WAVL

WAVL
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Broadcast area	Apollo, Pennsylvania
Branding	PA Talk 98.7 FM/910 AM
Frequency	910 kHz
Translator(s)	98.7 W254CR (Latrobe)
First air date	April 15, 1947
Format	Talk
Power	5,000 watts (Daytime) 69 watts (Night)
Class	D
Facility ID	67662
Callsign meaning	Apollo Vandergrift Leechburg
Owner	Jeffrey Andrulonis (Colonial Radio Group, Inc. (sale pending))
Website	pa-talk.com

WAVL (910 AM) is an American radio station serving the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. The station is owned by Colonial Radio Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Olean, New York-based Colonial Media and Entertainment, and is now under contract to be sold to Laurel Highland Total Communications, licensee of WCNS radio in Latrobe.

It broadcasts on 910 kHz with a maximum power output of 5,000 watts daytime and 69 watts nighttime. It is licensed to the borough of Apollo, Pennsylvania.

WAVL, after a long history of religious radio broadcasting, became a secular broadcaster in December 2015 with a Variety Hits format. As of Monday, August 29, 2016, WAVL adopted a conservative talk format.

History

Early years

The construction permit for this radio station was first issued on February 1, 1947. The station's original assigned frequency was 890 kHz and power output at 250 watts daytime. The FCC allowed the change in May 1947.

WAVL first signed on the air April 15, 1947. For many years, this station operated as a 1,000 watt, non-directional, daytime-only station. After being denied an STA to broadcast high school football games in 1948, ownership applied for permission to operate at 100 watts during the night in 1949, but that was denied in 1951 following a hearing on the matter. However, in 1968, WAVL was granted pre-sunrise authorization of 350 watts, which allowed it to sign on daily at 6:00am year-round.

In 1978, then-owner Tri-Borough Broadcasting raised a second tower, adopted a directional antenna pattern, and increased its power to 5,000 watts, but still retained its daytime-only status. WAVL was granted permission to operate at a limited nighttime power of 69 watts in the late 1990s.

For much of its existence, WAVL was a conservative Christian radio station, broadcasting inspirational music and time-brokered sermons from its studios located with its transmitter site in the Kiskiminetas Township village of Orchard Hills, just on the outskirts of Apollo, its city of license. WAVL was also the very first radio station in Armstrong County, with WACB (now WTYM) coming on the air the following year.

For a time at the beginning, WAVL maintained studios and offices at the corner of Fourth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Apollo, until they were destroyed by a fire in 1956.

WAVL was founded by Andrew J. West and the Reverend Cecil F. Clifton, a deeply patriotic minister who started the station on the principle of "serving God and Country by guarding America's spiritual heritage". The station remained in Clifton's family for more than 50 years, doing business as Tri-Borough Broadcasting (referring to Apollo, Vandergrift, and Leechburg, which was also the origins of the station call letters).

The station is also speculated to have been among the very first in the nation to begin the practice of brokering its airtime to ministries and other faith-based organizations, including one of the first in the nation to broadcast Messianic Jewish programming with the Rabbi Sloan talk-teaching broadcast called "Shema Israel" in the mid 1990s.

The station also broadcast local news weekday mornings in between the time-brokered programs for many years, anchored by the soft-spoken, deep-baritoned genial Carman Tubby, who was a favorite in the community for many years until his death on September 14, 2000 , and became best known for addressing his listeners on the air as "friends". Tubby had worked at WAVL since its inception and retired seven months prior to his death, concluding almost 54 years of service.

After Reverend Clifton's death in 1990, the station passed to his wife Alice. Their son-in-law, Reverend Robert Dain, had served as the station's General Manager years before that. At the beginning of the 21st century, following Mrs. Clifton's death, WAVL was put up for sale.

Clifton dynasty ends

WAVL was purchased in 2001 for $400,000 by Evangel Heights Assembly of God, a church in Sarver, Pennsylvania; located at Routes 356 and 28 in southern Butler County. Wishing to move WAVL towards a younger audience, Evangel Heights decided to change the station's format to contemporary Christian, gradually phasing out the ministries, and adopting the moniker "Praise 910". The station first broadcast with a live, local airstaff during the daytime hours, then switching to satellite based programming at night, with modest success.

In 2007, Evangel Heights replaced all local air staff with satellite programming full-time, and moved studios to the church on Beale Road in Buffalo Township.

Evangel Heights in 2009 launched a conservative all-talk satellite-delivered format under the "Liberty 910" banner, with some brokered ministry programming in limited numbers.

Second sale

The two-antenna directional array, seen from Kings Road, looking north

In August 2013 WAVL was under agreement to be sold to Kittanning-based Family-Life Media-Com Inc., owner of WTYM and a low-power Christian-formatted television station, with the station being operated under an LMA until details of the sale could be finalized. Coincidentally, Family Life Media-Com President David Croyle, once worked for WAVL under Tri-Borough Broadcasting's ownership. The station's studios were returned to its transmitter facility following the LMA, but most business was conducted from Family Life's headquarters in Kittanning.

The station was taken back to its roots of music and ministry since Family Life Media-Com's assumption of operations, with a mix of local and national shows plus featured live broadcasts from the Family Life Studios in Kittanning.

As of July 31, 2015, control reverted to Evangel Heights Assembly of God Church due to both sides being unable to work out an amicable agreement on the sale of the station. The church elected to take WAVL silent for staffing reasons and filed a Special Temporary Authority application with the FCC allowing the station to remain silent for a six-month period. On Wednesday, December 30, 2015, it was reported and subsequently confirmed that WAVL was back on the air.

The station operated under a lease agreement between Evangel Heights Assembly of God Church and the Colonial Radio Group (also known as Colonial Media and Entertainment) until the FCC approved the asset purchase agreement on Friday, April 29, 2016.

Third sale

On Monday, June 20, 2016, Allaccess.com reported that WAVL was being sold to Laurel Highland Total Communications, the licensee of WCNS in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The $301.500 transaction included the sale of WAVL and an FM translator in Olean, New York under application to be moved to Latrobe.

WAVL today

The station had broadcast "The Mountain" format, a variety music format used by other Colonial stations, from December 2015 to July 2016.^[1]

On July 1, 2016 WAVL went silent. Colonial Media, in an application dated July 5, 2016, requested Special Temporary Authority for WAVL to go silent while technical repairs and renovations were being made at the studio and transmitter site in Kiski Township prior to the transfer of the station from Colonial Media and Entertainment to forthcoming owners Laurel Highland Total Communications. On August 29, 2016, WAVL returned to the air simulcasting the programming of future sister station WCNS, until a local studio and office presence is established.

Former weekday lineup

The Hot Mess Morning Show with Mat & Megan
John Tesh, middays
Al Cannon, afternoons
Tom Kent, evenings
Morning news with Ken Hawk

Former weekend programming

The Saturday Sports Show with Bob Tatrn

References

↑ Weigand, Jodi (2 January 2016). "Lease agreement puts WAVL in Apollo back on the air". Trib Live. Trib Total Media, Inc. Retrieved 17 February 2016.

External links

Query the FCC's AM station database for WAVL

Radio-Locator Information on WAVL

Radio stations in the Pittsburgh market

By AM frequency	540 590 620 660 680 730 770 810 860 910 940 970 1020¹ 1080 1150 1210 1250 1280 1320 1360 1380 1410 1450 1460 1480 1490 1510 1550 1570 1640 ¹ Clear-channel stations with extended nighttime coverage

By FM frequency	88.1 88.1 88.3 88.7 88.9 89.3 90.1 90.5 91.3 91.7 92.1 92.1 92.5 92.9 93.7 94.5 94.9 95.3 95.7 96.1 96.9 97.7 98.3 98.9 99.3 99.7 100.1 100.7 101.1 101.5 102.5 103.1 103.5 103.7 103.9 104.3 104.7 105.1 105.9 106.3 106.7 107.1 107.5 107.9

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.55

Digital Radio	89.3-1 89.3-2 90.5-1 90.5-2 90.5-3 91.3-1 92.9-1 92.9-2 92.9-3 92.9-4 93.7-1 93.7-2 93.7-3 94.5-1 94.5-2 96.1-1 96.1-2 96.9-1 96.9-2 96.9-3 96.9-4 99.7-1 100.7-1 100.7-2 100.7-3 102.5-1 102.5-2 105.9-1 105.9-2 107.9-1 107.9-2 107.9-3

By callsign	KDKA¹ KDKA-FM KFX300 KIH35 KQV W261AX WAMO WANB WAOB WAOB-FM WAVL WBGG WBJV WBUT WBVP WBZZ WCAL WCNS WCYJ WDIG WDSY-FM WDVE WEDO WEGW WESA WFSJ-LP WFGI WGBN WGLZ WHJB WISR WIUP WJAS WJPA WJPA-FM WJST WKBN WKFB WKGO WKHB WKPL WKST WKST-FM WKVE WLCY WLER WLSW WLTJ WMBA WMBS WMNY WHOT WMUG-LP WNJR WOGG WOGH WOGI WOHI WORD WPGB WPGP WPGR WPHP WPIT WPKL WPKV WPTS-FM WQED WQMU WQTW WRCT WRRK WSHH WSRU WTYM WUKL WVKF WVNP WWCS WWNL WWSW WWVA WXDX WYEP WYFU WZUM WZUM-FM

Defunct	WKZV 1110 AM WASP 1130 AM WBGI 1340 AM WSTV 1340 AM WZUM 1590 AM

Pennsylvania radio markets Allentown–Bethlehem Altoona Bradford–Coudersport Chambersburg–Waynesboro Erie Harrisburg–Lebanon–Carlisle Lancaster Montrose New Castle Philadelphia Pittsburgh Reading Sayre–Towanda–Mansfield–Wellsboro Wilkes-Barre–Scranton Williamsport York Other Pennsylvania radio regions Bedford Indiana Johnstown Lewistown–Mifflintown Meadville–Franklin Punxsutawney–DuBois St. Marys–Emporium–Kane State College Stroudsburg Sunbury–Selinsgrove–Lewisburg Warren Mass media in the Pittsburgh Area Radio stations TV stations Newspapers See also List of radio stations in Pennsylvania

Coordinates: 40°35′01″N 79°31′34″W / 40.58361°N 79.52611°W / 40.58361; -79.52611

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