WMOV-FM (107.7 FM, "Party 107.7") is a commercial radio station in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

, serving

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

. It carries a gold-based

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

format and is 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 ...

. The studios and offices are in Greenbrier. 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 ...

tower 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 ...

is on Poindexter Street in Chesapeake, near the Elizabeth River and Interstate 464. WMOV-FM broadcasts using

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

technology. Its HD2

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

formerly ran the

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

format of the

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

Cafe. The HD3 subchannel formerly carried iHeart's

soft 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 ...

music service "The Breeze".

History

WXRI-FM

On April 13, 1990, 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 ...

as WXRI-FM. It was owned by J.H. Communications, taking the

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 ...

of the former station on 105.3 MHz that had been owned by televangelist

Pat Robertson Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (March 22, 1930 – June 8, 2023) was an American Media proprietor, media mogul, Televangelism, televangelist, political commentator, presidential candidate, and charismatic movement, charismatic minister. Rober ...

until its sale in May 1989. It initially broadcast a business format from the Business Radio Network. The station stunting with

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...

and then relaunched on Christmas day with the

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

format of the previous WXRI. That ended when its parent company entered into an agreement in May 1992, to simulcast the music of WBSK, an

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

station that was co-owned with

WOWI WOWI (102.9 FM) – branded ''103 Jamz'' – is a commercial mainstream urban radio station licensed to Norfolk, Virginia. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station services Hampton Roads and Northeastern North Carolina, and is the local affiliate ...

WSVY

On May 8, 1993, WBSK-FM changed its call sign to WSVY, and shifted to an

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

format. In July 1997, WSVY began simulcasting with 92.1 FM as "Vibe 107.7 and 92.1". By March 1999, WSVY shifted to the then-popular Jammin' oldies format, which evolved back to urban AC. On June 25, 2001, WSVY and sister WJCD swapped formats and call letters, with the urban AC "Vibe" format moving to 105.3 FM, while WJCD's

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...

format moved to 107.7.

WJCD

On March 1, 2004, WJCD flipped to

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 ...

as "Lite FM", and resumed its simulcast with 92.1, which dropped its urban format. 92.1 would drop out of the simulcast again on August 12, 2005, when it flipped to

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

as WCDG. On December 26, 2006, WJCD flipped back to smooth jazz as "Smooth Jazz 107.7".

WKUS

On October 11, 2010, WJCD and WCDG became simulcasts again when WKUS moved from 105.3 to 107.7 and the 105.3 frequency became "Magic 105.3" with an AC-themed classic hits format. The move meant the end for WJCD's smooth jazz format and WCDG's oldies format. On October 27, 2010, WJCD changed their call letters to WKUS. On March 31, 2011, at 3p.m., WKUS broke away from its simulcast of WKSA and flipped to

rhythmic adult contemporary Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic contemporary, rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the cla ...

, branded as " MOViN' 107.7". The first song on "MOViN'" was "

Get Ready for This "Get Ready for This" is a song recorded by Belgian/Dutch music group 2 Unlimited. It was released on 23 September 1991 as the lead single from their debut album, '' Get Ready!'' (1992). Originally, the single was produced as an instrumental tra ...

" by

2 Unlimited 2 Unlimited are a Belgian-Dutch dance music act, founded by Belgian producers/songwriters Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde in 1991 in Antwerp, Belgium. From 1991 to 1996, Dutch rapper Ray Slijngaard and Dutch vocalist Anita Doth fronted the ...

WMOV-FM

On April 7, 2011, WKUS changed its call letters to WMOV-FM to match the new format. (The FM

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

is required because there is a WMOV on the AM dial in

Ravenswood, West Virginia Ravenswood is a city in Jackson County, West Virginia, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,865 at the 2020 census. Etymology Two differing stories tell of the naming of Ravenswood. One story tells that the town was origin ...

, with a different owner). On November 2, 2012, WMOV-FM began to stunting with Christmas music as "Christmas 107.7", suggesting a possible format change. This did not occur, and it returned to its regular format on December 26. It has continued switching to Christmas music every Mid-November to late December, ever since. As of October 2018, WMOV-FM began patterning itself after sister station

WKTU WKTU (103.5 FM broadcasting, FM) is a rhythmic adult contemporary formatted radio station city of license, licensed to Lake Success, New York, a suburb of New York City. WKTU is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios at 125 West 55th ...

New York City with an emphasis on rhythmic pop/dance music. The station now competes with

WVBW-FM WVBW-FM (100.5 MHz, "100.5 The Vibe") is a commercial radio station licensed to Norfolk, Virginia, and broadcasting to the Hampton Roads area. WVBW-FM airs an urban adult hits radio format and is owned and operated by Max Media. The studios a ...

100.5, which flipped to

in June 2022. WMOV-FM had switched to Christmas music for most of November and December, beginning in 2013. With the competition from WVBW-FM, it stopped going all-Christmas in 2023. But in 2024, it returned to Christmas music, flipping earlier than most stations, at the beginning of November. On December 26, 2024, WMOV-FM became gold-based CHR as ''Party 107-7''.

HD Radio

On WMOV-FM's

, its HD2 service originated "The iHeartRadio Café", a format consisting of

from the 1970s and 1980s, and "

yacht rock Yacht rock (originally known as the West Coast soundThat ' ...

" music, much of it from singer-songwriters such as

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...

and

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...

. It is heard nationally through the iHeartRadio app. The HD2 channel was dropped on October 1, 2022. The HD3 subchannel carried iHeart's "The Breeze"

music service. That was also dropped in 2022.

References

External links

* {{Rhythmic Contemporary Radio Stations in Virginia 1990 establishments in Virginia Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States IHeartMedia radio stations Radio stations established in 1990 MOV-FM Rhythmic contemporary radio stations in the United States