WCHS is a News

News Radio

News Radio can refer to:* NewsRadio, the NBC sitcom which aired from 1995–1999.* News radio, the all-news or news/talk radio format....

/Talk

Talk radio

Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...

/Sports

Sports radio

Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...

 formatted broadcast

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

 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...

 licensed to Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...

, serving the Kanawha Valley. WCHS is owned and operated by West Virginia Radio Corporation

West Virginia Radio Corporation

West Virginia Radio Corporation or WVRC is a media corporation comprising exclusively radio stations and two radio networks based in the state of West Virginia.The company is controlled by Greer Industries, and the Greer Family.-Radio markets:...

.

Programming

Its programming is not atypical of AM talk stations, consisting of local political and sports shows, Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...

, Dave Ramsey

Dave Ramsey

David L. Ramsey III is an American financial author, radio host, television personality, and motivational speaker.Ramsey's syndicated radio program The Dave Ramsey Show is promoted with a tagline that "It's about your life and your money," and it is heard on over 450 radio stations throughout the...

, Kim Komando

Kim Komando

Kim Komando is the host of an American talk radio program based on the popularity of personal computers, the use of the Internet, and the complexities of consumer electronics. The Kim Komando Show is broadcast and syndicated on over 450 radio stations in the U.S. and two stations in Ontario, Canada...

, and sports coverages of football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 and basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 games of West Virginia University

West Virginia University

West Virginia University is a public research university in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser;...

 and baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 games of the Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

.

The station carries extensive local programming, including the Morning News with Chris Lawrence and Jennifer Smith, the Statewide Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval and 58Live with Rick Johnson and Michael Agnello.

WVU sports play-by-play announcer Tony Caridi hosts the Statewide Sportsline from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Dave Weekly, Frank Giardina and Mitch Vingle host the Sports Page of the Air from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The station is no longer co-owned with WCHS-TV

WCHS-TV

WCHS-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Charleston and Huntington, West Virginia. This area is the second-largest market in terms of area east of the Mississippi River and consists of 61 counties in Central West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Southern Ohio...

located in the same market.

Awards

WCHS has won numerous regional and national awards recognizing the station's news department. In 2011, the news team won a national Edward R. Murrow Award for breaking news coverage. The award came from the station's coverage of the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster in Montcoal, W.Va.

The news team won a national Murrow Award in 2007 for continuing coverage of the Sago Mine disaster.

WCHS radio news has also won numerous regional Murrow Awards, including a 2011 award for coverage of Sen. Robert C. Byrd's death.

WCHS was one of five stations nominated by the National Association of Broadcasters for the 2011 Marconi Award for news/talk station of the year.