WAEV (97.3 FM, "97.3 Kiss FM") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

. Owned by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

, it broadcasts a Top 40 - CHR

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

. It carries two

nationally syndicated Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

programs on weekdays: ''

The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show ''The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show'' (formerly ''Kidd Kraddick in the Morning'') is an American ensemble morning radio show that originates from Dallas, Texas. The show is heard weekday mornings on flagship station, KHKS, and on dozens of othe ...

'' in AM

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

and ''

On Air with Ryan Seacrest ''On Air with Ryan Seacrest'' is a weekday radio syndication, syndicated radio program hosted by Ryan Seacrest. It was launched in 2004 as a drive time show at the same time on Los Angeles contemporary hit radio, Top 40 station 102.7 KIIS-FM a ...

'' in middays. The studios and offices are on Alfred Street in Garden City, using a Savannah address. WAEV is a Class C0 FM station. It 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 ha ...

(ERP) of 100,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, the maximum for most FM stations. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is amid other

towers A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

for local FM and TV stations, along Fort Argyle Road (

Georgia State Route 204 State Route 204 (SR 204) is a state highway in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It runs from a point east of Pembroke and ends in Savannah. Its routing is located within portions of Bryan and Chatham counties. Rout ...

) near

Bloomingdale, Georgia Bloomingdale is a city in Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 2,790. It is part of the Savannah, Georgia, Savannah S ...

History

The station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on .''Broadcasting & Cablecasting Yearbook 1985'' page B-71. Retrieved Dec. 31, 2024.
/ref> The original

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 as ...

was WXLM. It played an

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

format, a mix of instrumental

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of popular hits along with soft vocals. It was largely

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

. WXLM was a rare stand-alone FM station, with no co-ownership with an AM station, television station or newspaper. In September 1977, the station flipped to

Album Rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM broadcasting, FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of Rock music, rock albums and is currently associated ...

in response to rival station WTOC starting a highly successful overnight album rock program in 1976. Before this, Savannah had been without a rock station since

WEAS-FM WEAS-FM (93.1 MHz, "E93") is a commercial radio station licensed to Springfield, Georgia, and serving the Savannah metropolitan area. It airs an urban contemporary radio format and is owned by Cumulus Media. Its studios are on Television Circ ...

flipped in the early 1970s. WXLM 97.3 went by the name "97 Rock." The station played long sets of rock music, including

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American Rock music, rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, h ...

and

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

. In 1980, the station flipped to

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, sou ...

, calling itself "Wave 97". It took new call letters, WAEV. When "WXLM 97 Rock" left the air, Savannah did not have a rock station until

WIXV WIXV (95.5 FM, "I-95") is a classic rock formatted radio station licensed to Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is owned by Cumulus Media. History WSGF-FM WIXV began as WSGF-FM. An application for WSGF-FM, and the callsign, was originally ...

picked up the format in 1986. WAEV picked up the tempo and evolved into a

hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

station as "Mix 97.3" in 1993. After several years of falling ratings and revenue in the early 2000s, the station rebranded to a Top 40—Contemporary Hits sound. It began using the

KISS-FM KISS-FM (99.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station in San Antonio, Texas. It airs a mainstream rock format and is owned by Cox Media Group. The studios and offices are located on Datapoint Drive in Northwest San Antonio near the South Texas M ...

branding in December 2001, common on other

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

FM stations such as

KIIS-FM KIIS-FM (102.7 FM broadcasting, FM, "102.7 KIIS FM") is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States, and broadcasts to the Greater Los Angeles area. The station airs a contemporary hit radio format. Owned by i ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

KHKS KHKS (106.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is a contemporary hit radio station city of license, licensed to Denton, Texas. Branded "KISS-FM (brand), KISS-FM" the station serves the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is owned by iHeartMedia. The station is ...

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. It picked up ''

'' from KHKS for its wake up program. After several months of further format "tweaking", the station moved into a mainstream mix of Top 40 hits.

References

External links

* * {{coord, 32.046028, N, 81.340667, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title AEV Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1976 1976 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) IHeartMedia radio stations