Broadcast area St. Louis, Missouri ERP 90,000 watts Class C1 Frequency 106.5 MHz Format Adult hits Area St. Louis | First air date 1965 HAAT 309 meters Facility ID 74577 City of license Granite City Owner Hubbard Broadcasting Branding 106.5 The Arch | |
 | ||
Slogan It's all about the variety | ||
WARH (106.5 MHz FM) is a radio station licensed to Granite City, Illinois and serving the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area. WARH is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.
Contents
WARH features a locally programmed adult hits format known as "106.5 The Arch" using the primary slogan "You never know what we're going to play next." The station's name pays tribute to the iconic Gateway Arch monument in downtown St. Louis on the western bank of the Mississippi River. The format is musically similar to the syndicated Jack FM stations in the U.S. & Canada. The major difference that distinguishes "The Arch" from the "Jack" branded stations is that "The Arch" uses a live and local airstaff around the clock, whereas "Jack" stations are for the most part without disc jockeys.
Pre 3/8/17: WARH-HD2 features a format of songs from the 60's to the current decade, and goes deeper into the rock and pop music of each era. Branded as "106-5 The Deep", the HD2 station is currently unhosted and commercial-free; in 2016 the station introduced HD Radio Commercials.
Post 3/8/17: HD-2 Now carries KTMY Twin Cities, Minnesota "My Talk Radio" and flagship MyTalk107.1.
WARH-HD3 carries "The Mormon Channel", supplied by its former owners, Bonneville International.
WARH broadcasts from studios in Creve Coeur, sending out a signal of 90,000 watts effective radiated power from its transmitter located near Resurrection Cemetery in Shrewsbury.
History
Originally, the station took to the air in 1965 as WGNU-FM under the ownership of Chuck Norman. The station was programmed with a country music format and was simulcast on WGNU 920 AM. Norman sold the station to Doubleday Broadcasting in 1976. Doubleday changed the station's call letters to WWWK (later KWK-FM) and the format to AOR, calling itself "Stereo WK", and later to Top 40. In 1988, KWK became WKBQ-FM, retaining the Top 40 format and rechristening themselves as "Q106.5." In September 1991, WKBQ-FM brought the morning team of "Steve & DC" to St. Louis from Birmingham, Alabama. In 1993, "Steve & DC" and WKBQ-FM would face controversy over comments made on the May 10, 1993 morning show and was the subject of much local news coverage for weeks. Also during the same year, WKBQ-FM began simulcasting on 1380 AM.
After the station was purchased by Zimmer Radio Group of Cape Girardeau, Missouri in late 1993, the station switched dial positions with sister station WKKX (currently WHHL) on 104.1, which had a country format known as "Kix 104", on January 20, 1994 (the AM simulcast would move with the swap). The station became "New Country Kix 106.5", and featured the popular morning duo "Steve & DC" for the second time on the 106.5 Mhz frequency, which led to the team's biggest ratings sweeps in St. Louis. The "Steve & DC" morning show consistently ranked #1 in the all-important Persons 18-49 and Persons 25-54 demographics on WKKX. The most successful period for 106.5 FM in its existence, up to this point, lasted for nearly seven years until Emmis Broadcasting (who bought the station in November 1996) swapped WKKX to Bonneville for KZLA in Los Angeles. At 12:00 a.m. on October 4, 2000, the first day the transaction with Bonneville was FCC approved, the station changed call letters to WSSM and adopted a Smooth Jazz format as "Smooth 106.5" (later "106.5 Smooth Jazz"). On April 10, 2005, after playing "Thank You" by Euge Groove, the station adopted its current adult hits format, branded as "106.5 The Arch." The first song on "The Arch" was "Roll With the Changes" by REO Speedwagon. The station adopted its current WARH call letters on April 18. WARH was initially programmed by Jules Riley. The Program Director since 2016 is Scott Roddy, same Program Director at sister station, WIL-FM.
Bonneville announced the sale of WARH, as well as 16 other stations in four markets (St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C.), to Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011. The sale was completed on April 29, 2011.
On-air personalities
WARH has a full lineup of local on-air personalities who do their shows live with no voice-tracking. The morning show is hosted by Spencer Graves, Ricki and Brando, middays feature April Ruebke, afternoons are handled by Robert Fithen who also serves as Music Director, evenings are hosted by Daniel Diaz and overnights hosted by Mark Hyken. Weekend air talent includes Tom Settles, Lisa Johnson, Jeff Collins who worked at rival KLOU, Bryce Jones, D-Wonka and Melanie Streeper. The voice of the station, Simon Archer, is portrayed by actor John O'Hurley (Seinfeld, Dancing With the Stars, and Family Feud)