WALR-FM
Encyclopedia
WALR-FM is an urban adult contemporary
-formatted radio station
owned by Cox Media Group
. WALR-FM is licensed to
Greenville
and broadcasts on a class C0 100-kilowatt
signal on the 104.1 megahertz (MHz) frequency. Its radio transmitter was originally located in LaGrange, Georgia
, but is now located in Greenville, Georgia
, also the location for a construction permit
for a broadcast translator of sister station
WSB-TV
). In late 2004, after WALR switched to the new tower, it also began broadcasting in IBOC digital radio
, using the HD Radio
system from iBiquity
. The station runs an digital subchannel
(or "HD-2") of "adult hip-hop" music. It is the Atlanta affiliate
for The Tom Joyner
Morning Show.
" nostalgia
format with the WJYF call letters. It was a simulcast
partner with WJYI AM 1080 (now Korean language
WFTD
AM). In the mid-1980s, the station became urban contemporary
-formatted, WEKS, "Urban Kiss 104". In 1989, WEKS changed to a country music
station WYAI (Y-104), simulcasting with WYAY FM (Y-106) on the other side of Atlanta, when it was acquired by NewCity Communications. In 1994, the simulcast ended and it switched to a contemporary jazz
format, as WJZF "Jazz Flavors 104.1". The station that would later migrate to this frequency began in the mid-1990s as "Kiss 104.7", an urban contemporary station that was licensed to serve Athens, Georgia
.
On August 30, 2000, "Kiss 104.7" migrated from the 104.7 frequency to the 104.1 frequency , when Cox and Salem Communications
swapped properties. The former WALR-FM at 104.7 became "104.7 the Fish" WFSH-FM
and the 104.1 frequency became hot urban AC "Kiss 104.1". On February 21, 2003, "Kiss 104.1" changed from a hot urban adult contemporary format to an urban oldies format to protect its sister station "97.1 Jamz". Also with this format change the longtime slogan changed from "Atlanta's R&B Station" to "Atlanta's Old School R&B Station" to signify the new format.
WALR-FM became the last remaining urban station owned by Cox Radio
in Atlanta when sister station WBTS flipped from rhythmic contemporary
to news-talk as a simulcast of WSB-AM
on August 16, 2010
. Another station was WFOX-FM (now classic hits
as WSRV), which was urban contemporary
97-1 Jamz until 2006
.
In June 2011, WALR shifted its format back towards the urban adult contemporary
format by adding more contemporary R&B
music after 8 years being a classic and gold-records oriented R&B and soul-based musical programming station. The station's logo and slogan was modified as well from "Atlanta's Old School R&B Station" to "Atlanta's R&B"
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...
-formatted radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
owned by Cox Media Group
Cox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises is the successor to the publishing company founded in Dayton, Ohio, United States, by James Middleton Cox, who began with the Dayton Daily News. He was the Democratic candidate for the President of the United States in the election of 1920...
. WALR-FM is licensed to
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
Greenville
Greenville, Georgia
Greenville is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 946 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Meriwether County. southwest of Atlanta...
and broadcasts on a class C0 100-kilowatt
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
signal on the 104.1 megahertz (MHz) frequency. Its radio transmitter was originally located in LaGrange, Georgia
LaGrange, Georgia
LaGrange is a city in Troup County, Georgia, United States. It is named after the country estate near Paris of the Marquis de La Fayette, who visited the area in 1825. The population was 24,998 at the 2000 census...
, but is now located in Greenville, Georgia
Greenville, Georgia
Greenville is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 946 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Meriwether County. southwest of Atlanta...
, also the location for a construction permit
Construction permit
A construction permit or building permit is a permit required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existing structures, and in some cases for major renovations. Generally, the new construction must be inspected during construction and after completion to ensure compliance...
for a broadcast translator of sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
WSB-TV
WSB-TV
WSB-TV, virtual channel 2.1 , is the ABC affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship television station of Cox Enterprises and its Cox Media Group subsidiary...
). In late 2004, after WALR switched to the new tower, it also began broadcasting in IBOC digital radio
Digital radio
Digital radio has several meanings:1. Today the most common meaning is digital radio broadcasting technologies, such as the digital audio broadcasting system, also known as Eureka 147. In these systems, the analog audio signal is digitized into zeros and ones, compressed using formats such as...
, using the HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
system from iBiquity
IBiquity
iBiquity Digital Corporation is a company formed by the merger of USA Digital Radio and Lucent Digital Radio, with the goal of creating an in-band on-channel digital radio system for the United States and around the world...
. The station runs an digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
(or "HD-2") of "adult hip-hop" music. It is the Atlanta affiliate
Network affiliate
In the broadcasting industry , a network affiliate is a local broadcaster which carries some or all of the television program or radio program line-up of a television or radio network, but is owned by a company other than the owner of the network...
for The Tom Joyner
Tom Joyner
Thomas "Tom" Joyner is an American radio host, host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and also founder of REACH Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com.-Early life:...
Morning Show.
History
Up until the mid 1980s, the FM station licensed to 104.1 in La Grange, Georgia (well southwest of Atlanta) broadcast Al Ham's syndicated "Music Of Your LifeMusic of Your Life
Music of Your Life is a satellite-delivered radio network featuring the Adult Standards music format. Created by record executive and jingle writer Al Ham, and now under the direction of Marc Angell, Music of Your Life has more than 50 AM, FM and HD-2 radio station affiliates, and has been in...
" nostalgia
Nostalgia
The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...
format with the WJYF call letters. It was a simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
partner with WJYI AM 1080 (now Korean language
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
WFTD
WFTD (AM)
WFTD AM is a local Atlanta area AM broadcasting station . The station's programming is in Spanish consisting of music and talk under the branding of "Radio La Ley 1080 AM". It broadcasts at a frequency of 1080 kHz with 50,000 watts of power during the daytime and 30,000 watts during critical hours...
AM). In the mid-1980s, the station became urban contemporary
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
-formatted, WEKS, "Urban Kiss 104". In 1989, WEKS changed to a country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
station WYAI (Y-104), simulcasting with WYAY FM (Y-106) on the other side of Atlanta, when it was acquired by NewCity Communications. In 1994, the simulcast ended and it switched to a contemporary jazz
Contemporary jazz
Contemporary jazz can mean:*Any type of jazz that evolved from deviation from its "standard" sound since mid-20th century*A contemporary variant of jazz dance*Jazz fusion*Smooth jazz...
format, as WJZF "Jazz Flavors 104.1". The station that would later migrate to this frequency began in the mid-1990s as "Kiss 104.7", an urban contemporary station that was licensed to serve Athens, Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
.
On August 30, 2000, "Kiss 104.7" migrated from the 104.7 frequency to the 104.1 frequency , when Cox and Salem Communications
Salem Communications
Salem Communications is a U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher specializing in evangelical Christian and conservative political talk radio. It owns 99 commercial radio stations, 65 of which are in the top 25 markets. Salem is the fifth largest U.S....
swapped properties. The former WALR-FM at 104.7 became "104.7 the Fish" WFSH-FM
WFSH-FM
Called "104.7 the Fish", WFSH-FM is an FM radio station in Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting at 104.7 MHz. The station format is called "Safe For The Whole Family", a hybrid of Christian pop and clean secular music with a mainstream feel...
and the 104.1 frequency became hot urban AC "Kiss 104.1". On February 21, 2003, "Kiss 104.1" changed from a hot urban adult contemporary format to an urban oldies format to protect its sister station "97.1 Jamz". Also with this format change the longtime slogan changed from "Atlanta's R&B Station" to "Atlanta's Old School R&B Station" to signify the new format.
WALR-FM became the last remaining urban station owned by Cox Radio
Cox Radio
Cox Radio, Inc. is a division of Cox Enterprises that holds a number of radio stations. Cox Radio is headquartered at 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs, Georgia....
in Atlanta when sister station WBTS flipped from rhythmic contemporary
Rhythmic Contemporary
Rhythmic contemporary, also known as rhythmic top 40, rhythmic contemporary hit radio or rhythmic crossover, is a music radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary rarely uses rock music or country music in its airplay, but it may...
to news-talk as a simulcast of WSB-AM
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
on August 16, 2010
2010 in radio
The following events occurred in radio in 2010.-Events:*Date Unknown: CHOI/Quebec City flips from Alternative Rock to News/Talk.*January 4: KJCS/Lufkin, Texas goes silent....
. Another station was WFOX-FM (now classic hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
as WSRV), which was urban contemporary
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
97-1 Jamz until 2006
2006 in radio
The year 2006 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting.-Events:*January 3 - The BJ Shea Morning Experience switches to KISW in Seattle, Washington, from the former FM Talk station KKWF....
.
In June 2011, WALR shifted its format back towards the urban adult contemporary
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...
format by adding more contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
music after 8 years being a classic and gold-records oriented R&B and soul-based musical programming station. The station's logo and slogan was modified as well from "Atlanta's Old School R&B Station" to "Atlanta's R&B"