WVAB

WVAB
City	Virginia Beach, Virginia
Broadcast area	Southside of Hampton Roads
Frequency	1550 kHz
First air date	1954
Format	Silent
Power	5,000 Watts daytime 9 Watts nighttime
Class	D
Facility ID	57611
Transmitter coordinates	36°49′20.0″N 76°5′30.0″W / 36.822222°N 76.091667°W / 36.822222; -76.091667
Callsign meaning	W VirginiA Beach
Owner	Birach Broadcasting Corporation
Sister stations	WBVA
Website	WVAB Online

WVAB is a broadcast radio station licensed to Virginia Beach, Virginia, though currently silent. When broadcasting, WVAB serves the Southside of Hampton Roads. WVAB is owned and operated by Birach Broadcasting Corporation.^[1]

History

WVAB has had a long history in Virginia Beach, moving from a popular music station to strictly news and finally gospel programming.^[2] The late Sidney Kellam, a scion of political and economic power in Princess Anne County and Virginia Beach during mid 20th century, and members of the Kellam family, were the original owner and founders of WVAB. The studio or offices were long-located over the Jewish Mother Restaurant on Pacific Avenue, its headquarters for the first 34 years of its existence. WVAB had been a pop and rock music station, relying on a series of itinerant disc jockeys to purvey their various musical tastes to a limited local audience. Don Beckstrom was a constant figure on WVAB both on the air and as Program Director during this period.

Eventually, advertising revenues trickled to a halt at the end of the 1980s. A succession of new owners followed beginning in the early 1990s.^[3]^[4]

Since March 19, 2008, the station has been off the air, following financial problems and an apparent vandalism incident of March 16.

The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported that the stations, WVAB (1550), which had carried local gospel programming, and WBVA (1450), both were off the air and there was no word on when or if they will return.^[5]

According to Virginia Beach police, on March 16, 2008, someone felled the stations' 200-foot tower. Margie Long with the Virginia Beach Police Department was quoted in local media as saying "The tower, approximately 200 ft. of it, collapsed to the ground. It appears there were numerous lines, support lines that were cut. We are investigating this as a destruction of property. There are no suspects, he said, but the investigation is ongoing." The tower stood in the 500 block of de Laura Lane, just off North Witchduck Road and north of Virginia Beach Boulevard.^[6]

WVAB was in bankruptcy and the station was sold to Birach Broadcasting Corporation on April 1, 2008 according to FCC records.

References

External links

WVAB Online

Query the FCC's AM station database for WVAB

Radio-Locator Information on WVAB

Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WVAB

Radio stations in the Norfolk–Virginia Beach–Newport News market

By AM frequency	560 670 740 790 850 940 1010 1050 1110 1230 1250 1270 1310 1350 1400 1420 1450 1490 1550 1600 1650

By FM frequency	88.1 88.3 88.5 88.7 89.1 89.5 89.9 90.3 90.7 90.9 91.1 91.5 91.7 92.1 92.3 92.9 93.3 93.7 94.1 94.9 95.7 96.1 96.5 96.7 96.9 97.3 97.7 97.7 97.9 98.7 99.1 99.3 99.7 100.1 100.5 100.9 101.3 101.7 102.1 102.5 102.9 103.5 103.7 103.7 103.9 104.1 104.5 104.9 105.3 105.7 106.1 106.9 107.7 107.9

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.550

By callsign	KHB37 W227BR W243DJ W245BB W249BH W249BM W250AE W257BV W261CN W279AD W280CX WAFX WBKU WBQK WBVA WCPK WCWM WCXL WFMI WFMZ WFOS WGAI WGH WGH-FM WGPL WHBT-FM WHKT WHOV WHRO-FM WHRV WJLZ WJOI WJRX-LP WKGM WKJX WKQA WLQM WLQM-FM WMBG WMOV-FM WNIS WNOB WNOH WNOR WNSB WNVZ WORJ-LP WOWI WPCE WPMH WPTE WRJR WROX-FM WRPC-LP WRSF WRVS-FM WTAR WTJZ WTYD WUSH WVAB WVBW WVHT WVKL WVRL WVSP-FM WVXX WWDE-FM WWIP WXGM WXGM-FM WXTG WXTG-FM WYCS WYFI WZLV

Defunct stations	WRAP WRRW-LP (102.5 FM)

Virginia radio markets Bristol Fredericksburg Harrisonburg Norfolk–Newport News–Virginia Beach Richmond Roanoke–Lynchburg Winchester Other Virginia radio regions Blacksburg–Christiansburg–Radford–Pulaski Bluefield Charlottesville Eastern Shore Farmville Northern Neck Roanoke Rapids–South Hill Southside Southwest Virginia Virginia Highlands See also List of radio stations in Virginia

Birach Broadcasting Corporation

Radio stations	KJMU KOLE KTUV KXLQ WBRD WBVA WCAR WCXI WCXN WDMV WEW WGOP WIJR WKGE WMFN WMJH WNWI WNZK WOAP WPON WTOR WVAB WWCS

Television stations	KIJR-LP

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.