WRVA in Richmond VA
Was one of my fav stations when I was growing up. Later...’80’s? there was a local overnight show, The Voice of the American Trucker. Pull into the 79 Truck stop and get a free rig wash with a fill up. National show originating from the 79 station near the WRVA studios.
Nathan Obral of Ohio Media Watch wrote the following on radioinsight.com. All of what follows is by him:
* They are an AM station that has a mediocre signal… not as bad as 970 or KQV, but nowhere near as good as KDKA.
* They took up the entire lineup WPGB had (and I’m under the assumption that the station is temporarily operating out of the CC Pittsburgh studios until Frank Iorio can build new studios) which includes a morning show based out of Wheeling, West Virginia. No local hosts.
* The format is one that is suffering major ratings declines, so much so that Iorio is likely running it as a personal hobby.
* The standards/oldies format WJAS had under Renda didn’t have the youngest demos, but at least the audience was loyal. There was and is no guarantee that the few remaining people that listened to WPGB made the switch to WJAS.
* Unless Iorio has the money to spend to market his station, no one will tune in to a so-so AM, not even those willing to tune in to a conservatalk format. Again, the argument about him running the station as a personal hobby comes into question.
* The lack of any website or social networking for WJAS weeks after the flip should raise more than a few red flags. Frank Iorio, this is 2014. Not 1994, or 2004… you need to make the station visible as much as possible.
Quinn and Rose likely looked at all of those risks, and decided that being on WJAS wasn’t worth it. Thus, their push for their content to be subscriber-based.