WRVW

WRVW
City Lebanon, Tennessee
Broadcast area Nashville, Tennessee
Branding 107.5 The River
Slogan Live Life, Love Music
Frequency 107.5 MHz (also on HD Radio)
107.5 HD2 for Hit Nation
Top 20
(Formally Future Radio)
First air date August 31, 1962
Format Top 40 (CHR)
ERP 46,000 watts
HAAT 409 meters
Class C1
Facility ID 59824
Callsign meaning W-RiVer-W, reference to the Cumberland River
Former callsigns WCOR-FM (1962-1980)
WUSW (1980–1982)
WYHY (1982–1996)
Former frequencies 107.3 MHz (1962-1982)[1]
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
(Capstar TX LLC)
Sister stations WLAC, WNRQ, WSIX-FM, WUBT
Webcast Listen Live
Website 1075theriver.com

WRVW is a radio station broadcasting on the FM band at 107.5 MHz, licensed to the city of Lebanon, Tennessee, but serving the nearby Nashville market. It is currently branded as 107.5 The River, broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR) format, and has become something of a heritage station for Top-40 music in middle Tennessee. It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and operates out of studios in the world-famous "Music Row" area. Its transmitter is located just north of downtown Nashville.

WRVW broadcasts in the HD format:

History

WCOR-FM/WUSW (US107)

The station signed on the air on August 31, 1962 on the 107.3 MHz frequency in Lebanon as the F.M. sister station to WCOR. [1] It played a country music format for its first 19 years on the air. The station also broadcast some gospel music programming in the mid and late 1970s. [3] By 1980, it branded itself US107 and changed its callsign to WUSW. This station proved to be short-lived; its absentee owner shut it down along with its AM sister, WCOR, in mid-1981. It was sold, moved to Nashville, and had its frequency changed to 107.5 in order to accommodate a power increase (The FCC ruled out a power increase for 107.3 because of its proximity to WQLT-FM in Florence, Alabama, which is also on 107.3).

WYHY (Y107)

The Y107 logo

The station received a complete overhaul when it moved to 107.5 FM in 1982, and went on to become one of Nashville's most successful radio stations. When the move was complete, the callsign was changed to WYHY. Those call letters and the station's official nickname "The New Y107" lasted from 1982 until 1996.

Initially under its new incarnation, Y107 broadcast adult contemporary music. Within a few years, however, Y107 became a Top 40 station, competing with two other similar stations, "KX 104 FM" (WWKX) and "96 Kiss" (WZKS). Needing a dose of "attitude", Y107 hired Coyote McCloud from WWKX in 1984 and launched a brand spanking new morning show entitled, "Coyote McCloud And The Y107's Morning Zoo Crew" or "The Y Morning Zoo" for short. The station quickly became a more aggressive radio station and calling themselves as "The Outrageous FM". This format, very edgy for its time but tame by today's standards, was popular among teenagers and its targeted demographic, young adults. The antics of the station infuriated older, more conservative area residents, and the station even became the subject of a report on CBS' 48 Hours about "shock radio". During this time, however, WYHY enjoyed enormous popularity across the board, and was regularly Nashville's highest-rated radio station.

By the early 1990s, the station's act wore thin (and teenage tastes began changing to harder rock as well), and its popularity began to decline. Ratings went down (as was the case for most Top 40 stations across America around that time), and the "outrageous FM" was no longer impressed advertisers as a result. After a brief stint with a rock-leaning Top 40 format in 1993 failed to improve ratings, the station quickly reverted to mainstream contemporary hits. Around this time, the station entered a local marketing agreement with SFX Broadcasting and became a sister station to WSIX-FM. SFX eventually purchased WYHY outright, and made some wholesale changes to the station.[4] The "outrageous FM" gimmick was gone and the station again took a more straightforward approach, to make it more popular with advertisers. Despite the changes, the "Y107" branding still carried a negative connotation in the advertising community, due to the sheer number of "stunts" the station pulled in order to get publicity earlier in its life. The station also had its lowest ratings in over 10 years during the mid-1990s. Additionally, McCloud and most of the airstaff left the station in early 1995. These factors led management to completely overhaul and rebrand the radio station.

Y107 Staff Reunion - 2006

WRVW (107.5 The River)

Logo from early 2000s & used until 2014.

On February 15, 1996, at 3 p.m. Central time, air personality Gator Harrison was joined in studio by pop artist Lisa Loeb, and the station changed its nickname to "107.5 The River", and its format to Hot Adult Contemporary. A few days later, the callsign changed to WRVW.[5] Over the next few years, the station's format gradually evolved back to Top 40. The station, to this day, still operates as "The River". After a series of ownership changes, WRVW was acquired by Clear Channel. The station's flagship show is Woody and Jim in the Morning, hosted by Woody Wood and Jim "Opie" Chandler, who previously worked together at stations in Albany, New York and San Diego. The staff had been remarkably consistent through the Rich Davis era but changed after his departure. Rich Davis, who joined from WZEE in Madison in 2000 was the OM/PD until late 2011. Madison (who voice tracks out of WQEN) now handles 1p–3pm, but has been with the station since 2004 and tracked the whole midday show until mid-2008. Ryan Seacrest's show joined in August of '08 for 12n–3p but added an extra hour in June 2009 and now runs 9a–1p. "Ryno" holds down afternoons and has done so since early 2003. Butter – famous for his "What's Down Butter's Britches" game has been with the station on and off for years, but was the full-time night guy and Music Director from 2004 until late March 2012. Program director Brian Mack was made Rich Davis's replacement in spring 2012. "Scooter" and "Lunchbox" work mostly on weekends.

Former DJs/staff

References

  1. 1 2 1965 Broadcasting Yearbook, page B-143
  2. ↑ http://www.hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=44 HD Radio Guide for Nashville
  3. ↑ 1979 Broadcasting Yearbook, page C-205
  4. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1994/RR-1994-03-18.pdf
  5. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1996/R&R-1996-02-23.pdf

Coordinates: 36°15′50″N 86°47′38″W / 36.264°N 86.794°W / 36.264; -86.794

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