WRVA-FM 100.7 History
In 1947, Mel Warner and his father-in-law, Rocky Mount Evening Telegram founder Josh Horne, signed an AM/FM combo in this Eastern North Carolina town. WCEC was heard at 810 AM and WCEC-FM 100.7. The stations hired legendary agricultural broadcaster Ray Wilkinson in 1948 and, along with Raleigh's WRAL-FM, and Goldsboro's WGBR started the Tobacco Network. It was sold to WRAL-FM owner A. J. Fletcher, and has grown into what is now known as the North Carolina News Network. Several years after their sign on, WCEC-FM became WFMA. WFMA had a country format when Ken Johnson's Birmingham, Alabama-based Capital Broadcasting (no relation to Raleigh's Capitol Broadcasting Company) bought it and moved it's studios to Raleigh as WTRG around August of 1986. (WCEC 810, now a stand-alone which was authorized for daytime operation only, went dark and its license was subsequently turned into the FCC.) Along with the studio move, WTRG was upgraded to a 100,000-watt signal from one of the tallest FM towers in North Carolina. The station, now with a 10,227 square-mile coverage area, claimed the 17th largest coverage area of any FM station in America. WTRG signed on with the fight songs from Duke, UNC and NC State before debuting with an oldies format, only to quickly shift gears to an adult contemporary format. They returned to oldies in 1989 as "Oldies 100.7". Tom Joyner purchased WTRG in 1991 and built a very community-minded station not afraid to take editorial stances: an example of this was the station's 1993 crusade for increased rights of victims of violent crimes. With the relaxation of dual ownership rules, WTRG was sold in 1994 to Hicks Muse of Dallas, along with Carl Venters' WRDU, a move-in from nearby Wilson. Through several mergers, WTRG, WRDU and three other local stations became part of Clear Channel Worldwide. On November 8th, 2004, WTRG axed its longtime oldies format and began stunting with simulcasts of Clear Channel sister stations WRSN (now WKSL), WDCG, WDUR and WRDU. At 5 p.m. on November 12th, the station switched to country as "100.7 The Bull"; however, this "new" country format was exactly that. On November 15th, also at 5 p.m., they became adult hits-formatted "100.7 The River", with the new call letters WRVA-FM following shortly thereafter. Nighttime AM radio listeners may recognize these call letters from another Clear Channel Radio property, 50,000-watt WRVA 1140 in Richmond, VA (hence the "-FM"). On September 25th, 2006, The River shifted to a rock adult contemporary format, albeit with the same handle and imaging. In anticipation of sister station and heritage rocker WRDU's move to a country format, "The River" went classic hits. In early March of 2007, WRVA-FM began broadcasting in HD Radio, the first of the local Clear Channel stations to do so. Shortly thereafter, an HD-2 service was added playing independent music.
WRVA-FM 100.7 Gallery
- Carl Lamm, who today owns Smithfield's WMPM, was once a personality at WCEC/WCEC-FM in Rocky Mount.
- Images from the Joe Warner collection of WCEC-FM and WFMA, as WRVA was known in its early days, while still based in Rocky Mount.
- Ray Wilkinson doing a remote for WCEC.
- WTRG used this logo as an adult contemporary station in from 1986-1989.
- A video aircheck of WTRG in 1988, wen it was an adult contemporary station.
- A bumper sticker depicting the first logo WTRG used as an oldies station, from 1989 to 1992.
- WTRG used this logo during most of the 1990s.
- WTRG used this logo from the late 1990s until dropping the oldies format in 2004.
- WTRG used this "logo" on their website for one week in November of 2004 while stunting as a "New" country station called "100.7 The Bull".
- A 1996 WTRG audio clip from Bostonradio.org, 0:15.
- WTRG used this logo during most of the 1990s.
- Smoketree Tower, where WRVA's studios are located along with sister Clear Channel stations WDCG, WDUR, WRDU and WRSN. The station was the first of the five located here, where it signed on from Raleigh as WTRG in 1986.
