WAVA-FM

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Radio station in Arlington, Virginia

title: "WAVA-FM" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1948-establishments-in-virginia", "radio-stations-established-in-1948", "salem-media-group-radio-stations", "christian-radio-stations-in-virginia", "arlington-county,-virginia"] description: "Radio station in Arlington, Virginia" topic_path: "society/religion" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAVA-FM" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Radio station in Arlington, Virginia ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox radio station"]

FieldValue
nameWAVA-FM
logoWAVA-FM 2015.png
cityArlington, Virginia
countryUS
areaWashington Metropolitan Area
branding105.1 WAVA
airdate
frequency
formatChristian talk and teaching
subchannels
power
haat184 m
classB
licensing_authorityFCC
facility_id4644
coordinates
callsign_meaningWashington - Arlington, Virginia
former_callsigns
former_frequencies105.5 MHz (1948–1949)
affiliationsSRN News
ownerSalem Media Group
licenseeSalem Communications Holding Corporation
sister_stations
webcast
website
::

| name = WAVA-FM | logo = WAVA-FM 2015.png | city = Arlington, Virginia | country = US | area = Washington Metropolitan Area | branding = 105.1 WAVA | airdate = | frequency =
| format = Christian talk and teaching | subchannels = | power = | haat = 184 m | class = B | licensing_authority = FCC | facility_id = 4644 | coordinates = | callsign_meaning = Washington - Arlington, Virginia | former_callsigns = | former_frequencies = 105.5 MHz (1948–1949) | affiliations = SRN News | owner = Salem Media Group | licensee = Salem Communications Holding Corporation | sister_stations = | webcast = | website =

WAVA-FM (105.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Arlington, Virginia, and serving the Washington metro area. The station is owned and operated by the Salem Media Group, and airs a Christian talk and teaching radio format. The studios are on North Lynn Street in Arlington. Religious leaders pay WAVA-FM for their time on the air and may seek donations to support their ministries. Hosts include Chuck Swindoll, Jim Daly, John MacArthur, Michael Youssef, Greg Laurie, David Jeremiah, Alistair Begg, Charles Stanley and J. Vernon McGee.

WAVA-FM is a Class B station. It has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 33,000 watts. The transmitter is off 19th Road North, also in Arlington. WAVA-FM broadcasts in the HD Radio format. The HD2 and HD3 subchannels rebroadcast two co-owned AM stations, WAVA 780 AM and WWRC 570 AM. WAVA 780 also carries a Christian talk and teaching format, but with different shows. WWRC airs conservative talk.

History

WARL-FM

In 1946, Northern Virginia Broadcasters, Inc., which owned WARL (780 AM, now WAVA), received a Federal Communications Commission construction permit to put an FM radio station on the air. On August 1, 1948, the station first signed on as WARL-FM. It was originally located at 105.5 MHz on the FM dial and was powered at only 1,000 watts, a fraction of its current output. WARL-FM mostly simulcast its sister station. Because the AM station was a daytimer, WARL-FM was able to continue airing the stations' programming after sunset, even though few radio listeners owned FM receivers in those days.

In the 1950, WARL-FM switched to its current frequency at 105.1 MHz. That was coupled with a boost in power to 20,000 watts. In 1960, WARL-AM-FM were acquired by the United States Transdynamics Corporation. The new owners switched the call signs to WAVA and WAVA-FM.

All-news

In the 1970s, WAVA-AM-FM decided to compete with WTOP (now WFED) as one of Washington's two all-news radio stations. Even though WAVA (AM) was still a daytime-only station, the all-news format was heard on WAVA-FM around the clock; as such, that made WAVA-FM the only all-news station on the FM dial in those days, when many home and car radios could only receive AM signals.

Meanwhile, WTOP was owned by the Washington Post, was a CBS Radio Network affiliate and had a 50,000 watt signal; because of this, WAVA-AM-FM were at a competitive disadvantage as an all-news outlet. (WTOP, still an all-news station to this day, moved to the FM dial in 2006.)

Rock era

In 1977, the two stations were sold; AM 780 went to the American Bible Society, airing a Christian radio format as WABS, while FM 105.1 kept the WAVA call letters and was sold to the WAVA Limited Partnership, airing a soft rock format. After three years of low ratings, in 1980, WAVA-FM switched its format to AOR, branded as Rockradio 105 WAVA. However, the new format also failed to gain many listeners. Doubleday Broadcasting Co., a subsidiary of publisher Doubleday and Company, bought the station in 1982 and planned a format flip.

Top 40

On October 28, 1983, WAVA-FM switched to a CHR/Top 40 format, the first FM station to play all the hits in the D.C. market. Branded by the monikers as All Hit 105 WAVA, HitRadio 105 WAVA, and Music Power 105 WAVA, it was one of D.C.'s top-rated FM stations.

In 1986, WAVA was acquired by Emmis Broadcasting. In 1992, due to financial problems after the purchase of the Seattle Mariners, Emmis decided to sell many of its stations at lower-than-market-value prices.

Salem Media ownership

WAVA-FM was sold to the Salem Media Group for $20 million. On February 12, 1992, at midnight, after playing a montage of station memories, WAVA went off the air, with "Goodbye" by Night Ranger as the final song.

The station returned to the air the next day, stunting with contemporary Christian music. A few days later, it adopted a Christian talk and teaching format. Salem Media owns dozens of Christian stations across the country, but most are on the AM dial. WAVA-FM and KKLA-FM Los Angeles are the only Salem FM stations in large cities broadcasting a Christian talk and teaching format.

References

References

  1. "FCC History Card for WAVA".
  2. (Jan 24, 2017). "Contact Us".
  3. "Welcome to WAVA 105.1 FM - Washington, DC | 105.1 FM WAVA - Washington D.C., VA".
  4. "WAVA-FM 105.1 MHz - Arlington, VA".
  5. [https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1950/RADIO%20&%20TV%20NE-Ter%20YB%201950%20B&W-11.pdf Broadcasting Yearbook 1950 page 306]
  6. [https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1960/B%202%20Radio%20Yearbook%201960.pdf Broadcasting Yearbook 1960 page A-242]
  7. [https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1978/C-2-Broadcasting-Yearbook-1978-Full.pdf Broadcasting Yearbook 1978 page C-225]
  8. [https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1984/B-Radio-AL-MT-BC-YB-1984.pdf Broadcasting Yearbook 1984 page B-49]
  9. [https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1993/B-Radio-AL-MT-BC-YB-1993-B&W.pdf Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1993 page B-67]
  10. (Feb 12, 1992). "The Final Hour of CHR on WAVA".
  11. "Arbitron Station Information Profiles". [[Nielsen Audio]]/[[Nielsen Holdings]].
  12. "Call Sign History". [[Federal Communications Commission]], audio division.
  13. "WAVA Facility Record". [[Federal Communications Commission]], audio division.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

1948-establishments-in-virginiaradio-stations-established-in-1948salem-media-group-radio-stationschristian-radio-stations-in-virginiaarlington-county,-virginia