WOLD-FM (102.5 FM) is an American

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 A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) 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 part ...

to serve the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Marion, Virginia Marion is a town in and the county seat of Smyth County, Virginia, United States. It is positioned upon Interstate 81, in the Blue Ridge portion of the southern Appalachian Mountains in Southwest Virginia. The town is named for American Revolu ...

. The station

broadcasts Broadcasting is the distribution of audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began with ...

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

music format to

Southwest Virginia Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Located within the broader region of western Virginia, Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all V ...

. WOLD-FM is owned and operated by Bristol Broadcasting Company, Inc.

Programming

WOLD-FM broadcasts a

music

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 ...

to the greater

Marion Marion or MARION may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Marion (band), a British alternative rock group * ''Marion'' (miniseries), a 1974 miniseries * ''Marion'' (1920 film), an Italian silent film * ''Marion'' (2024 film), a UK short People a ...

Saltville Saltville is a town in Smyth and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 1,824 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Kingsport– Bristol (TN)– Bristol (VA) Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a co ...

Tazewell, Virginia Tazewell () is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,627 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bluefield micropolitan area, which has a population of 107,578. It is the county seat of Tazewell County. History Na ...

, area. Weekday programming includes '' The John Boy and Billy Big Show'' (from Premiere Radio Networks) in the mornings, ''The Rick and Bubba Show'' afternoons and ''Nights with Alice Cooper'' (from United Stations Radio Networks) in late night. Weekend programming includes ''The Tim White Bluegrass Show'' and Virginia Tech Hokies sports broadcasts.

History

WOLD-FM signed on in 1968 as a sister station to WOLD (1330 AM broadcasting, AM). The AM station is now licensed as WHNK (AM), WHNK and owned by Praise and Glory Ministries based in Knoxville, Tennessee. In November 2007, longtime license holder Emerald Sound, Inc., reached an agreement with TECO Broadcasting, Inc., to transfer the broadcast license for WOLD-FM plus all of the station's assets for a published sale price of $400,000. In addition, TECO Broadcasting agreed to pay Emerald Sound owners Robert S. Dix and Patricia A. Dix $100,000 as "non-compete clause, non-compete" compensation. TECO Broadcasting is wholly owned by Tom Copenhaver, licensee for WZVA. The deal was accepted for filing by the FCC on January 30, 2008, approved on April 10, 2008, and the transaction consummated on May 1, 2008. In September 2010, the station's format shifted from pure classic rock to classic rock plus some country music, branded as "The Renegade, rock with a twang". In 2016, the station and then-sister station WZVA were purchased by CDM Broadcasting, Inc. However, effective January 31, 2018, both stations were sold back to T.E.C.O. Broadcasting in exchange for releasing CDM Broadcasting from the $651,039 promissory note related to the 2016 purchase. Effective February 19, 2019, T.E.C.O. Broadcasting sold WOLD-FM to Bristol Broadcasting Company, Inc. for $165,000.

In popular culture

For his 1973 album ''Short Stories (Harry Chapin album), Short Stories'', singer Harry Chapin wrote a song about an aging disc jockey who begins and ends his career at (fictional) FM radio station "WOLD" after stops as a late night talk show host at an unnamed station in Tulsa, Oklahoma and another stop at another unnamed station in Boise, Idaho. The song, "WOLD (song), W*O*L*D", would prove more popular with disc jockeys who could identify with the song than the general public, although it did reach #36 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and became an international hit in March 1974, almost exactly six years after the real WOLD-FM signed on in Virginia.

References

External links

* {{Classic Rock Radio Stations in Virginia 1968 establishments in Virginia Classic rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1968 Radio stations in Virginia, OLD-FM Smyth County, Virginia