WKTR (840 kHz) is a classic hits formatted

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

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 ...

licensed to Earlysville, Virginia, serving

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...

. WKTR is owned by Piedmont Communications, Inc.

History

Baker Family Stations, then doing business as Rural Radio Service, was first issued a construction permit for 840 kHz in September 1986. WKTR signed on February 17, 1991, with a religious talk format. The station is a

rimshot A rimshot is a percussion technique used to produce an Accent (music), accented snare drum backbeat. The sound is produced by simultaneously hitting the Drum hardware#Rim, rim and Drumhead, head of the drum with a drum stick. The sound and var ...

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

with a transmitter located near

Stanardsville, Virginia Stanardsville is a town in Greene County, Virginia, United States. The population was 349 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 367 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Greene County. The name is from Robert Stanard, a b ...

. By 2005, the station was still running religious talk under the branding "The Ministry Station". That March 1, it became the Charlottesville market's first

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

affiliate under the branding "ESPN 840 Charlottesville". In 2010–11, WKTR flipped twice more: first to Southern gospel by joining the Joy FM network on June 30, 2010, then to

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

in a simulcast of WBNN-FM (105.3 MHz) in Buckingham County the next January 1. Baker donated WKTR, by then valued at just $120,000, to

CSN International CSN Radio is a Christian radio network based in Twin Falls, Idaho. KAWZ, 89.9 MHz, in Twin Falls is the uplink station, feeding over 348 broadcast translators and 59 full-power radio stations across the United States, including Alaska and the ...

on October 15, 2015. CSN sold WKTR to Piedmont Communications, Inc. in 2022 for $10,000. WKTR now simulcasts the classic hits format originating at Piedmont's WOJL (105.5 FM) in Louisa. At the same time, Piedmont purchased the under-construction

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

W288ED in Charlottesville, also on 105.5 FM, and assigned it to WKTR to function as co-channel booster for WOJL's programming in the city.

References

External links

* * {{Daytime-only radio stations in Virginia 1991 establishments in Virginia Radio stations established in 1991 KTR Albemarle County, Virginia