WTRV

WTRV
Soft adult contemporary;
Ownership
Owner	Townsquare Media; (Townsquare Media of Grand Rapids, Inc.);
Sister stations	WFGR, WGRD-FM, WLHT-FM, WNWZ
History
First air date	June 15, 1993 (as WQFN)
Former call signs	WQFN (9/20/1991-6/26/1998)
Call sign meaning	W The RiVer
Technical information
Facility ID	72529
Class	A
ERP	3,000 watts
HAAT	100 meters (328 ft)
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	rivergrandrapids.com

WTRV (100.5

soft adult contemporary radio format. The station is licensed to Walker, Michigan, and serves the Grand Rapids metropolitan area radio market. WTRV is a Class A station, so it is limited to 3,000 watts. Its signal can be heard as far south as Otsego, far east as Ionia, and as far north as Fremont

.

The studios and offices are on Ottawa Avenue NW in Grand Rapids.[1] The transmitter is on Peach Ridge Avenue NW at 3 Mile Road, near Interstate 96.^[2]

History

WQFN

On June 15, 1993, the station first

signed on as WQFN.^[3]

It was owned by William E. Kuiper, Jr. and had its studios and offices on Fremont Avenue NW. Kuiper served as the president and general manager, while his wife Ruth was the sales manager.

For several years, WQFN was co-owned with

Smooth Jazz fed via satellite from Jones Radio Networks

. The smooth jazz format was a moderate ratings success.

Capstar ownership

In 1998, the station was acquired by Capstar, which later became part of

iHeartMedia, Inc.^[4] Capstar switched the call sign

to WTRV.

The station featured a

Hot AC in 2009

.

Regent/Townsquare ownership

In 2000, the ownership changed again, this time to Regent Communications.

Tampa

.

WTRV aired

syndicated nighttime love-songs show for a time until it moved to sister station WLHT and later to what is now WSRW. Delilah is syndicated by Premiere Networks, a subsidiary

of iHeartMedia, which owns WSRW.

Christmas Music

WTRV was the first station in the Grand Rapids market to switch to a format of all-

hot adult contemporary station WLHT-FM went all-Christmas (which it had never done before) to compete with WOOD-FM, which also goes all-Christmas every holiday season. In 2010, WTRV returned to an all-Christmas music format for the holidays, because WLHT-FM had moved to an adult Top 40

sound, not usually associated with Christmas music.

In 2018, WTRV was the first station in the United States to flip to the all-Christmas format when it made the switch on October 29. Early adopters (such as frequent first-in-the-nation WEZW in South Jersey) waited until November 1 to switch, which factored into WTRV's decision to flip early.^[6] On October 29, 2019 at 5:00pm CDT WTRV flipped to the all-Christmas format, making it the 2nd station in the US for the 2019 Holiday season to flip to all-Christmas music, next to WWIZ which flipped on October 25, 2019 (though WWIZ's move, which included a change to a "Christmas" brand, was suspected of being a stunt). WTRV changed at the same time as WLTC in Cusseta, Georgia.^[7]

References

^ RiverGrandRapids.com/Help
^ Radio-Locator.com/WTRV
^ Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1995 page B-213
^ Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1999 page D-230
^ Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2005 page D-281
^ Venta, Lance (October 30, 2018). Christmas season begins in Grand Rapids. RadioInsight. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
^ @radioinsight (October 29, 2019). "Last year Townsquare Media AC 100.5..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.

Michiguide.com - WTRV History

External links

WTRV in the FCC FM station database
WTRV in Nielsen Audio's FM station database

43°00′58″N 85°44′24″W / 43.016°N 85.740°W / 43.016; -85.740

[1] RiverGrandRapids.com/Help

[2] Radio-Locator.com/WTRV

[3] Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1995 page B-213

[4] Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1999 page D-230

[5] Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2005 page D-281

[6] Venta, Lance (October 30, 2018). Christmas season begins in Grand Rapids. RadioInsight. Retrieved October 31, 2018.

[7] @radioinsight (October 29, 2019). "Last year Townsquare Media AC 100.5..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[2]

[3]

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