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WLVW

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For other stations that have used the WLVW call letters, see WLVW (disambiguation).
"WRQX" redirects here. For 600 AM in Salem, Ohio, see WRQX (AM).
WLVW
Broadcast areaWashington metropolitan area
Frequency107.3 MHz (HD Radio)
BrandingK-Love
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatChristian adult contemporary
Subchannels
NetworkK-Love
Ownership
OwnerEducational Media Foundation
History
First air date
May 15, 1948 (76 years ago) (1948-05-15)
Former call signs
  • WMAL-FM (1948–1977)
  • WRQX (1977–2019)
  • WSOM (2019)
Call sign meaning
K-Love Washington
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID73252
ClassB
ERP19,500 watts
HAAT246 meters (807 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
38°57′00″N 77°04′44″W / 38.950°N 77.079°W / 38.950; -77.079
Links
Public license information
Websiteklove.com

WLVW (107.3 FM) – branded as K-Love – is a non-commercial Christian adult contemporary radio station licensed to serve Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by the Educational Media Foundation, WLVW does not broadcast any local programming, functioning as the Washington metropolitan area network affiliate for K-Love. The station's transmitter resides in the district's northwest quadrant. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WLVW is available online; the station also broadcasts in the HD Radio format.[2]

History

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WMAL-FM

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Not to be confused with WMAL-FM.

On May 15, 1948, the station signed on as WMAL-FM, owned by The Washington Evening Star.[3] WMAL-FM mostly simulcast co-owned WMAL (630 AM), the market's ABC Radio Network affiliate; as network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950s, WMAL and WMAL-FM switched to a full service middle of the road format.

In the late 1960s, WMAL-FM switched to a combination of easy listening and classical music, mostly automated with the exception of Harden and Weaver, which aired on both WMAL and WMAL-FM Monday through Saturday mornings. In the 1970s, WMAL-FM flipped to album-oriented rock as "The Soft Explosion." Live disc jockeys were added and automation was cut back to nights and weekends.

In 1977, ABC acquired WMAL-AM-FM for $16 million, then a record price.[4]

WRQX

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WMAL-FM changed its call sign to WRQX on December 7, 1977.[5] On April 15, 1979, WRQX changed to contemporary hit radio; branded as "Q107", the station eliminated automation completely.[6] At noon on August 31, 1990, the station changed to hot adult contemporary, branded as "Mix 107.3".[7][8][9] The first song on "Mix" was "Let The Music Play" by Shannon.

Former logo used between 1990 and 2011

WRQX was one of the many Disney/ABC Radio stations that merged with Citadel Broadcasting in 2007. Citadel, in turn, merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.[10] Previous slogans have been "Not too hard, Not too light", "The Best Mix of the 80s, 90s & Today", "The Best Mix of...Everything", "Washington's Best Music Mix", "Today's Best Hits", "All the Hits", "More Music, More Variety", and "DC's Best Music Mix".

On April 27, 2013, long-time morning show host Jack Diamond was unexpectedly released from the station when his contract expired and management declined to renew it.[11] Diamond had been at the station since the day the it flipped to "Mix" in 1990.[12] There was speculation that the station would take the morning show in a new direction to compete against top 40-formatted WIHT. Bert Weiss, the host of "The Bert Show" on co-owned WWWQ in Atlanta (and formerly Diamond's co-host), took over morning drive time on WRQX, beginning May 16.[13] "The Bert Show" was syndicated from Atlanta.

On August 19, 2013, WRQX began to slowly phase out its "Mix" moniker, and began emphasizing the slogan "All The Hits", as well as shifting its playlist towards more current music, while dropping all 1980s and most 1990s material. Rival company Clear Channel Communications picked up word on this potential shift, and began registering domain names such as "allthehits1073.com" and "q1073dc.com" to prevent Cumulus from using them. Those domains redirected to WIHT's website. On August 28, WRQX completed its shift back to top 40, then branded as "All The Hits 107.3". The station debuted a new logo and transferred its website address to 1073hits.com.[14]

On May 2, 2014, WRQX dropped "The Bert Show" after one year, due to low ratings.[15][16][17] Marco, who had previously been the station's afternoon drive personality, took over morning drive on an interim basis three days later. On July 30, 2014, the "Sarah, Ty and Mel Show" debuted on 107.3.[18] It was heard weekdays from 6–10 a.m., and was hosted by Sarah Fraser (formerly of The Kane Show), Ty Bentli (who would later host the syndicated Nash-FM country music morning show) and Melanie Glazener (who also worked with Fraser on The Kane Show). Also in July 2014, WRQX was re-branded as "DC's 107.3" and its website address was changed to dcs1073.com.

During September and October 2015, WRQX began shifting back towards hot AC. On November 9, 2015, Louie Diaz was announced as WRQX's new program director, replacing Jan Jeffries.[19][20] On that same day, the station's air staff was dismissed, leading to rumors of a format change, possibly back to hot AC, once again as "Mix 107.3". Rival WIHT was ranked 4th in the market with a 5.9 share, while WRQX was ranked #18 with a 2.1 share of the market according to the October 2015 Nielsen ratings report.[21][22]

Last Mix 107.3 logo, 2015-2019

On November 11, 2015, Cumulus announced that WRQX would revert to its "Mix 107.3" branding on November 13. In addition, the station began playing Christmas music beginning at 3 p.m. on November 13. Cumulus initially said the Christmas format would be heard through the holiday season; however, it turned out to be a stunt, only lasting for that weekend. At 6 a.m. on November 16, the station officially relaunched as "Mix" with the return of morning host Jack Diamond.[23] The move proved popular and WRQX's ratings began to improve.

Sale to Educational Media Foundation

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On February 13, 2019, Rocklin, California-based nonprofit broadcaster, Educational Media Foundation (EMF) entered into an agreement with Cumulus to purchase WRQX, along with five other Cumulus Media stations in New York City, Atlanta, San Jose, Savannah and Syracuse, for $103.5 million. This transaction would allow Cumulus to generate "substantial cash for debt repayment and investment in other business opportunities", according to its President and CEO Mary Berner.[24] EMF also owns existing K-Love affiliate WLZV in Buckland, Virginia, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Washington. After the sale received final approval by the FCC, EMF announced that WRQX and the other Cumulus stations acquired would all begin broadcasting its primary programming service, K-Love, on June 1 at Midnight local time.[25][26]

On May 28, Jack Diamond announced the station's format change, set for May 31 at 7:00 p.m.—five hours earlier than originally planned—and that he would host the final hour of commercial programming on "Mix 107.3"; he also said he would return to the air at another station, but his new gig was never revealed.[27] At the aforementioned time, after playing "Cherish" by The Association and a final goodbye from Jack Diamond, the station changed to contemporary Christian music as part of EMF's K-Love network.[28]

Prior to EMF's takeover of the station, Cumulus transferred the WRQX callsign onto the former WSOM (600 AM) in Salem, Ohio, in a callsign "parking" move;[29] Cumulus retained rights to the WRQX callsign in the transaction.[24] For part of May 31, 2019, the callsign WSOM was used on 107.3; after switching to K-Love, the station began identifying as WLVW, taking a callsign which had been in use on a K-Love station in Salisbury, Maryland.

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WLVW". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=8 Archived October 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine HD Radio Guide for Washington DC
  3. ^ "RADIO & TV ALL YB 1950 B&W-11" (PDF).
  4. ^ "C-Radio-Broadcasting-Yearbook-1978-Full" (PDF).
  5. ^ "WRQX (WLVW) history cards" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
  6. ^ "1981-BC-YB" (PDF). 1981.
  7. ^ Yorke, Jeffrey (September 4, 1990). "WRQX-FM's Format Flop; Station Switches Its Mix to Fight Declining Ratings". The Washington Post. p. C7. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012.
  8. ^ Potts, Mark (November 3, 1990). "Rap, Rock-and-Roll Make Way for Hot AC; WRQX Changes Tunes to Attract Ad Dollars". The Washington Post. p. C1. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013.
  9. ^ "RR-1990-09-07" (PDF).
  10. ^ "Cumulus now owns Citadel Broadcasting". Atlanta Business Journal. September 16, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  11. ^ "Music & Radio Station News | AllAccess.com". All Access. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  12. ^ Yorke, Jeffrey (February 21, 1995). "A New Setting for Diamond?; WRQX Morning Host Mulls West Coast Job Offers". The Washington Post. p. D7. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012.
  13. ^ "BERT SHOW REPLACES JACK DIAMOND AT DC'S WRQX". April 29, 2013.
  14. ^ "WRQX DITCHING ITS MIX MONIKER FOR ALL THE HITS". August 28, 2013.
  15. ^ "WRQX Drops Bert Show - RadioInsight". radioinsight.com. April 28, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  16. ^ "'The Bert Show' is Out at DC-Area Radio Station WRQX/107.3-FM". patch.com. May 14, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  17. ^ "Bert Weiss To Exits Mornings At WRQX, Marco To Do Mornings For Now". allaccess.com. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  18. ^ "107.3 Washington Completes On-Air Revamp With New Morning Show - RadioInsight". radioinsight.com. July 25, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  19. ^ "Jan Jeffries Exits Cumulus - RadioInsight". radioinsight.com. October 20, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  20. ^ "Cumulus Makes Return Of Mix 107.3 Washington Official; Jack Diamond Returns for Mornings - RadioInsight". radioinsight.com. November 11, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  21. ^ "Login to All Access - Breaking Radio News and Free New Music - AllAccess.com". allaccess.com. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  22. ^ "Daily Domains 10/27: Cumulus Prepping Overhaul At 107.3 Washington DC - RadioInsight". radioinsight.com. October 27, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  23. ^ "CUMULUS MAKES RETURN OF MIX 107.3 WASHINGTON OFFICIAL; JACK DIAMOND RETURNS FOR MORNINGS". November 11, 2015.
  24. ^ a b "Cumulus Sells Six To EMF & Swaps With Entercom In New York & Indianapolis". RadioInsight. February 13, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  25. ^ "This Is The End: EMF To Take Over Iconic Cumulus Stations June 1". Inside Radio. May 15, 2019. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  26. ^ Venta, Lance (May 15, 2019). "EMF To Begin Operating Its Six Cumulus Acquisitions On June 1". RadioInsight. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  27. ^ Venta, Lance (May 28, 2019). "Jack Diamond Announces WRQX Sign-Off; Move Of Morning Show". RadioInsight. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  28. ^ "The Final Hour Of Mix 107.3 Washington". Format Change Archive. May 31, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  29. ^ Venta, Lance (May 27, 2019). "EMF Sets New Call Letters For Cumulus/Aloha Acquisitions; WRQX Moves To…". RadioInsight. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
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