WRVV

WRVV
City Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area South Central Pennsylvania
Branding The River 97.3
Slogan "Real. Rock. Variety."
Frequency 97.3 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date June 1946
Format Analog/HD1: Classic Rock
HD2: Talk radio (WHP simulcast)
ERP 15,000 watts
HAAT 260 meters
Class B
Facility ID 15324
Transmitter coordinates 40°20′43.3″N 76°52′7.9″W / 40.345361°N 76.868861°W / 40.345361; -76.868861 (NAD27)
Callsign meaning W (Susquehanna) RiVer V
Former callsigns WHP-FM (1946-1990)
WXBB (1990)
WHP-FM (1990-1992)
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
(Clear Channel Broadcasting Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stations WRBT, WHKF, WHP, WTKT
Webcast Listen Live
Website theriver973.iheart.com

WRVV (97.3 FM, "The River 97.3") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and broadcasts a classic rock format. The station's studios are located at 600 Corporate Circle, Harrisburg and its antenna is on the WHP-TV broadcast tower located on Blue Mountain in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County at (40°20′43.1″N 76°52′8.3″W / 40.345306°N 76.868972°W / 40.345306; -76.868972).[1][2] Its slogan is "Real. Rock. Variety."

History

The station signed on for the first time in June 1946[3] under ownership of WHP, Inc, who also owned WHP-AM. As such, it rebroadcast WHP-AM programming about 50% of the time, with the remainder of the broadcast day devoted to musical instrumentals and other "Musak" type material. The station's format evolved to Beautiful music, which would continue until 1990.

In February 1990, the station switched call signs to WXBB[4] and its format to Contemporary Hit Radio as "B97.3". The station switched call signs back to WHP-FM and the format back to Beautiful music in December 1990.

In 1992 the station was sold to Dame Media along with sister station WHP-AM and studios were moved out of the WHP-TV building to a new location at 600 Corporate Circle, Harrisburg. The call sign was changed to WRVV in March 1992,[5] the station's branding to "The River 97.3" (the first station in the country to be branded as "The River"[6]), the format to Rock Adult Contemporary (Rock AC)[7] and the slogan to "Rock and Roll without the Hard Edge". The station's new Operations Manager at the time, Chris Tyler, created the format.[8]

The Dame Media stations including WRVV were sold to Clear Channel Communications in 1999.[5] The format changed to classic rock after the sale. In the mid-2000s, the station changed its slogan to "Real. Rock. Variety."

In 2004, WRVV and WNNK-FM were the first stations in Harrisburg to begin using HD Radio.[9]

WRVV and WNNK-FM frequently trade the number one spot in the Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle Radio Market Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) Ratings since the mid-1990s.

References

  1. ↑ "FM Query Results for WRVV". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
  2. ↑ "TV Query Results for WHP-TV". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
  3. ↑ Portzline, Timothy (2011). Harrisburg Broadcasting. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia. p. 35. ISBN 9780738575070.
  4. ↑ "Call Sign History, WRVV". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
  5. 1 2 Portzline, Timothy (2011). Harrisburg Broadcasting. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia. p. 109. ISBN 9780738575070.
  6. ↑ "Clear Channel Cuts Chris Tyler In Harrisburg". mediaconfidential.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
  7. ↑ "WTPA Faithful: Unwilling To "Bid" Adieu as Deadline Approaches". radioinfo.com. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
  8. ↑ "The River's (WRVV) Morning Man: Chris Tyler". harrisburgpa.com. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
  9. ↑ Portzline, Timothy (2011). Harrisburg Broadcasting. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia. p. 117. ISBN 9780738575070.
  1. 1948 Broadcasting Yearbook, pg B-139
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