City Shadyside, Ohio Frequency 95.7 MHz | Branding Kiss 95.7 Format CHR | |
Broadcast area Wheeling, West Virginia / Steubenville, Ohio Slogan The Valley's #1 Hit Music Station | ||
WVKF (95.7 FM, "Kiss 95.7") is a radio station broadcasting a contemporary hit radio format. Licensed to Shadyside, Ohio, United States, the station serves the Wheeling, West Virginia, area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc..
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History
WVKF began its life on 105.5 as "The Zone" in 2000 under the calls of WZNW, with a similar format but without the hip-hop music that had become dominate once the banner was changed to "Kiss-Fm". Once Clear Channel took over the station, its format shifted to play, in addition to the current format, the R&B and hip-hop tracks. This, along with its main competitor in the market at the time, 100.5 WOMP-FM (now WYJK under the Jack-FM format), being reluctant to play the Top 40 hits that Kiss was willing to play (due to WOMP's demographic being slightly older than WVKF's was), KISS developed the moniker "All of today's best music, not just some of it", which it still uses today.
Once WVKF eclipsed WOMP in the ratings, some of the image promotions that ran on the station began to get more cocky about its position, at times running promos wanting for their listeners to call WOMP's phone number and tell them that their ratings were dropping. This tactic only lasted about a month, but despite that, WVKF's ratings surge continued. It was also during this time that Rick Dees Weekly Top 40, which was on WOMP before, switched to WVKF.
Once WOMP-FM folded and changed formats and call letters, WVKF became the only Top 40 station in the market. However, about three months after the victory, the station's frequency was changed suddenly to 95.7 (the former frequency of WEEL-FM), while oldies radio format WUKL took over the 105.5 frequency.
Ratings
Currently (as of the Arbitron Spring 2007 survey), WVKF-FM is in fifth place in the Wheeling market. WVKF's ratings, however, have dropped dramatically due to the format allowing for little variety between songs, a common complaint against Top 40 stations. It also suffers due to Wheeling being a country-dominated market, with country station WOVK (also owned by Clear Channel) getting a massive amount of listeners every survey.