WYHR (101.5 FM) is a radio station licensed to

Vinton, Virginia Vinton is a town in eastern Roanoke County, Virginia, United States. The population was 8,059 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Vinton is part of the Roanoke metropolitan area and the Roanoke Region of Virginia. History By the late 1 ...

, and serving the

Roanoke metropolitan area The Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area is a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in Virginia as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Roanoke MSA is sometimes referred to as the Roanoke Valley, even though the ...

. WYHR is owned by the

Bible Broadcasting Network The Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN) is a listener-supported global Christian Conservative Christian radio radio network, network staffed and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was founded in 1971 by Lowell Davey, who was the network ...

. It broadcasts a

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

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, ...

. WYHR 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 1,200 watts. 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 on Mill Mountain in Roanoke, off Prospect Road SE.

History

WZZI

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 December 12, 1995, as WZZI. It was owned by H. Edward Hale's Carousel Entertainment, and originally played

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

. The station flipped to a

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

format in January 1999. Roanoke residents Karen and Robert Travis purchased WZZI in January 2000. They had just purchased WRVX (97.9 FM) in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...

, which they renamed to WZZU. Formats under the Travises included

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

"Z101" and

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 ...

"Oldies 101.5".

Oldies and classic rock

In 2004, Centennial Broadcasting bought the two stations. WZZI began simulcasting WZZU. The two stations played

as "

BOB FM BOB FM is the on-air brand of a number of FM radio stations in the United States and formerly in Canada. The BOB FM format mostly concentrates on album rock, alternative rock and pop hits from the 1980s and 1990s, especially those popular duri ...

". They switched to

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 ...

as "The Planet" from 2006 to 2009. WZZU continues airing a

mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

format on 97.9 FM. In July 2008,

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

owner

Daniel Snyder Daniel Marc Snyder (born November 23, 1964) is an American businessman and former owner of the Washington Commanders, an American football franchise belonging to the National Football League (NFL). He bought the team, then known as the Redskin ...

announced a purchase of Centennial's four-station Roanoke-Lynchburg cluster by his

Red Zebra Broadcasting Red Zebra Broadcasting was a sports marketing company headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. The company owned and operated four radio stations in the greater Washington, D.C. radio market, one in Hampton Roads, VA, and two stations in Richmond, ...

. The sale fell through and no paperwork was ever filed with the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

Adult album alternative

Centennial instituted a locally focused

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

(AAA) format on October 12, 2009, branded "101.5 The Valley's Music Place" WVMP. WZZI/WVMP was the Roanoke

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

for the

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as Wahoos or Hoos, are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic Coast C ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and basketball broadcasts from 2007 through 2012. The Cavaliers moved back to their longtime home

WFIR WFIR (960 AM, "WFIR 960 AM 94.5 FM 107.3 FM") is a commercial radio station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, and serving the Roanoke Valley. It airs a news/talk radio format and is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc. WFIR's studios and of ...

at the beginning of the 2012 football season, as the university preferred to partner with a

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 wi ...

station. WZZU, which joined as Lynchburg's affiliate at the same time, remains affiliated with the network. Centennial placed WVMP on the market in 2010. Ed Walker's Cityworks Community Broadcasting purchased the station to preserve the AAA format. Walker sold it to Dr. William E. "Eddie" Amos' Community Media Group in 2014.

Changes in ownership

Todd Robinson, owner of several full-powered stations in the Roanoke/Lynchburg/Bedford market, began operating WVMP by

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

(LMA) on August 1, 2016, and announced intentions to purchase the station from Community Media Group on August 3 for $600,000. Dr. Amos cited the decreasing amount of time he had to devote to the station, but was to become a minority shareholder in Robinson's WVJT, LLC. No changes to format or branding came with the agreement. WVJT withdrew the application to transfer control on October 19, and Community Media Group resumed operating the station. WVMP began simulcasting on separately-owned WBZS on December 1, 2016, to better cover the southwestern Roanoke area, Christiansburg and Blacksburg. WVMP's main transmitter on Mill Mountain is heavily shielded to the south and west by mountains. In January 2017, the two stations rebranded as "101.5 and 102.5 The Mountain". Todd Robinson made a second attempt to acquire the station by purchasing Community Media Group itself for $250,000 on October 20, 2017. The sale was granted on December 1, 2017. On February 1, 2018, the AAA format moved to WBZS alone and WVMP switched to a simulcast of oldies-formatted

WHTU WHTU (103.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Big Island, Virginia, and serving the Lynchburg metropolitan area. WHTU broadcasts a classic hits radio format and is owned by Gary Burns' Three Daughters Media, through licensee KS ...

(103.9 FM, Big Island) and WZZI (106.9 FM,

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

) as "Oldies 101.5". WVMP returned to AAA "The Mountain" on December 1, 2019, as the three-year

with WBZS expired.

Christian radio

On November 30, 2022, at midnight, WVMP's adult album alternative format ended on the 101.5 FM signal and went online-only. On December 2, 2022, Truth Broadcasting began operating the station and flipped it to

as "The Truth". The

acquired WVMP for $500,000 in 2024. On January 10, 2025, the call sign was changed to WYHR.

References

External links

* {{Bible Broadcasting Network 1995 establishments in Virginia Radio stations established in 1995 YHR Bible Broadcasting Network Roanoke County, Virginia