WVOM-FM (103.9

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 Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 ...

Howland, Maine Howland is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States, which was settled in 1818. It was named after John Howland, one of the passengers on the ''Mayflower''. The population was 1,094 at the 2020 census. Geography The town is on the we ...

, and serving Central and Downeast Maine, including Bangor. It airs a

talk radio 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, Interview (jo ...

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 ...

and is owned by Maine-based Blueberry Broadcasting which is headed by Louis Vitale and Bruce Biette. WVOM-FM is known as "The Voice of Maine". The

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s and offices are located on Target Industrial Circle in Bangor. 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 ...

, powered at 90,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, is on a mountaintop near Burlington. WVOM-FM is

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

WVQM WVQM (101.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Augusta, Maine, United States. It simulcasts a talk radio, talk radio format with 103.9 WVOM-FM in Bangor, Maine, Bangor. The stations are owned by Blueberry Broa ...

( 101.3 FM) in Augusta, which extends the station's programming to the capital region.

Programming

Weekdays

WVOM-FM airs a local

morning drive Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

information and talk program co-hosted by George Hale and Ric Tyler. Syndicated

conservative talk Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

shows follow, mostly from

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks, Inc. (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It is th ...

. They include ''

The Glenn Beck Radio Program ''The Glenn Beck Radio Program'' is an American conservative talk radio show, hosted by commentator Glenn Beck on over 400 radio stations across America, his company's own TheBlaze Radio Network, with a live television simulcast weekdays on The ...

'', ''

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show ''The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show'' is an American radio program hosted by former Fox Sports Radio personality Clay Travis and former '' America Now/The Buck Sexton Show'' host Buck Sexton. It is broadcast on over 400 talk radio stations ...

'', ''

The Howie Carr Show ''The Howie Carr Show'' is an American talk radio, radio talk-show presented by journalist and author Howie Carr. Its Flagship (broadcasting), flagship station is WRKO 680 in Boston, Massachusetts, on which the show airs every weekday between 2: ...

'', ''

The Sean Hannity Show ''The Sean Hannity Show'' is a conservative talk radio show hosted by Sean Hannity. The program is broadcast live every weekday, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET. The show is produced in the New York City studios of radio station WOR and is transmitt ...

'', ''Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis'' and ''

Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 198 ...

with

George Noory George Ralph Noory (born June 4, 1950) is an American talk radio, radio talk show host. Since January 2003, Noory has been the weekday host of the late-night radio talk show ''Coast to Coast AM''. The program is radio syndication, syndicated to ...

''. Most hours begin with an update from

Fox News Radio Fox News Radio is an American radio network owned by Fox News. It is syndicated to over 500 AM and FM radio stations across the United States. It also supplies programming for three channels on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. History In 2003, ...

Weekend

Local shows on weekends include "Hot and Cold with Tom Gocze". It is WVOM's longest running local program and originated in 1989 on then-talk station

WZON WZON (620 AM) is a radio station that is currently silent. The station is licensed to Bangor and serves Central Maine. Along with sister station 103.1 WZLO, WZON is owned by The Zone Corporation, the broadcast company owned by authors T ...

. It had been co-hosted by Gocze and Dr. Dick Hill, a mechanical engineering professor at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

for over 46 years. A TV show was also seen on

Maine Public Broadcasting Network The Maine Public Broadcasting Network (abbreviated MPBN and branded as Maine Public) is a network of public television and radio stations located in the U.S. state of Maine. It is operated by the Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation, which h ...

, after being carried for many years on WVII/

WFVX-LD WFVX-LD (channel 22) is a television station in Bangor, Maine, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned by Rockfleet Broadcasting alongside American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate WVII-TV (channel ...

. Gocze and Hill also wrote columns for the ''

Bangor Daily News The ''Bangor Daily News'' is an American newspaper covering a large portion of central and eastern Maine, published six days per week in Bangor, Maine. The ''Bangor Daily News'' was founded on June 18, 1889; it merged with the ''Bangor Whig an ...

''. In 2008 Hill scaled back his time on the program and later retired. Other weekend programming includes ''

The Kim Komando Show Kimberly Ann Komando (born July 1, 1967) is an American radio personality and the host of two daily radio shows and one weekend radio show about consumer technology. On her weekly call-in show, she provides advice about technology gadgets, websi ...

, The Car Doctor with Ron Ananian, Senior Talk, Financial Safari, Maine View, The Maine Outdoors, Somewhere in Time with

Art Bell Arthur William Bell III (June 17, 1945 – April 13, 2018) was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program '' Coast to Coast AM'', which is syndicated on hundreds ...

'', the weekend version of ''Coast to Coast AM'' and the repeats of weekday shows.

History

WRKD AM 1450 started broadcasting in 1952 and is now defunct. Its broadcast tower (now gone) was located between Route 1 North and the Maine State Ferry terminal and (along with the cement plant in Thomaston) was a high visible shore marker. In the 1970s, WTKD (along with WGAN in Portland & WHDH in Boston) broadcast Red Sox Baseball games. As AM radio antennas are directional, WRKD's signal was also useful for navigation in fog before we had Radar, LORANS and now GPS. A

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

for an FM station in Howland was granted by 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 ...

in 1989. The permit carried 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 ...

WPVM, which was changed to WPRG in 1992; neither call sign would be used on the air. In June 1993, 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 WSNV. It aired an

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 ...

format and was owned by Bay Communications, Inc. In 1997, the station was acquired by

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

-based

Clear Channel Communications 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 ...

(later known as

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 ...

). Clear Channel switched the format to conservative talk, mostly featuring its own syndicated programs, and using

CBS Radio News CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

for world and national coverage. WVOM and the other 16 Clear Channel stations in Maine were sold in August 2008 to Maine-based Blueberry Broadcasting which is headed by Louis Vitale and Bruce Biette. The Voice of Maine logo

WVOM-FM's programming was previously heard on WVOM ( AM 1450) and

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 ...

W236DO (95.1) in Rockland, serving Midcoast Maine. The license for WVOM AM was surrendered to the FCC and cancelled on July 21, 2022. Translator W236DO's license was surrendered and cancelled on the same day.

Past programming

*"Tom and Charlie Show" was a wake up information program hosted by Tom Morelli and Charlie Horne from 1995 to 2000. Originally carried from 6 to 10 am. Later, when Dr. Laura was moved to the 9 a.m. time slot, the morning show was moved back to 6 to 9 am. Morelli left in June 2000. Horne was let go three years later, after being paired with several other hosts. The live coverage of the Ice Storm of 1998 was the high point of the morning show, and many details of this event were written about in a book. *"Back To Business" was a program designed to provide advice to Eastern Maine's small business community. The program was hosted by Deb Neuman of the University of Maine's Target Technology Incubator. Neuman was awarded Small Business Journalist of the Year for Maine and New England by the US Small Business Administration. The show also has received a commendation from the United States Senate in September 2006. *"The Woof Meow Show" was hosted by Don Hanson and Kate Dutra of Green Acres Kennel Shop. The show focused on educating owners about their dogs and cats. Topics in the past have included: Dealing with a Barking Dog, Picking the Perfect Pet, Insurance Issues for Pets, Acupuncture for Pets, Pet Nutrition, Litter Box Training and many others. * Doctor Laura: Dropped in favor of Glenn Beck, program moved to WABI AM 910. *

Jim Cramer James Joseph Cramer (born February 10, 1955) is an American television personality, author, entertainer, and former hedge fund manager. He is the host of ''Mad Money'' on CNBC, and an anchor on ''Squawk on the Street''. After graduating from Ha ...

's Real Money. * Bruce Williams, dropped in favor of Lars Larson. *

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

: Races moved to sister station

WBFB WBFB (97.1 FM, "97-1 The Bear") is a commercial radio station in Bangor, Maine. The station is owned by Blueberry Broadcasting and airs a country music radio format, simulcast on sister stations WBFE in Bar Harbor and WMCM in Rockland. The t ...

. *

Lars Larson Lars Kristopher Larson (born March 6, 1959)"Lars Kristopher Larson". ''Who's Who in the West'', 26th ed. Accessed June 17, 2013 via LexisNexis. is an American conservative talk radio show host based in Portland, Oregon. Larson worked in televis ...

, dropped in favor of Sean Hannity. *

The Phil Hendrie Show ''The World of Phil Hendrie'' is a comedy talk radio program. The show debuted in 1990 and appeared in various iterations to the present. It was syndicated throughout North America on Westwood One. It is known for outrageous guests, the majority ...

: , Hendrie ended his original show in June 2006. Replaced by

rebroadcasts. *

Maine Black Bears The Maine Black Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of Maine. A member of the America East Conference, the University of Maine sponsors teams in eight men's and nine women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The men's and women's Col ...

Sports (shared with

WGUY WGUY (1230 AM) is a radio station licensed to Veazie, Maine, United States. It is owned by Port Broadcasting, LLC, and operated by Mix Maine Media as a simulcast of WCTB, its classic country station in Fairfield. History The station sig ...

). WVOM and WGUY were the flagship station for the 2007 & 2008 seasons. WVOM carried

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

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

while then sister station

carried men's and women's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

as well as select

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

gamesBlack Bear Radio Agreement To Move Flagship Station And Expand Network
/ref> Previous to the fall of 2007, the long-time home of

sports was

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

. However the university's student run radio station WMEB continues to carry home sports games, with their own announcers. With

being sold, and sister station

WWBX WWBX (104.1 FM) is a radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston with a hot adult contemporary format. The format started at 98.5 FM on February 9, 1991, and moved to 104.1 FM, replacing WBCN on August 12, 2009, t ...

changing formats to sports, partially simulcasting

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

-based station WEEI, all game broadcasts moved to WWBX starting with the 2008 ice hockey season. WVOM however still carries the coaches interview shows.

References

bostonradio.org
Radio history of Maine 1971–1996, also an audio collection and weekly columns.

External links

*
Hot and Cold
* {{Blueberry Broadcasting News and talk radio stations in the United States VOM-FM Radio stations established in 1993 Mass media in Penobscot County, Maine 1993 establishments in Maine Blueberry Broadcasting radio stations