WCYK-FM

WCYK-FM (99.7 FM) is a country formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Staunton, Virginia, serving Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, and Staunton in Virginia. WCYK-FM is owned and operated by Monticello Media.

WCYK-FM
CityStaunton, Virginia
Broadcast areaCharlottesville, Virginia
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Staunton, Virginia
Frequency99.7 FM MHz
Branding99-7 CYK
Programming
FormatCountry
AffiliationsMRN Radio
PRN Radio
Ownership
OwnerMonticello Media
(Monticello Media, LLC)
WCHV, WCHV-FM, WHTE, WKAV, WZGN
History
First air date
August 1, 1984
Former call signs
WANV-FM (1984–1994)
WVAO-FM (1994–1996)[1]
Call sign meaning
CountrY K
Technical information
Facility ID70861
ClassB
Power3,300 watts
HAAT516 meters (1,693 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
38°3′52.0″N 78°48′18.0″W
Links
WebcastWCYK-FM Webstream
Website99-7 CYK Online

History

WANV-FM signed on August 1, 1984 with a light adult contemporary format. The station was co-owned by M. Robert "Bob" Rogers' High Fidelity Music Show, Inc. with country WANV (970 kHz) in Waynesboro.[2] Bob Rogers was the former manager of WGMS in Washington, and with his wife Terry ran a series of annual High Fidelity Music Show expos to showcase the latest in home audio technology.[3] The station initially transmitted from Elliott Knob west of Staunton, high enough to cover the Staunton-Waynesboro-Harrisonburg portion of the Shenandoah Valley.[4]

In 1989, WANV-FM received a permit to move to Bear Den Mountain, just east of Waynesboro and north of Afton Mountain. Although this site is roughly 1,500 feet lower than Elliott Knob, it affords a much wider coverage area, with local-grade service to the Charlottesville metro in addition to the valley to the west.[4] The station flipped to oldies during 1991.[5]

Bob Rogers died in 1992, and the two stations passed to his son as executor, who began looking for a buyer.[4] In March 1994, Michael Douglass' Clark Broadcasting Company bought WANV-FM along with longtime Charlottesville country stations WCYK (810 kHz) and WCYK-FM (102.3 MHz), based in Crozet.[6] Clark changed the callsign to WVAO-FM and kept the oldies format. To take advantage of the 99.7 MHz facility's superior signal, Clark then moved the more popular country format and WCYK-FM callsign from 102.3 in February 1996. That station took the oldies and WVAO-FM callsign in return.[7]

Clear Channel entered the Charlottesville market by buying Clark's three FM stations in 1998. The company ran the station as "Country 99.7", but otherwise did not make changes.[8]

Clear Channel exited the Charlottesville market in June 2007 by selling all of its stations to George Reed's Sistema 102 LLC, which was later renamed Monticello Media.[9] On November 3, 2007, Monticello tweaked the station's branding to "Your Country 99.7". On the morning of September 16, 2010, the station adopted the "Hitkicker 99-7" brand, which came with changes to airstaff but not music.[10]

Exactly seven years later, on September 16, 2017, the station shifted brands again to "99.7 CYK", at the same time adding some recurrents to a music rotation that was largely hit-based. This occurred as a result of increased competition from WCVL-FM (92.7 MHz), which airs a 1990-based country format, and a format change at Monticello's own classic country outlet WKAV.[11]

References
  1. http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=70861&Callsign=WCYK-FM
  2. Broadcasting & Cablecasting Yearbook 1986 (PDF). p. B-300.
  3. Staff (February 14, 1976). "The Rogers & Hi Fi -- A 22-Year Love Affair" (PDF). Billboard. p. S3-12.
  4. "WCYK-FM Facility Record". FCCData.
  5. Broadcasting & Cable Marketplace (PDF). p. A-369.
  6. Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1995 (PDF). p. B-435.
  7. Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1998 (PDF). pp. D-457, D-464.
  8. Corbin, Robert (August 12, 2002). "Harrisonburg & Charlottesville Arbitron Ratings".
  9. Corbin, Robert (June 27, 2007). "Clear Channel to sell six stations in VA". VARTV.
  10. "Hit on a Shingle". Country Aircheck Today. September 16, 2010.
  11. Venta, Lance (1 October 2017). "WKAV Goes From Classic Country To Christian AC While WCYK Rebrands". RadioInsight.
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