro, with the following stations: Philpot-licensed WBIO, Whitesville-licensed WXCM, Hawesville-licensed WKCM, Lewisport-licensed WLME, Cannelton, Indiana-licensed WCJZ and Tell City, Indiana-licensed WTCJ.

Programming

WVJS broadcasts a mix of

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

and classic hits music format to the greater

, area. Programming features the "Kool Gold" syndicated format from Westwood One. General Managers from 1947 to 1997 included Malcolm Greep, Ray Wettstain, Corky Norcia, and Steve Cooke. The station's Commercial Managers from 1947 to 1997 included Jack McLean, John Rutledge, Parker Smith, Joe Fife, Dennis Keller, and Corky Norcia. Program Directors from 1947 to 1997 included Lee Meredith, Earl Fisher, Jim Orton, and Joe Lowe. Finally, News Directors from 1947 to 1997 included Joe Bell, Gerry Wood, Joel Utley, Jim Parr, Mike Whitsett, Scott Douglas, and Jerry Birge.

Translators

WVJS programming is also carried on a broadcast translator station to extend or improve the coverage area of the station.

References

External links

WVJS official website
* * * * {{Oldies Radio Stations in Kentucky VJS Owensboro, Kentucky Oldies radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Kentucky