City Norfolk, Virginia Branding "Hot 100" | Broadcast area Hampton Roads Frequency 100.5 MHz | |
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Slogan "Virginia's New Hit Music Channel" First air date October 1, 1962 (as WCMS-FM) | ||
WVHT (100.5 FM, "Hot 100") is an American broadcast radio station licensed to serve the community of Norfolk, Virginia. The station broadcasts a Hot Adult Contemporary music format to the Hampton Roads area. WVHT is owned and operated by Max Media.
History
100.5 traces its roots back to July 1, 1954 when AM radio station WCMS was purchased by George A. and Marjorie Crump of Suffolk, Virginia. The Crumps took the unprecedented step of playing only country music on their station when every other area radio station played a mix of various genres (country, western, swing, etc.). Critics at the time assured the Crumps that their bold decision would fail quickly.
WCMS originally aired on the AM band, and soon found 1050 AM as its new frequency. WCMS would keep this frequency for decades, until mid-2000, when it was finally acquired by Davidson Broadcasting, an all-Spanish media company.
During the ownership by the Crumps, the station received a number of awards from the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music for its dedication to music and contribution to the industry. George A. Crump died in 2005, but up until the 1990s, he was occasionally heard on WCMS giving editorials. His famous line at the end of every commentary was, "And that, in our opinion, is that."
In 2000, Marjorie Crump sold WCMS for $16 million to Barnstable Broadcasting, which included the corporate office building at 900 Commonwealth Place in Virginia Beach, as well as the AM and FM stations. Barnstable began laying off and firing longtime employees, such as Eric Stevens, who had also worked for the station for nearly 20 years. As longtime staffers were being let go, the station began using other DJs from new sister station "Eagle 97", WGH-FM.
The format shifted to classic country at 3:00 PM on April 10, 2003, after Black Hawk's Goodbye Says It All. After more than 40 years of country music, the format was dropped entirely at 11:30 PM on November 28, 2003, when, after playing "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson, the station began stunting with a loop of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long". At 3 PM on November 30, the station officially flipped to mainstream rock as "100.5 MAX-FM." The first song on "MAX-FM" was "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones. The call sign changed to WXMM on December 18, 2003. The country music switched back to its original frequency, 1050 AM. Joe Hoppel continued his duties with morning DJ alongside Jim Long (news) and Jennifer Roberts. After several months, the sale of 1050 AM was announced, effectively ending WCMS just shy of its 50th anniversary. Joe Hoppel was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Barnstable Broadcasting sold all its stations several years later to Max Media, which now owns the 100.5 FM frequency.
The rock format ended on April 23, 2009, at 5:00 p.m. The station began stunting as "Kung Pao 100.5 FM", playing "Classic Chinese Hits" (traditional Chinese instrumentals), a stunt that had been previously done by KDOG in Mankato, MN a few years prior. At 7:00 a.m. EDT on April 27, 2009, WXMM officially flipped to Top 40/CHR, branded as "Hot 100.5", with the first song being The Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow". The station changed its call sign to WVHT on May 4, 2009.
On January 13, 2014, at 8:45 AM, after stunting for an hour with construction sounds, WVHT kept the "Hot 100.5" name and format, but took a more music-heavy approach, promoting themselves as the home for "25 hits in a row every hour". The logo was also changed with the adjustment in format.
On August 7, 2016, WVHT adjusted their format from CHR to Hot Adult Contemporary and their branding from "Hot 100.5" to "Hot 100".