WJIV (101.9 FM "Victory 101.9") is a

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Cherry Valley, New York Cherry Valley is a town in Otsego County, New York, United States. According to the 2020 US census, the village of Cherry Valley had a population of 487. However, the town has a much higher population. Within the town of Cherry Valley is a vill ...

, and serving the Mohawk Valley. The

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 ...

is primarily Christian talk and teaching, along with some Southern gospel music. WJIV is a brokered time station, with national and local religious leaders paying for time on the station, which allows them to seek donations to their ministries. WJIV has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...

(ERP) of 11,500

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s. The

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is about 3 miles (5 km) east of Cherry Valley village. The signal gives secondary coverage to

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, including Albany and

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

, as well as Oneonta and Utica/

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History

On June 6, 1948, the station first signed on as WVCV, as part of the Rural Radio Network, a service that provided farming news and rural entertainment to areas that generally lacked this type of specialized programming. The network stretched across much of Upstate New York, in an era where few people owned FM receivers. A

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...

change to WRRC was made in 1953 to reinforce the station's "Rural Radio" identity. The Rural Radio Network survived until 1960, dropping most of the farm related programming in favor of an over-the-air simulcast of classical music station 96.3

WQXR-FM WQXR-FM (105.9 FM) is an American non-commercial classical radio station, licensed to Newark, New Jersey and serving the North Jersey and New York City area. It is owned by the nonprofit organization New York Public Radio, which also operates ...

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, along with live weather reports for each of the stations in the network every hour. On February 1, 1960, the network was purchased by the Ivy Broadcasting Company, a corporation headed by Woody Erdman. In April 1966, Ivy sold WJIV and the other four FM stations to Chenango and Unadilla Communications, a small upstate New York telephone company. In 1968, C&U was acquired by

Continental Telephone ConTel Corporation (Continental Telephone) was the third largest independent phone company in the United States prior to the 1996 telecom deregulation. It was acquired by GTE in 1991. History In 1980, Contel purchased Network Analysis Corp, the ...

, however FCC regulations prohibited control of broadcast licenses by large phone companies - so Continental was forced to divest WJIV. Televangelist

Pat Robertson Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (born March 22, 1930) is an American media mogul, religious broadcaster, political commentator, former presidential candidate, and former Southern Baptist minister. Robertson advocates a conservative Christian ...

acquired the five-station network as a tax-deductible gift. Mr. Robertson was already operating Channel 27 WYAH-TV and FM station WXRI in

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

, and incorporated the five upstate New York stations into his

Christian Broadcasting Network The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is an American Christian media production and distribution organization. Founded in 1960 by Pat Robertson, it produces the long-running TV series '' The 700 Club'', co-produces the ongoing ''Superbook'' ...

(CBN) on January 1, 1969. CBN programmed mostly Christian Contemporary music with some religious instructional shows also heard. Floyd Dykeman purchased WJIV from CBN on March 30, 1981, and kept the religious format. Dykeman increased the station's power to its current level in 1984, then sold the station to Detroit-based religious broadcaster Midwest Broadcasting in 2000. The call sign WJIV had previously been assigned to the E.D. Rivers, Jr., station on 900 kHz in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

(later known as

WJLG WJLG (900 AM) was a radio station broadcasting a sports radio format. Licensed to Savannah, Georgia, United States, the station served the Savannah area. The station was last owned by Cumulus Media and featured programming from Fox Sports Radio ...

). Midwest Broadcasting changed its name to Christian Broadcasting system in 200

Current programming

WJIV currently offers Christian themed talk and news programs, as well as traditional religious broadcasting. Some of the national religious leaders heard on WJIV include

David Jeremiah David Jeremiah is an American evangelical Christian author, founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in El Cajon, California, a suburb of San ...

, Jim Daly, and Charles Stanley. The station also offers local weather and community updates throughout its broadcast day.

References

External links

{{Christian Broadcasting System JIV JIV Southern Gospel radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1948 1948 establishments in New York (state)