WPZZ

WPZZ
Broadcast areaSouthside Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Petersburg, Virginia
Frequency104.7 MHz
BrandingPraise 104.7
Programming
FormatUrban gospel
Ownership
Owner
WCDX, WKJM, WKJS, WTPS, WXGI
History
First air date
1949; 75 years ago (1949)
Former call signs
WSVS-FM (1949–1991)
WKIK (1991–1995)
WBZU (1995–1996)
WVGO (1996–1998)
WKJS (1998–2004)
Call sign meaning
W PraiZe Z
Technical information
Facility ID321
ClassC1
Power100,000 Watts
HAAT299 meters (981 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
37°10′15.0″N 77°57′16.0″W / 37.170833°N 77.954444°W / 37.170833; -77.954444
Links
WebcastWPZZ Webstream
WebsiteWPZZ Online

WPZZ (104.7 FM) is an urban gospel-formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Crewe, Virginia, serving the Southside and the Richmond/Petersburg metro area. WPZZ is owned and operated by Radio One.[1] The station's studios and offices are located just north of Richmond proper on Emerywood Parkway[2] in unincorporated Henrico County, and its transmitter is located near Blackstone, Virginia.[3]

History

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104.7 started in 1948 as WSVS-FM, a complement to its AM sister WSVS. It broadcast just west of Crewe with 14,000 watts of power. In the late 1970s, the station upgraded to a class C1 station with 100,000 watts of power, which gave it an adequate signal that could be received in most of the Central Virginia area.[4] In 1988, they moved to their current tower location to not only send a better signal into Richmond, but also to make it more desirable to sell. It was at that time WSVS-FM became "Power Country 104.7," with all programming separate from WSVS-AM.[5] In 1991, the station was sold to ABS Communications in Richmond and became "104.7 The Bear," with the WKIK call letters.[6] The FM studios were moved out of Crewe and co-located in with ABS's Richmond based headquarters. ABS owned the only other country stations in the Richmond market with "K-95" and "The Bear." "The Bear" was designed to be a classic country format, while "K-95" was to be the new country format.

At 5 p.m. on August 23, 1995, ABS flipped WKIK to modern rock as WBZU, "104.7 The Buzz, Richmond's New Rock Alternative."[7] The success of this station caused Richmond's AAA station WVGO to lose listeners. ABS later purchased WVGO (and its sister station WLEE-FM), changed WVGO's AAA format (and ended the local broadcast of "The Howard Stern Show") and moved "The Buzz" and the WBZU calls to 106.5, while 104.7 became a satellite-fed oldies station as "Oldies 104.7" (the WVGO calls were moved to 104.7) in August 1996.[8][9][10]

In February 1998, the station was sold to Fifteen Forty Broadcasting, then owners of adult urban WSOJ (100.3 FM) and local gospel station WREJ-AM, who began a simulcast of WSOJ on both 100.3 and 104.7 beginning February 10, and rebranded as "104.7 Kiss FM", and adopted the WKJS calls three days later.[11] Radio One later purchased both 104.7 and 100.3 from Fifteen Forty in March 1999.[12] In November 2000, the 104.7/100.3 simulcast ended, and Radio One began simulcasting their then-country station, WJRV ("105.7 The River") on 100.3 with new calls WARV.[13] On November 18, 2004, as part of a complex series of moves, Radio One moved the urban gospel-formatted "Praise 99.3" to 104.7, while "Kiss FM" moved to 99.3 and 105.7 (this caused urban oldies WJMO to sign off). The WPZZ calls would be adopted on December 7 of that year.[14]

References

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  1. ^ "WPZZ Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. ^ https://kissrichmond.com/about/ About Us | 99.3–105.7 Kiss FM
  3. ^ Radio-Locator.com/WPZZ-FM
  4. ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1987/B2-BC-YB-1987.pdf [dead link]
  5. ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1989/B-2%20Radio%20Neb%20to%20Terr%201989-5.pdf [dead link]
  6. ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1992/Radio-NE-Ter-BC-YB-1992-B&W.pdf [dead link]
  7. ^ "WKIK transformed into modern rock WBZU", The Richmond Times-Dispatch, August 24, 1995.
  8. ^ "ABS cuts $14.5 million deal for WVGO, WLEE", The Richmond Times-Dispatch, June 4, 1996.
  9. ^ "Shock jock Stern gets the hook; new owner pulls plug on WVGO, cites decline", The Richmond Times-Dispatch, July 25, 1996.
  10. ^ "104.7 FM set to air 'good time oldies'", The Richmond Times-Dispatch, August 6, 1996.
  11. ^ "WVGO gets new format, call letters to change soon", The Richmond Times-Dispatch, February 13, 1998.
  12. ^ "Radio One will buy four more", The Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 16, 1999.
  13. ^ "Radio One sells 2 FM stations here", The Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 17, 2000.
  14. ^ "Radio One makes changes at local stations", The Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 20, 2004.
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