WDVH (AM)

WDVH
City Gainesville, Florida
Broadcast area Gainesville-Ocala, Florida
Branding I Am Country 94.1 & 101.7
Slogan Country Legends
Frequency 980 kHz
Translator(s) 94.1 W231DH (Gainesville)
First air date October 1955
Format Classic Country (WDVH-FM simulcast)
Power 5,000 watts daytime
166 watts nighttime
Class D
Facility ID 18047
Transmitter coordinates 29°37′27.33″N 82°17′17.7468″W / 29.6242583°N 82.288263000°W / 29.6242583; -82.288263000
Callsign meaning W (initials of former owners) Toby Dowdy, Rob Vaughn and Tom Hanson
Former callsigns WLUS
Owner MARC Radio Gainesville, LLC
Sister stations WDVH-FM, WHHZ, WPLL, WRZN, WTMG, WTMN
Webcast Listen Live
Website iamcountryradio.com

WDVH is a commercial radio station in Gainesville, Florida, broadcasting to the Gainesville-Ocala, Florida area on 980 AM.

History

WDVH signed on the air on in October 1955 from its current transmitter location on SE 27th street (formerly known as Kincaid Road). The call letters stand for the three partners that launched the station, Toby Dowdy, Rob Vaughn and Tom Hanson. Toby Dowdy was a country radio musician, Rob Vaughn owned the land and Tom Hanson was a radio station manager. Initially it was a day time only station.

In the mid-1950s it became a rock and roller and added a second tower to give it night time service to much of Gainesville. Around 1968 both towers were lost in a storm and only one tower was replaced, making it a non-directional daytime station again.

WDVH was sold in 1969 to Roy Danner (of Shoney's restaurant fame) and Larry Edwards. On May 1, 1970 the format changed to Country Music.

On June 30, 1980, the studio building burned down due to an electrical fire. Temporary studios were installed next to the transmitting tower in a double wide trailer while a new permanent studio building was built in place of the old one.

In April 1988, WWLO 1430 kHz (now WTMN) was diplexed onto the WDVH tower. WWLO first went on the air with 2.5 kW daytime only. That station increased its power to 10 kW daytime, 45 watts nighttime in July 2003.

It was sold again to Bill Morris, who in turn sold it to Crystal which became Pinnacle AM Broadcasting, Inc. The format changed to Adult Standards and the call letters were changed to WLUS in 1996 (US98). In 2000, the transmitter and computer automation equipment was seized by the Alachua County Sheriff's department for failure to pay unrelated business debts. This equipment was bought at auction by morning show host, Jim Brand with the hopes that it could be re-installed, quickly returning the station to the air. When station ownership declined, the transmitter was sold to a religious broadcaster in St. Louis, Mo. The station remained dark for nearly 8 months while a sale was arranged to Pamal Broadcasting. This sale was consummated in late 2000 after Pinnacle installed a new transmitter.

When Pamal Broadcasting took over, it combined the studios of WKZY and WHHZ in the WDVH studio building. The format remained Adult Standards until 2004, when it was changed back to Country music under the slogan "WDVH Country legends, 101.7 FM 980 AM"

In 2005 the studios were moved across town to the Sunshine Broadcasting building on 100 NW 76th Drive (Tower Hill office park) along with WTMN, WTMG, WKZY, WHHZ and WDVH-FM. The Country Legends format continues to be very popular along with other local programming such as the Saturday morning show, Swap Shop. WDVH became "Florida's Fox News Radio 980 & 720" changing format in late Oct 2011.

On May 1, 2016 WDVH changed their format to a simulcast of classic country-formatted WDVH-FM 101.7. On September 6, 2016 WDVH rebranded as "I Am Country 94.1 & 101.7".[1]

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References

  1. ↑ WDVH Adds Translator as Hank Branding Exits Radioinsight - September 7, 2016
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