WROV-FM (96.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) is a commercial FM

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

Martinsville, Virginia Martinsville is an Political subdivisions of Virginia#Independent cities, independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 13, ...

. WROV-FM is owned and operated 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 ...

and airs a

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 ...

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 broadcasting, ...

. WROV-FM's signal covers the Roanoke- Lynchburg

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television station, television and radio broadcasting, ra ...

, including the

New River Valley Virginia's New River Valley region, colloquially named, is a four-county area along the New River in Southwest Virginia in the United States, including such major features as Claytor Lake, part of the Jefferson National Forest, the city of Ra ...

and the Southside of Virginia. WROV-FM has studios and offices on Brandon Avenue in Roanoke and its

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 in Boones Mill, Virginia.

WROV-FMHD2

WROV-FMHD2 carries an African-American-oriented

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

format under the branding "Roanoke's BIN 96.7". On November 18, 2020, WROV-FMHD2 and W244AV changed their format from alternative rock to programming from the Black Information Network, branded as "Roanoke's BIN 96.7". The alternative rock format continues on WSTV-HD2 and W245BG.

History of call letters

WROV-FM first signed on the air in January 1950 as WMVA-FM. It was a

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

to WMVA and served Martinsville. In 1989, new ownership purchased WMVA-FM and WROV (now WGMN), and undertook a move of WMVA-FM to Roanoke. The call letters WROV-FM were previously assigned to a station in Roanoke, Virginia. It began broadcasting on 103.7 MHz in 1948. It was a sister station of WROV and duplicated that station's programming. In 1955, WROV radio's ownership had decided to leave broadcasting altogether after the disastrous effort to start

WROV-TV WROV-TV (channel 27) was a television station in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It broadcast from March 2 to July 18, 1953, becoming the first ultra high frequency (UHF) station in the United States to cease broadcasting. Its failure was the f ...

; new management saw the FM station as a money pit and turned in the license in June 1957.

References

External links

96.3 WROV Online
* {{IHeartMedia ROV-FM Radio stations established in 1950 Classic rock radio stations in the United States IHeartMedia radio stations