WVVR
Frequency100.3 MHz
BrandingThe Beaver
Programming
FormatCountry
AffiliationsWestwood One
Ownership
Owner
  • Saga Communications
  • (Saga Communications of Tuckessee, LLC)
WCVQ, WKFN, WNZE, WQEZ, WRND, WZZP
History
First air date
September 17, 1960; 63 years ago (1960-09-17)
Former call signs
WKOF (1960-1976)
WKSD (1976-1977)
WKOA-FM (1977-1986)[1]
WZZF (1986-1994) [2]
Technical information[3]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID73970
ClassC0
ERP100,000 Watts
HAAT305 meters
Transmitter coordinates
36°56′58″N 87°40′18″W / 36.94944°N 87.67167°W / 36.94944; -87.67167
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen Live
Websitethebeaverfm.com

WVVR (100.3 FM, "The Beaver") is a radio station licensed to serve Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The station is owned by Saga Communications through licensee Saga Communications of Tuckessee, LLC, and operates as part of its Five Star Media Group. It airs a country music format.[4]

History

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The station's construction permit was issued by the FCC on February 27, 1960.[1] It went on the air on September 17, 1960, as WKOF under ownership of Pennyrile Broadcasting Company.[5] It was a part-time simulcast of WKOA-AM, which was previously owned by the Kentucky New Era newspaper,[6] with 50% of WKOF's programming being a separate entity from the AM station. In 1968, its first power increase was granted for the station to increase its power from its original 7,950 watts to 30,000 watts.[1] The station then changed the callsign to WKSD on July 1, 1976.[1] The station was purchased in 1977 by a group of Hopkinsville, Kentucky investors, under the business name Pennyrile Broadcasting Company, with Hal King serving as the manager; the new owners changed the callsign to WKOA-FM on November 10, 1977.[1] In 1979, the station relocated its transmission facility from its original location near the Western Kentucky Fairgrounds to its current location, and increased its signal power to its current 100,000 watts, becoming one of the most powerful radio stations in the Hopkinsville area.[7]

Over time the station programmed beautiful music, stereo rock and contemporary hit radio. The station, known as "K-100", became "Z-100", and later adopted the Kool 100 branding when the call letters changed to WZZF-FM in late 1986.

In 1994, the station was purchased by WRUS, Inc., of Russellville, Kentucky (a division of Forever Broadcasting at the time).[6] WZZF had been rock-n-roll oldies,[8] but changed call letters to the current WVVR when it joined with WBVR-FM to simulcast the latter's country music format.[9] Prior to this, WBVR-FM (originally broadcast at 101.1 MHz) in Russellville was considered to be the "Original Beaver" radio station. That station had far less power and was separate until its purchase later on after the "Beaver Branding" was reallocated onto the former WMJM (96.7 MHz).[10] The original station "Hook Phrase" was, "The Beaver 1-oh-1 FM!". That changed after the tower and frequency were sold to Clear Channel in Nashville, Tennessee; although the license for the 101.1 MHz frequency remains licensed in Russellville, the frequency is now in use by Nashville-based hip hop station WUBT. This is when WBVR-FM (now licensed to nearby Auburn as of 2001) adopted the 96.7 FM frequency in Bowling Green after the closure of WMJM's previous operations. Afterward, the Hopkinsville station adopted a new branding, "The Beaver 100.3!" Some "hooks" and "catchphrases" used by the station are/were, "Today's Best & MOST Country", "The Big Money-Beaver Country FM", and others. Beaver Country programming was fed to both WBVR and WVVR from its Russellville studio.[11] This ended in the late 1990s, when the station moved out of its studios in Russellville, Kentucky and split operations between new studios located in both Bowling Green and downtown Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The Beaver branding is still used by both WBVR and WVVR. After the sell off from Forever Broadcasting in the 2000s, the station was moved to a brand new location in Clarksville, Tennessee along with the other main Clarksville stations including WCVQ.

The station has been assigned the WVVR call letters by the Federal Communications Commission since July 1, 1994.[2]

Former on-air personalities

References

  1. ^ a b c d e FCC History Cards for WVVR
  2. ^ a b "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database.
  3. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WVVR". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  4. ^ "Winter 2008 Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  5. ^ "WKOA Adds FM Service". Kentucky New Era. September 17, 1960.
  6. ^ a b "Oldies station going country". Kentucky New Era. June 15, 1994. p. 6B. Retrieved July 8, 2023 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ "WKOA Power Is Raised". Kentucky New Era. March 20, 1979. p. 11. Retrieved July 8, 2023 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Ferguson, Mary D. (June 27, 1991). "Radio vets recall good old days". Kentucky New Era. p. B1. Retrieved August 4, 2023 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ Stark, Phyllis (July 30, 1994). "Vox Jox". Billboard. Vol. 106, no. 31. p. 122.
  10. ^ "Where Did 101.1 FM Go?". News-Democrat and Leader. Russellville, Kentucky. July 28, 1994. p. 2. Archived from the original on February 5, 2022. Retrieved February 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Nash, Francis M. (1995). Towers Over Kentucky: A History of Radio and TV in the Bluegrass State. ISBN 9781879688933.

External links

Radio stations in the Clarksville, Tennessee, metropolitan area, including Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Country radio stations in the state of Kentucky
Saga Communications, Inc.
Categories