WCPV (101.3 FM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

broadcasting a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

Licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Essex, New York Essex is a town in Essex County, New York, United States overlooking Lake Champlain. The population was 621 at the 2020 census. The town is named after locations in England. The town is on the eastern edge of the county. It is south-southwest of ...

, United States, the station serves the

Champlain Valley The Champlain Valley is a region of the United States around Lake Champlain in Vermont and New York extending north slightly into Quebec, Canada. It is part of the St. Lawrence River drainage basin, drained northward by the Richelieu River into ...

of New York and

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. Although licensed to Essex, New York, many listeners mistakenly believe that WCPV is licensed to

Essex, Vermont Essex is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. Vermont Route 289 crosses the town from east to west. The city of Essex Junction, population 10,590, was located within the town as an incorporated village until 2022. History The ...

, given that its offices and studios are located at Fort Ethan Allen in neighboring

Colchester, Vermont Colchester is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Colchester was 17,524. It is the fourth-most populous municipality and second-most populous town in the state of Vermont. Colchester bor ...

. The station is owned by Vox AM/FM. WCPV serves as the flagship station for

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...

men's basketball, along with sister station WEAV (960 AM). Rob Ryan previously provided the play by play, with various co-commentators.

History

The station was randomly assigned the call sign of WVZM on September 2, 1992; after changing the call letters to WDOT on July 22, 1993, the station signed on in 1994 as WCPV, offering a

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

format branded as "Champ 101.3". Initially owned by Northstar Broadcasting, the station was acquired by Capstar Broadcasting in 1998, ultimately ending up with Clear Channel Communications following several mergers. Clear Channel announced on November 16, 2006, that it would sell its Champlain Valley stations after being bought by private equity firms, resulting in a sale to Vox Communications in 2008. By 2008, after 14 years, the station moved to a

mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

format to go up against

Hall Communications Hall Communications, Inc. is a broadcasting company based in Lakeland, Florida. The company currently owns 17 radio stations in Polk County, Florida; eastern Connecticut; New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Burlington, Vermont. History The company ...

WBTZ WBTZ (99.9 MHz "99.9 The Buzz") is a commercial FM radio station in Plattsburgh, New York, broadcasting to the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh radio market, heard around the Champlain Valley and into Montreal. The station is owned by Hall Co ...

, leaving

WIZN WIZN (106.7 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Vergennes, Vermont, serving the Champlain Valley and Burlington- Plattsburgh radio market. The station broadcasts a classic rock radio format branded as ''The Wizard''. It is own ...

(a sister station to WBTZ) as the only classic rock station. WCPV 101

WCPV adopted a sports format and ESPN Radio affiliation, replacing WCAT,

WFAD WFAD (1490 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Middlebury, Vermont, United States. The station is owned by Radio Broadcasting Services, Inc. and is part of The Point, a network of five FM stations and one AM station, as well as four associat ...

, and WRSA, on January 1, 2011, citing heavy competition in the rock format; almost immediately, WCAT responded by joining ESPN Radio's arch-rival, Fox Sports Radio. WCPV also replaced WEAV as the flagship station of the

Vermont Lake Monsters The Vermont Lake Monsters are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Burlington, Vermont. From 1994 to 2020, they were members of Minor League Baseball's New York–Penn League (NYPL). They play their home games at Centennial Field, on ...

and the Champlain Valley affiliate of the New England Patriots

Radio Network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass media, mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio (Duplex (telecomm ...

. Beginning with the 2011-2012 season, WCPV joined the

Boston Bruins Radio Network The Boston Bruins Radio Network is a 17-station (9 AM, 9 FM, plus 3 FM translators) network which carries live game broadcasts of the Boston Bruins. The network's flagship station is WBZ-FM/98.5- Boston, Massachusetts. Judd Sirott announces play-b ...

, carrying all 82 regular-season Bruins games. On January 10, 2013, it was announced the station had picked up rights to

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

games, which had run for decades on Burlington's

WJOY WJOY (1230 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting an adult standards/soft adult contemporary format. Licensed to Burlington, Vermont, the station is owned by Hall Communications, Inc. WJOY carries the nationally syndicated music ...

(1230 AM). On September 4, 2018, the station switched to Fox Sports Radio and re-branded as ''101.3 The Game''. Vox AM/FM merged its two sports stations on October 1, 2021, moving the "Game" brand and programming to WEAV, which had previously carried CBS Sports Radio as "The Zone". Following a week simulcasting WEAV and a weekend of airing nature sounds as a stunt, WCPV switched to country music as "101.3 The Wolf" on October 11, 2021.The Wolf Debuts in Burlington Plattsburgh
Radioinsight - October 11, 2021

References

External links

* * {{The Bobby Bones Show CPV Radio stations established in 1994 1994 establishments in New York (state) Country radio stations in the United States