WRVQ

Early Years as WRVB, WRVA-FM

On August 10, 1948, the station signed on as WRVB.^[3] It was the FM counterpart to AM 1140 WRVA. WRVA and WRVB were owned by a tobacco company, Larus & Brother, with studios in the Hotel Richmond. WRVB was powered at 25,000 watts, mostly simulcasting WRVA, including the line-up of CBS Radio Network dramas, comedies, sports and news, during the Golden Age of Radio.

In 1956, Larus & Brother signed on Channel 12 WRVA-TV (now WWBT). At the same time, the FM call sign was switched to WRVA-FM.^[4] When the TV station became an NBC-TV network affiliate, WRVA-AM-FM switched to the NBC Radio Network, too.

Superpower Authorization

In the 1960s, WRVA-FM was one of several Richmond FM stations receiving permission from the Federal Communications Commission for unusually high power.^[5] Today, Richmond is in Zone 1, limited to a maximum of 50,000 watts effective radiated power (ERP). But before these rules were strictly enforced, 103.7 WFMV (now WURV) was permitted to operate at 74,000 watts, 102.1 WRNL-FM (now WRXL) broadcast at 120,000 watts, and, to this day, 94.5 is grandfathered at 200,000 watts.^[6]

In the 1960s, WRVA-FM began to broadcast its own programming, mostly easy listening music, with the AM station's news and other shows simulcast during some hours.

Top 40 WRVQ

In 1969, WRVA-FM was sold to Southern Broadcasters.^[7] In 1972, Southern Broadcasters switched WRVA-FM to a new Top 40 format, as WRVQ. Until the 1970s, Top 40 stations were mostly on the AM band. In Richmond, the big contemporary stations were 1380 WTVR (now WBTK) and 1480 WLEE (now WTOX). Most receivers were still AM only at this time.

At first, WRVQ operated as an automated station, but by the late 1970s, live DJs were added. In 1978, Southern Broadcasters became Harte-Hanks Radio. In 1984, WRVA and WRVQ were sold to Edens Broadcasting.^[8] And in 1992, ownership moved to Clear Channel Communications, the forerunner to iHeartMedia, Inc. Through all the sales, WRVQ has stayed in the same format, as the leading Top 40 station in the Richmond radio market.

Entercom Ownership

On November 1, 2017, iHeartMedia announced that WRVQ, along with all iHeart stations in Richmond and Chattanooga, would be sold to Entercom due to that company's merger with CBS Radio.^[9] Entercom and iHeart also swapped several stations in Boston, to help Entercom remain within FCC ownership caps. The sale was completed on December 19, 2017.^[10]

WRVQ HD-2

WRVQ broadcasts in the HD Radio format. WRVQ-HD2 formerly carried "The Planet", an automated classic rock format. On New Year's Day 2018, WRVQ-HD2 (and associated analog translator W241AP) were converted to an FM simulcast of WRVA, returning the station to simulcasting their mother AM station for the first time in decades.