WCVL-FM
 |
|
| City | Charlottesville, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Charlottesville, Virginia Albemarle County, Virginia |
| Branding | C-Ville Country 92.7 |
| Frequency | 92.7 MHz |
| First air date | June 22, 1979 |
| Format | Classic country |
| Power | 750 Watts |
| HAAT | 274 Meters |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 74161 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 37°59′8.0″N 78°28′47.0″W / 37.985556°N 78.479722°W |
| Callsign meaning | CharlottesViLle |
| Former callsigns | WUVA (1979-2017) |
| Owner | Saga Communications of Charlottesville |
| Webcast | WCVL-FM Webstream |
| Website | WCVL-FM Online |
WCVL-FM (92.7 FM) is a classic country formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charlottesville, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. The station is owned by Saga Communications of Charlottesville.
WCVL-FM was first licensed as an FM station, with the call letters WUVA, in 1979. However, the station evolved from an AM carrier current station, located at the University of Virginia, which had been in operation for over 30 years.
WUVA originated in the fall of 1947 as the University of Virginia's student-run carrier current station, transmitting at 640 kHz on the AM band. Carrier current stations use very low powered transmitters with restricted coverage and, according to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations, are permitted to operate without needing a radio license. During this time WUVA's signal could only be received on the main university campus and immediately adjoining neighborhoods. Although the station did not qualify for official FCC issued call letters, it identified itself as "WUVA".
Initially WUVA adopted a schedule of pop standards, news, and discussion. The station began playing newly popular rock and roll music in 1954. WUVA was run as a commercial operation that sold advertising, and it bolstered its coverage by gaining a cable FM slot on Charlottesville's cable TV system in the 1970s. An additional source of revenue came from renting out the student announcers as party DJs.
As the station became popular through the 1960s, management reviewed options to upgrade the operation to a regular broadcasting station that served the entire local market. In 1966 WINA received permission to move from 1400 to 1070 AM. Station applications for reassignment of the vacated 1400 dial position, which provided for 24-hour operation at 1,000 watts, went into competitive hearing at the FCC. WUVA was one of three applicants for this frequency, but lost out when WELK (now WKAV) was the first to secure a transmitter site that satisfied FCC regulators.
...
Wikipedia