WAAV
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| City | Leland, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Wilmington, North Carolina |
| Branding | 980 The Wave |
| Slogan | News,Talk & Sports |
| Frequency | 980 kHz |
| First air date | 1957 |
| Format | News/Talk/Sports |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 25999 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 34°14′54″N 78°00′6″W / 34.24833°N 78.00167°W |
| Former callsigns | WKLM (1957-5/5/1984) |
| Owner |
Cumulus Media (Cumulus Licensing LLC) |
| Sister stations | WGNI, WKXS-FM, WMNX, WWQQ-FM |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 980waav.com |
WAAV (980 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News/Talk format. Licensed to Leland, North Carolina, USA, it serves the Wilmington area. The station is currently owned by Cumulus Media.
WAAV debuted as a FM station in 1972 at 102.7, and would remain there until 1981, when Cape Fear Broadcasting from Fayetteville purchased WAAV and WGNI. At that time, the station flipped from FM to AM 1340; in 1984 the station moved to 980, where it remains today. The previous occupant of the 980 frequency was top 40 WKLM, part of the Harold Thoms Group.
Because of FCC regulations regarding the number of stations one owner could have, WAAV had to be sold in 1988. Don Ansell, who was hosting the morning show "Talk Of The Town", bought the station and ran it until selling it to Cumulus in 1997.
After Hurricane Diana hit the area in September 1984, WAAV had just started its news/talk format, and it was the only radio station on the air, using a diesel generator named "Old Bessie." Ansell stayed on the air for 24 hours using a flashlight and a telephone. Ansell said, "It put us on the map." He said to The Star-News back then, "'It's quite a bit different when there are no crutches. No tapes, no music, no commercials – just your voice."
Bob Kwesell, whose conservative views offended a number of Raleigh, North Carolina area listeners of WPTF, began broadcasting "Wrestle with Kwesell" on WAAV and WFNC in Fayetteville on December 29, 1986.
In September 1994, WAAV planned an FM station at 94.1 which would air sports talk. The AM station already had a number of sports programs. Roman Gabriel III, a USFL player and son of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel, began hosting the station's first five-day-a-week sports talk program August 1, 1994. At that time, the station aired UNC and N. C. State football and basketball (including coaches' shows), "ACC Hotline", NASCAR races and talk shows, high school football, college football, "Monday Night Football", the NBA Charlotte Hornets, the CBS Radio baseball game of the week, The World Series, UNCW baseball and women's basketball, and American Legion baseball. For their two years in the area, WAAV also aired the games of the minor league baseball Port City Roosters.
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Wikipedia