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WTAR
WTAR (850 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Norfolk, Virginia, and serving the Hampton Roads (Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News) radio market. It is owned and operated by Sinclair Telecable, Inc., with studios and offices on Waterside Drive in Norfolk. WTAR broadcasts a talk radio format as "TalkRadio 96.5 & 850 WTAR".
The station's transmitter site is off Track Lane in Smithfield, Virginia. WTAR uses a directional antenna at all times. It runs at 50,000 watts by day, the highest power permitted by the Federal Communications Commission for AM stations. At night, to reduce interference to other stations on 850 AM, mainly Class A KOA in Denver, WTAR reduces power to 25,000 watts, concentrating the signal in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton and Newport News.
WTAR programming is also heard on HD Radio over 106.1 WUSH-HD2 and on FM translator stations W243DJ at 96.5 MHz in Norfolk and W243EK at 96.5 MHz in Hampton.
The station signed on the air in December 1952. It originally broadcast on 850 kilocycles and the call sign was WCAV. It was owned by the Cavalier Broadcasting Company with studios in the Helena Building.
In 1954, owners of another Norfolk radio station, WRAP on 1050 kHz, acquired WCAV, moving it to 850 kHz. They changed the call letters to WRAP, adopting a black-oriented format. On this new frequency, WRAP programming could broadcast around the clock after it was restricted to daytime only on 1050 kHz. The daytime power was increased to 5,000 watts and the nighttime power was set at 1,000 watts.
WRAP was programmed to Norfolk's African-American community. Its call sign used the word "RAP", an African-American English word for "talk" or "discussion". (It would be several decades before "rap" began referring to a musical style.) An advertisement in the 1957 edition of Broadcasting Yearbook, using the descriptions of the era, said "Survey figures show the most Negroes in the Norfolk area listen most to WRAP". It added that WRAP was "the only all-Negro station in Norfolk".
In 1987, WNIS on AM 1350 was acquired by local cable TV company Clinton Cablevision (later Sinclair Telecable). The new owner flipped the format to talk. A swap was made with AM 1350, which moved the WNIS call sign to this station, and transferred the WRAP call letters, with its associated black-oriented format, to AM 1350.
WNIS, meaning "News and Information Station", picked up programming from ABC Talkradio, NBC Talknet and the Mutual Broadcasting System's Larry King Show.
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WTAR
WTAR (850 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Norfolk, Virginia, and serving the Hampton Roads (Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News) radio market. It is owned and operated by Sinclair Telecable, Inc., with studios and offices on Waterside Drive in Norfolk. WTAR broadcasts a talk radio format as "TalkRadio 96.5 & 850 WTAR".
The station's transmitter site is off Track Lane in Smithfield, Virginia. WTAR uses a directional antenna at all times. It runs at 50,000 watts by day, the highest power permitted by the Federal Communications Commission for AM stations. At night, to reduce interference to other stations on 850 AM, mainly Class A KOA in Denver, WTAR reduces power to 25,000 watts, concentrating the signal in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton and Newport News.
WTAR programming is also heard on HD Radio over 106.1 WUSH-HD2 and on FM translator stations W243DJ at 96.5 MHz in Norfolk and W243EK at 96.5 MHz in Hampton.
The station signed on the air in December 1952. It originally broadcast on 850 kilocycles and the call sign was WCAV. It was owned by the Cavalier Broadcasting Company with studios in the Helena Building.
In 1954, owners of another Norfolk radio station, WRAP on 1050 kHz, acquired WCAV, moving it to 850 kHz. They changed the call letters to WRAP, adopting a black-oriented format. On this new frequency, WRAP programming could broadcast around the clock after it was restricted to daytime only on 1050 kHz. The daytime power was increased to 5,000 watts and the nighttime power was set at 1,000 watts.
WRAP was programmed to Norfolk's African-American community. Its call sign used the word "RAP", an African-American English word for "talk" or "discussion". (It would be several decades before "rap" began referring to a musical style.) An advertisement in the 1957 edition of Broadcasting Yearbook, using the descriptions of the era, said "Survey figures show the most Negroes in the Norfolk area listen most to WRAP". It added that WRAP was "the only all-Negro station in Norfolk".
In 1987, WNIS on AM 1350 was acquired by local cable TV company Clinton Cablevision (later Sinclair Telecable). The new owner flipped the format to talk. A swap was made with AM 1350, which moved the WNIS call sign to this station, and transferred the WRAP call letters, with its associated black-oriented format, to AM 1350.
WNIS, meaning "News and Information Station", picked up programming from ABC Talkradio, NBC Talknet and the Mutual Broadcasting System's Larry King Show.