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WWVA-AM <tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">Image:WVVA-AM.gif</td></tr><tr><th>City of license</th><td>Wheeling, West Virginia</td></tr><tr><th>Broadcast area</th><td>Wheeling, West Virginia</td></tr><tr><th>Branding</th><td>NewsRadio 1170 WWVA</td></tr><tr><th>Slogan</th><td>The Big One</td></tr><tr><th>First air date</th><td>December 13, 1926</td></tr><tr><th>Frequency</th><td>1170 kHz</td></tr>

Format	News / Talk <tr><th>ERP</th><td>50,000 watts (day & night)</td></tr><tr><th>Class</th><td>A</td></tr><tr><th>Callsign meaning</th><td>Wheeling West VirginiA</td></tr><tr><th>Affiliations</th><td>Fox News Radio Premiere Radio Networks Paul Harvey (ABC Radio) Talk Radio Network</td></tr>
Owner	Clear Channel Communications <tr><th>Website</th><td>WWVA.com </td></tr>

WWVA is an AM radio station that broadcasts on a frequency of 1170 kHz with studios in Wheeling, West Virginia, USA and its transmitter in St. Clairsville, Ohio. It is a class A 50,000 watt clear channel station, sharing the frequency with KFAQ (formerly KVOO) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. WWVA can be heard in most of the eastern two-thirds of the United States at night, as well as most of Canada. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications and uses the on-air nickname "The Big One" (borrowed from sister stations WLW and WTAM).

Contents 1 History 2 Programming 2.1 Weekdays 2.2 Saturday 2.3 Sunday 2.4 Notes 3 External links

[edit] History

WWVA began broadcasting in at 2:00 a.m. on December 13, 1926. Electronics wizard, physics teacher, and inventor John Stroebel threw the switch that sent power surging through the tiny, home-built 50 watt transmitter in the basement of his home. One week earlier, the Federal Communications Commission had granted a broadcast license on 860 kilocycles to the radio station WWVA. In its first year of operation, it broadcast to listeners with home-made crystal sets, principally from Stroebel's own home.

Through the years, WWVA was granted several power increases. In May of 1941, the FCC moved WWVA to 1170 KC, and in August of that same year, granted the ultimate power for AM stations: 50,000 watts. In doing so, WWVA became the strongest AM station in the entire state of West Virginia.

The list of WWVA's owners over the years reads like a radio "Who’s Who." They include Fidelity Investments, West Virginia Broadcasting Corporation, Storer Broadcasting, Basic Communications, Screen Gems Radio - a division of Columbia Pictures, Coca-Cola, Price Broadcasting, Osborn Communications, Atlantic Star Communications, AMFM Inc., and currently Clear Channel Communications.

WWVA’s rich broadcast history includes the airing of such notable live broadcasts as President Eisenhower’s visit to the Wheeling area, the daily Paul Harvey broadcast, which was fed to the nation from WWVA’s studios (WWVA was an ABC affiliate from 1962 to 2005. Harvey, however, remains on the station's schedule), and the legendary Jamboree USA and Jamboree in the Hills broadcasts. Jamboree USA broadcasts started on WWVA in January 7, 1933 and was even transmitted to troops abroad during the height of World War II.

Under Basic ownership, the Jamboree became the centerpiece of an all-contemporary country western format starting on November 8, 1965, a format that saw ratings skyrocket weeks after it debuted. WWVA's studios and the Jamboree moved to the Capitol Music Hall in 1970, a civic center that is the largest in the state of West Virginia.

This country music format lasted right up until 1997, when WWVA abandoned it in favor of news/talk. Assumption of ownership by Clear Channel Communications resulted in the addition of such hosts as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. A series of cost-cutting moves in January of 2004 resulted in the elimination of both local talk hosts (George Kellas and Jim Harrington) and most of the news department. Coinciding with this was an attempt to relocate the broadcast frequency to Stow, Ohio under a FCC major construction permit four weeks later. This permit was withdrawn in August of 2004.

Since then, most of WWVA's programming today (aside from the evening paid religious fare) emulates regional sister stations WPGB-FM in Pittsburgh and WHLO in Akron, Ohio.WWVA is one of only three stations that still carry the Steve Sommers program during the overnights, formerly hosted by the Truckin' Bozo. The other two are WLW in Cincinnati and KWKH in Shreveport. One local link to the station's past remains with an afternoon drive show hosted by former sportscaster Steve Novotney.

Jamboree USA, however, remains on WWVA's schedule to this day, and in spite of a current hiatus, it is the second-longest running program in radio history. (The Grand Ole Opry on WSM Nashville is the oldest, having first aired in 1925.) The country format remains on sister station WOVK-FM, which is the FM flagship station of Jamboree USA.

[edit] Programming

[edit] Weekdays

• 5:00 a.m. - 6:00 a.m.: The Wall Street Journal This Morning
• 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.: The War Room with Quinn and Rose
• 9:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.: Glenn Beck
• 11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Paul Harvey
• 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: Rush Limbaugh
• 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.: Sean Hannity [Formerly Steve Novotney]
• 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.: Michael Savage
• 8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.: Paid Religious Programming
• 11:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.: Roy Masters Advice Line
• 1:00 a.m. - 5:00 a.m.: America's Trucking Network

[edit] Saturday

• 5:00 a.m. - 6:00 a.m.: The Wall Street Journal This Weekend
• 6:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m.: In the Garden with Ron Wilson
• 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.: Buckeye Sportsman with Dan Armitage
• 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.: Dollars and Sense
• 9:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.: Saturday Sports Day with John Simonson
• 11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Paul Harvey
• 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: Glenn Beck Weekend
• 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.: Costas on the Radio
• 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.: Jamboree USA
• 9:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.: Net Biz Radio
• 11:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.: Paid Religious Programming
• 1:00 a.m. - 5:30 a.m.: America's Trucking Network

[edit] Sunday

• 5:30 a.m. - 6:00 a.m.: Weekend Focus
• 6:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.: Voice of Truth
• 6:30 a.m. - 7:00 a.m.: Christian Science Sentinel
• 7:00 a.m. - 7:30 a.m.: Bread of Life
• 7:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.: The Living Word
• 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.: Keep Hope Alive with Rev. Jesse Jackson
• 9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.: Changed Lives
• 9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.: Down Gilead Lane
• 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.: Judy Stringhill's Polka Show
• 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: The Little Bookshop
• 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: Handel on the Law
• 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.: At Home with Gary Sullivan
• 6:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.: Paid Religious Programming
• 1:00 a.m. - 5:00 a.m.: America's Trucking Network

[edit] Notes

• WWVA was one of the first stations in the US to have an in-studio Citizens' Band Radio to talk to listeners at night,in between songs and other on-air items, during the 1970s when it produced and ran an in-house nightly truckers' show hosted by the extremely popular radio personality, Buddy Ray. Ray left the station in the early 1980s.
• WWVA relies on a fairly large amount of paid and religious programming during the evening and weekend hours. It is one of a handful of 50,000 watt AM stations that still do this practice, including WCKY in Cincinnati, Ohio and KXEL in Waterloo, Iowa.
• In two instances has WWVA been threatened with relocation: first in 1930 to Charleston by then-owner West Virginia Broadcasting Corporation, and again in 2004 to Stow, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland) by Clear Channel Communications.

[edit] External links

• In-house history of WWVA published on the station's 50th anniversary
• WWVA.com
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WWVA