WVNA (AM)

WVNA
Simulcasting WVNA-FM Muscle Shoals
Broadcast areaFlorence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area
Frequency1590 kHz
BrandingRock 105.5, The Big Dog
Programming
FormatMainstream rock
AffiliationsWestwood One
Ownership
Owner
WLAY (AM), WLAY-FM, WMXV, WMSR-FM, WVNA-FM
History
First air date
April 5, 1955 (1955-04-05)
Call sign meaning
W Voice of North Alabama[1]
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID19457
ClassD
Power1,000 watts day
55 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
34°45′24″N 87°41′10″W / 34.75667°N 87.68611°W / 34.75667; -87.68611
Translator(s)96.7 W244EF (Florence)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen Live
Websitebigdog1055.com

WVNA (1590 kHz) is licensed to Tuscumbia, Alabama. The format is mainstream rock, simulcasting WVNA-FM 105.5 Muscle Shoals. The station previously featured talk programming and extensive local/regional news coverage with a local news department on staff. The station is owned by Mike Self and Parker Griffith through licensee Singing River Media Group, LLC.

The station ceased transmitting on December 15, 2014.

WVNA positioned itself as a radio station "where all sides have their say". Thus, the station aired both conservative and liberal talk show hosts.

The WVNA call letters stand for "(The) Voice of North Alabama".[1]

Presently, the station's news director is Ron Jordan, Commander Chuck oversees the weather department and Brian Rickman is the program director.

Overnight, the station broadcast the syndicated Coast to Coast AM hosted by George Noory.[3]

In late June 2010 WVNA and Shoals-area WLAY lost the lease on their combined transmitter site. The stations were off the air until a new site was located and facilities built. This station was transferred from URBan Radio to Kevin Wagner in January 2013. As of December 2014 the station is on the air but only on nighttime power 24/7. This station appears on the FCC silent list as of December 14, 2014, although it is reported to broadcast regularly. The station finally went fully silent in April 2015.[4]

On December 7, 2015, Kevin Wagner-led URBan Radio filed a pleading with the FCC to keep the license for this station and WLAY active, claiming to have found a buyer for both stations; the request was granted on December 15. The stations collectively will have been off for exactly a year as of the 16th, which normally means they are automatically deleted by the FCC. As part of the request, URBan wants to return WVNA to the air from a temporary longwire installed on the WQLT-FM tower in Colbert County, with 2,000 watts. The station resumed broadcasting the next day, on the 16th, with rock music and WVNA-FM liners, although it is not a direct simulcast of the FM station. That simulcast is ongoing as of January 2017, when URBan filed an application to permanently relocate the station to the WVNA-FM tower nearby, on New Cut Road. That construction permit, which would decrease the night power to 43 watts, was granted on April 12, 2017.[4]

Effective April 1, 2019, URBan Radio sold WVNA and five sister stations to Singing River Media Group, LLC for $1.275 million. In January 2020, WVNA changed their format from news/talk to a simulcast of mainstream rock-formatted WVNA-FM 105.5 Muscle Shoals.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Nelson, Bob (2008-10-18). "Call Letter Origins". The Broadcast Archive. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WVNA". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ "Alabama Affiliates". Coast to Coast AM. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Alabama Broadcast Media Page
  5. ^ Alabama Broadcast Media Page