WAVA

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WAVA-FM is a radio station located at 105.1 FM that serves the Washington, D.C. area and is licensed to Arlington, Virginia. The station airs Christian-oriented talk and music. Prior to obtaining this format, the station played Top 40 music.

WAVA-FM is owned by Salem Communications.

[edit] History

The station played a role in the history of all-news radio in America. In the late 1960s, when all-news radio began on XETRA-AM Tijuana, broadcasting to audiences in San Diego and Los Angeles, personnel from that stations fanned out to launch similar formats in other cities. One of the first of these was WARL Arlington, Va., which dropped a bluegrass format to become WAVA News (pro. "WAY-vah"). It ran network newscast at the top and bottom of the hour, followed by local wire service reports read by announcers "at the all-news anchor desk," followed by sports, business news and features.

A large number of U.S. radio network anchors worked first at WAVA, which was also one of the first stations in the country to broadcast live traffic reports from a fixed-wing aircraft. The original dawn-to-dusk AM station eventually simulcast with an FM station, making WAVA the first FM all-news station in the country.

Presidents Johnson and Kennedy reportedly had a radio in the Oval Office permanently tuned to WAVA^{[citation needed]}. But by the 1970s a second all-news station, WTOP, had overtaken WAVA in the ratings, and when NBC launched its News & Information Service, an all-news radio network, its Washington, D.C., affiliate WRC also outdrew WAVA.

The station was sold in 1977 to Doubleday Broadcasting, laid off the news staff, and became a popular AOR (Album-Oriented Rock) station. Most Doubleday stations employed rock formats. On October, 28 1983 the station switched to a CHR (Top 40). Most other Doubleday AOR stations switched to Top 40 as well.

In 1985, Don Geronimo was hired as an afternoon DJ/personality. A few months later another WAVA DJ Mike O'Meara joined Don Geronimo as new hosts of "The Morning zoo" (later renamed the Don and Mike show). Initially they played a moderate amount of music, but by 1989 they were down to only a couple songs per hour. This wildly successful show was syndicated after the pair moved to WJFK-FM in 1992 and dropped music from the show altogether. "Truckin" Tom Kent, who now hosts a nationally syndicated Oldies radio show out of Cleveland, also did a stint at WAVA in the 80s.

In 1986, WAVA, along with other Doubleday Radio stations, was sold to Emmis. WAVA would remain a mainstream CHR radio station. Ratings were good, but the format was perceived as hard to sell, so advertising was only mediocre.

In late 1991, Emmis decided to sell several stations in order to fund future acquisitions. WFAN 660 in New York City was sold to Infinity (now CBS Radio). WAVA was sold to Salem Broadcasting early in 1992. On February 12, 1992, WAVA's sale would be final and would switch from the CHR format to Contemporary Christian Music with plans to add Christian teaching and talk gradually. This change was due to the agenda of it's new owners and not a reflection of the station's performance. The station was otherwise still getting good Arbitron ratings at the time. As would be expected this change was shocking to the station's loyal listeners, many of whom had grown up in the 1980s listening to Top 40 WAVA.

[edit] Current Format

By the end of 1992, WAVA was playing music about half the day and running Christian features the other half. In 1993, music was dropped altogether on weekdays and WAVA began running Christian Call in talk shows in the morning and afternoon drive times. Middays, evenings, and overnights were used to sell time to various Christian broadcasters. Saturday and Sunday afternoons feature Gospel music.