WCHV (AM)

WCHV is a news/talk-formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia.[3] WCHV is owned and operated by Monticello Media.

WCHV
CityCharlottesville, Virginia
Broadcast areaCharlottesville, Virginia
Albemarle County, Virginia
Frequency1260 kHz
Branding"C-Ville 107.5 and 1260"
Programming
FormatNews/talk/sports
AffiliationsFox News Radio
Premiere Radio Networks
Wall Street Journal Radio Network
Ownership
OwnerMonticello Media
(Monticello Media, LLC)
Sister stationsWCHV-FM, WCYK, WHTE, WKAV, WZGN
History
First air dateOctober 24, 1929 (1929-10-24)
Former call signsWEHC (1929–1935)
Former frequencies1370 kHz (1929)
1200 kHz (1930–1931)
1350 kHz (1931–1935)
1420 kHz (1935–1941)
1450 kHz (1941–1944)
1240 kHz (1944–1955)
[1]
Call sign meaningCHarlottesVille
Technical information
Facility ID19838
ClassB
Power1,250 watts daytime
625 watts nighttime
(STA)[2]
Transmitter coordinates38°6′52.0″N 78°27′18.0″W
Links
WebcastWCHV Webstream
WebsiteWCHV Online

History

Early history: WEHC

Emory and Henry College signed on WEHC on October 24, 1929, broadcasting on 1370 kHz from Emory, Virginia. WEHC was the first station in Virginia to go on the air that was not based in the major cities of Richmond and Norfolk. The station was run mostly by students and represented before the FCC by faculty member W. Byron Brown.[1][4] In fall 1932, during the depths of the Great Depression, the college sold the station to Brown's Community Broadcasting Corporation for $5,000 (equivalent to $93,695 in 2019). Brown then filed to relocate to Charlottesville.[5][6] The last broadcast from Emory was on December 2, when the station filed to go silent in preparation for the move.[1]

Terrestrial college radio returned to Emory in 1992 with the sign-on of an FM station, which also took the callsign WEHC.

In Charlottesville

The new station was built and on the air on 1350 kHz in Charlottesville in September 1933, but did not change to its current callsign until 1935.[1]

With no network affiliations yet available, WCHV inaugurated its own network on February 1, 1936: the Virginia Broadcasting System, with affiliates WBTM Danville, WLVA Lynchburg, WGH Newport News, and WPHR Richmond. A planned 16-hour day of common programming failed in three months due to the high cost of telephone lines, although the network links remained to carry advertised broadcasts of Virginia Cavaliers sports and other one-off programming. It is unknown when exactly the network dissolved.[7][8]

WCHV eventually became a partial affiliate of Mutual in 1938 by gaining permission to rebroadcast the signals of WCLE Cleveland and WOR Newark during sustaining programs only.[9] In September 1941, it formally joined the NBC Blue Network.[10] The station would stick with the network when it became ABC Radio, then one of ABC's split networks through 1991.[11] The station's programming day settled on what is now called full service with middle-of-the-road music.[12]

After W.B. Brown sold control of Community Broadcasting in 1936,[13] the corporation changed hands several times, until local businessman Charles Barham, Jr. took majority ownership in 1940. By 1942, he owned over 99 percent of the company, and transferred legal control to himself and his wife under the name Barham and Barham.[14][15]

The Barhams sold to Roger and Louise Neuhoff's Eastern Broadcasting Corporation in 1958 after a sale to one of the station's announcers fell through.[16]

The Neuhoffs signed on a companion FM station, WCCV-FM on 97.5 MHz, in 1960. Unusually for an AM-FM pairing at the time, the FM station had a different callsign and was programmed independently with an easy listening format to flank the AM station, which had evolved to adult contemporary. The FM station is now active rock WWWV.[17]

The two stations went through three more ownership changes; the Neuhoffs sold the two stations to Charlottesville resident Edward S. Evans, Jr. in 1968, and Evans then sold them to Lyell B. Clay's Clay Broadcasting in 1973.[18][19] Clay sold all of his broadcasting interests in 1987; WCHV and WWWV went to Eure Communications, then-owners of WXEZ Yorktown.[20]

Eure tweaked the station to oldies music with news from CNN Radio during 1992. A C-QUAM AM stereo signal was put into operation around this time.[21] The music flipped again to urban contemporary in 1997.[22][23]

Eure concluded a merger deal with Charlottesville Broadcasting Corp., owners of WINA (1070 kHz), WQMZ (95.1 MHz), and WKAV (1400 kHz), in 1998. The deal was scrutinized by the FCC and Department of Justice as it would have resulted in one entity owning five popular stations in the small market. The transaction was completed in 2000 after the new Eure was forced to spin off WCHV and WKAV to Clear Channel.[24][25]

Clear Channel first flipped the station to sports talk programming from Fox Sports Radio under the brand "Sports Radio 1260".[26] In mid-2001, this programming was moved to WKAV, and WCHV was flipped again to news and talk as "AM 1260 WCHV".[27]

George Reed's Sistema 102, LLC, later renamed to Monticello Media, bought all of Clear Channel's Charlottesville stations in June 2007.[28] After taking control, Monticello added a downtown Charlottesville FM translator (94.1 MHz, previously associated with WZGN) and tweaked the branding to "News Talk 1260 WCHV", but kept programming the same.[29]

Monticello replaced the translator with a full-powered FM simulcast on January 20, 2011, by flipping its 107.5 MHz facility from adult hits. This station took the callsign WCHV-FM to match.[30]

With the August 2015 flip of WKAV from sports to classic country, WCHV and WCHV-FM picked up that station's affiliations with the Washington Nationals, Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards, Washington Redskins, and Virginia Tech Hokies radio networks.[31] No longer strictly broadcasting news and talk, the stations' branding adjusted to the current "C-Ville 107.5 and 1260".

In September 2016, WCHV filed for special temporary authority to reduce its maximum power to 25 percent of its licensed level (1.25 kW day and 625 watts night) and allow non-directional operation due to significant equipment failures and damage to its ground system. The station's directional array was completely inoperable due to the failed equipment. Monticello told the FCC its plans if replacing the equipment was not feasible were to reduce WCHV's licensed power level and operate non-directional permanently.[32][33] Monticello then applied in July 2020 to reduce WCHV's daytime power to 800 watts non-directional and discontinue nighttime operation altogether, thereby downgrading to Class D.[34]

WCHV holds a construction permit for new FM translator W300DV on 107.9 MHz, pursuant to the FCC's AM revitalization program.[35]

Television

In 1952, as the FCC was reallocating television channels, Charlottesville was given only one – UHF channel 45 reserved for educational use. Charles Barham attempted to have VHF channel 8 moved from Petersburg. This effort was unsuccessful, although the FCC added channel 64 for commercial use as a result.[36] The Barhams settled for channel 64 and were granted Charlottesville's first television permit, WCHV-TV, on January 29, 1953.[37]

One week later, CBS affiliate WLVA-TV signed from Lynchburg on VHF channel 13, and city residents reported "excellent" reception.[38] Richmond's NBC station, WTVR-TV on channel 6, also covered the area. Particularly in areas with existing VHF broadcasters, early UHF stations were largely futile efforts until Congress mandated UHF tuners with the 1961 All-Channel Receiver Act. Reflecting the inferiority of UHF transmitting and receiving equipment of the time, a report in the Daily Progress compared the quality difference of VHF and UHF television to the difference between local AM radio and shortwave.[38] WCHV-TV's permit was extended several times and returned to the FCC in January 1954, citing insufficient prospects for economic support.[39]

After radio competitor WINA also failed to put a television station on the air in the late 1960s, Charlottesville did not get a local station until NBC affiliate WVIR's sign-on in 1973.

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References
  1. "WCHV History Card (1929–1968 Facility Record)". Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. "Extension of Existing Engineering STA". Federal Communications Commission. 5 October 2017.
  3. "Arbitron Station Information Profiles". Nielsen Audio/Nielsen Holdings. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  4. Dulaney, Ben (1932). "10". A Social and Economic Survey of Washington County, Virginia. Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia.
  5. "History of WEHC-FM". Emory and Henry College. Archived from the original on 2017-01-15. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  6. "[no title]" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 15, 1932. p. 18.
  7. "[Virginia Broadcasting System Ad]" (PDF). Broadcaasting. February 1, 1936. p. 5.
  8. Cox, Jim (2009). American Radio Networks: A History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. pp. 113–114.
  9. Staff (January 15, 1938). "WCHV Rebroadcasts" (PDF). Broadcasting. p. 56.
  10. Staff (September 15, 1941). "Six outlets join NBC-Blue Network" (PDF). Broadcasting. p. 26.
  11. Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook 1991 (PDF). p. B-342. Last edition showing affiliation with ABC – 1992 (cited later) shows CNN
  12. "WCHV Sample Schedule". Charlottesville Daily Progress. October 17, 1949. p. 2. – From University of Virginia Library.
  13. Staff (June 15, 1936). "Actions of the Federal Communications Commission" (PDF). Broadcasting. p. 50.
  14. "Charles Barham Jr". Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia. Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
  15. "WCHV Seeks Change" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 9, 1942. p. 42.
  16. "WCHV Charlottesville, Va. Sold" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 3, 1958. p. 9.
  17. Staff (May 2, 1960). "On-the-air" (PDF). Broadcasting. p. 56.
  18. "Changing hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 4, 1967. p. 34.
  19. "Ownership changes" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 24, 1973. p. 82.
  20. "Changing hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 25, 1988. p. 83.
  21. Broadcasting and Cable Market Place 1992 (PDF). p. A-362. – 1991 Yearbook w/ AC and ABC affiliation cited earlier
  22. "Rebecca's and Radio: A Natural Fit" (PDF). Radio and Records. May 1, 1998. p. 20.
  23. Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1998 (PDF). p. D-455.
  24. Spencer, Hawes (March 13, 2003). "MIXed message: Will FCC "clear" WUMX sale?". The Hook (210).
  25. Brown, Sara (November 10, 1997). "Changing hands" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. p. 133.
  26. "Sports Radio 1260 WCHV-AM". Clear Channel. Archived from the original on June 11, 2001.
  27. "AM 1260 WCHV Central Virginia News Radio". Archived from the original on February 4, 2002.
  28. Corbin, Robert (June 27, 2007). "Clear Channel to sell six stations in VA". VARTV.
  29. "WCHV boosts it's [sic] signal". VARTV. September 8, 2008.
  30. "News/Talk WCHV-FM moves from 94.1 to 107.5". VARTV. February 1, 2011.
  31. Venta, Lance (September 14, 2015). "Hank Comes to Charlottesville". RadioInsight.
  32. "WCHV Facility Data". fccdata.org.
  33. "Extension of Engineering STA". FCC CDBS.
  34. "CDBS File No. BP - 20200706AAD". FCC CDBS.
  35. "W300CV Facility Data". FCCData.
  36. Federal Communications Commission (April 14, 1952). "Richmond, Charlottesville, and Petersburg, Virginia" (PDF). Broadcasting. pp. 90–92.
  37. Staff (September 7, 1953). "New Grantees' Commencement Target Dates" (PDF). Broadcasting. p. 102.
  38. "Television Station Here Tenatively Planned For Fall". Charlottesville Daily Progress. February 3, 1953. p. 5.
  39. "3 Granted, 5 Dropped; Court Favors Zenith" (PDF). Television Digest with Electronics Reports. Radio News Bureau. January 23, 1954. p. 2.
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