First air date March 5, 1960 HAAT 345 meters (1,132 ft) Former callsigns WCCV (1960-1977) City of license Charlottesville Owner Saga Communications Slogan Everything That Rocks | Facility ID 19837 Frequency 97.5 MHz Format Classic rock Branding 97-5 3WV | |
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Area Greater Richmond Region, Shenandoah Valley | ||
WWWV (97.5 FM) is an active rock formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, and serves Central Virginia and the Central Shenandoah Valley. WWWV is owned and operated by Saga Communications.
History
WCCV signed on March 5, 1960, with a middle-of-the-road format of post-war pop and light classical music. WCCV was co-owned with WCHV (1260 kHz) by Roger and Louise Neuhoff's Eastern Broadcasting Corporation. In December 1968, WCCV and WCHV were sold to Charlottesville resident Edward S. Evans, Jr. Two years later, the station flipped to country music during the day and a simulcast of WCHV's adult contemporary format between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. On May 1, 1971, WCCV switched again to beautiful music. In 1973, Evans sold the two stations to Lyell B. Clay's Clay Broadcasting, owner of several newspapers and television stations, most notably WWAY of Wilmington, but no other radio stations.
On January 10, 1977, the station adopted its current identity – album-oriented rock music, the branding "3WV", and the callsign WWWV.
Clay sold all of his broadcasting interests in 1987-88; WWWV and WCHV went to Eure Communications, then-owners of WXEZ Yorktown. In 1998, Eure combined WWWV with Charlottesville Broadcasting Corporation's WINA (1070 kHz) and WQMZ (95.1 MHz) in a merger deal. Eure was ordered by the Department of Justice to spin off the merger's two remaining stations – WCHV and WKAV (1400 kHz) – to Clear Channel, as FCC regulators took issue with Eure's potential ownership of five stations in the small market. (Ironically, an FCC under different leadership would permit Clear Channel to own six stations just five years later.)
Saga Communications bought Eure's three-station cluster in 2004.
WWWV took over as the FM home of Virginia Cavaliers football and men's basketball at the beginning of the 2003-04 football season, complementing longtime state network flagship WINA.
