WDVE
Encyclopedia
Mainstream rock
Mainstream rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.-Format background:...
music 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...
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at 102.5 MHz. It is often referred to by Pittsburghers as simply "DVE." WDVE's transmitter is located on Pittsburgh's North Side. Since 2006, the station has been the highest-rated radio station in the Pittsburgh market, surpassing longtime market leader KDKA
KDKA (AM)
KDKA is a radio station licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Created by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation on November 2, 1920, it is one of the world's first modern radio stations , a distinction that has also been challenged by other stations, although it has claimed to be the first in...
.
History
The station has aired rock music since 1969, when it was owned by ABC. Previously, it was known as KQV-FM and simulcasted sister station KQVKQV
KQV is a radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station, which is the only broadcast station owned by Calvary, Inc., broadcasts at 1410 kHz, with 5000 watts of power day and night. KQV's call letters reportedly stand for King of the Quaker Valley...
. The new programming was a tape service of album rock entitled "Love" created by ABC official Allen Shaw designed specifically for airing on the 7 FM stations owned by ABC. Shaw changed the format from automated "Love" format to live "free form" album rock in 1970. The station's current call letters were chosen in 1971 at the height of the "hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
" era. "DVE" was derived from "dove
Dove
Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerines. In general terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably...
", the bird of peace. In the fall of 1971, Shaw, along with ABC Radio programming executive Bob Henaberry, replaced the "free form" rock programming with the very first album rock "format", playing only the best cuts from the best selling rock albums with minimal disc jockey talk. WDVE was the most successful FM radio station in Pittsburgh throughout the 1970s. In early print marketing the phrase "Rock'n Stereo WDVE 102.5" was set in white text against a black oval background surrounded by vivid rainbow-like colors. Later the logo was rendered in white and yellow with red accents against a black background, generally using the slogan "DVE Rocks."
Starting in the 1980s, the station started playing the Beat Farmers
Beat Farmers
The Beat Farmers were a cowpunk band who formed in San Diego, California, in August 1983, and enjoyed a cult following throughout the 1980s and early 1990s before the premature death of lead singer and drummer Country Dick Montana...
song Happy Boy every Friday around 3PM to signal the end of the work week and the start of the weekend, making WDVE one of the few stations to play a song from the nearly-forgotten cowpunk
Cowpunk
Cowpunk or Country punk is a subgenre of punk rock and New Wave that began in the UK and California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New Wave with country music, folk music, and blues in sound, subject matter, attitude, and style...
band on a regular basis. Also on Fridays, the station airs a slogan; "Hey yinz guys! It's FRIDAY!!" numerous times throughout the day. The station also parodies The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
song Birthday at times, often incorporating Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
into the song.
Radio personality
Radio personality
A radio personality is a person with an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality can be someone who introduces and discusses various genres of music, hosts a talk radio show that may take calls from listeners, or someone whose primary responsibility is to give news, weather,...
Maxwell (Ben Bornstein), formerly heard on WMMS
WMMS
WMMS — branded 100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, widely recognized as one of the most influential rock stations in America throughout much of the history of FM broadcasting...
(and later WNCX
WNCX
WNCX — branded 98.5 WNCX — is commercial radio station in Cleveland, Ohio, broadcasting a classic rock format. The station's studios are currently located in Cleveland's historic Halle Building, in the Playhouse Square District...
) in Cleveland as host of The Maxwell Show
The Maxwell Show
The Maxwell Show was a hot talk radio show which aired weekday mornings on classic rock radio station WNCX in Cleveland, Ohio. The show first began in April 2004 on noted Cleveland rock station WMMS , and over the course of the next five years, grew to become the Cleveland radio market's #1...
, spent time at WDVE in the mid 1990s as Max Logan.
The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
, and (along with WBGG
WBGG (AM)
WBGG is a sports radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, owned by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts at 970 kHz with 5,000 watts day and night.- History :...
) serves as the flagship radio station of the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
radio network. For years it was the home for Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
hockey (currently WXDX is the flagship), promoting itself with such oddities as a young Jaromir Jagr
Jaromir Jagr
Jaromír Jágr is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger who plays for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League . Jágr formerly played with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, and New York Rangers, serving as captain of the Penguins and the Rangers...
reading the morning weather forecast in heavily accented English during his suspension from the NHL.
Because of the station having a largely male
Male
Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...
audience, the station refers to fellow Clear Channel stations WXDX-FM
WXDX-FM
WXDX-FM — branded 105.9 The X — is a modern rock radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts at 105.9 MHz with an effective radiated power of 15.5 kw.-History:...
and WPGB
WPGB
WPGB is a conservative talk radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts at 104.7 MHz with an ERP of 13 kW...
as "brother" stations as opposed to the more commonly-used term sister station, since WXDX also has a predominantly male audience and all three having younger listeners. In recent years, the station's format has gradually drifted towards "classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
" with current releases rarely incorporated into the playlist, though some recent songs such as Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
's 2007 hit "I Don't Wanna Stop
I Don't Wanna Stop
"I Don't Wanna Stop" is a Grammy nominated single from heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne's 9th studio album, Black Rain. The song was first announced and released through Ozzy's website.-Background:...
" are played on the station (Osbourne himself is a fixture on many classic rock stations).
Morning Show
The DVE Morning Show is hosted by local comedian Jim KrennJim Krenn
Jim Krenn is a radio personality, best known for his work as one half of "Jim and Randy and the DVE Morning Show" on WDVE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Krenn and former partner Scott Paulsen provided most of the voices for the Nickelodeon Stop Motion animation series, Action League NOW! -References:...
and Randy Baumann
Randy Baumann
Randy Baumann is a radio personality, best known for his work as one half of "Jim and Randy and the DVE Morning Show" on WDVE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....
and airs on weekdays from 6 AM to 10 AM. Additionally, the "News and Celebrity Sleaze" is read by Val Porter at the top of every hour, and the sports news is read by Mike Prisuta at the middle of every hour. The show is a fairly standard morning show, with a few songs and comedy skits played between the news sections. Before Randy Baumann
Randy Baumann
Randy Baumann is a radio personality, best known for his work as one half of "Jim and Randy and the DVE Morning Show" on WDVE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....
joined the show in early 2000, the morning show was hosted by Krenn and Scott Paulsen
Scott Paulsen
Scott Paulsen is an American radio personality, columnist, and voice actor based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Paulsen began working for WDVE, a Pittsburgh classic rock station, in the 1980s. He became a "morning staple" in the Pittsburgh region on WDVE Morning Show, which he co-hosted with Jim...
, who replaced "Little Jimmy" Roach and "Big Steve" Hansen of "The DVE Morning Alternative" morning show.
As of Monday, 18 January 2010, the morning show returned to the air without Randy Baumann
Randy Baumann
Randy Baumann is a radio personality, best known for his work as one half of "Jim and Randy and the DVE Morning Show" on WDVE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....
and is using the "DVE Morning Show" name (rather than "Jim and Randy and the DVE Morning Show"). Randy Baumann's contract expired at the beginning of 2010 and according to comments on the PBRTV blog, Baumann's contract was not renewed and will not be returning to the WDVE morning show.
As of Wednesday, 17 February 2010, the WDVE morning show reunited with Randy Baumann after current contract negotiations have been settled. The show resumed its previous title "Jim and Randy and the DVE Morning Show".
Other media
- Staff at WDVE provided voices for the segment Action League Now!Action League Now!Action League NOW! is a stop motion children's television series that was originally part of All That and then KaBlam! on Nickelodeon, and was later spun off into its own short-lived show. It was made using "chuckimation"...
on NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
's KaBlam!KaBlam!KaBlam! is an American animated television series that ran on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 2000. Then it moved to The N on April 15, 2002 as part of its The N's Saturday Nights block...
. - An extraExtra (actor)A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
in the 1986 movie Gung HoGung Ho (film)Gung Ho is a 1986 Ron Howard comedy film, released by Paramount Pictures, and starring Michael Keaton and Gedde Watanabe. The film's story portrayed the takeover of an American car plant by a Japanese corporation...
wore a WDVE t-shirtT-shirtA T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
on-screen. The movie, starring CoraopolisCoraopolis, PennsylvaniaCoraopolis is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 5,677 at the 2010 census. In 1940 the population peaked at 11,086. It is a small community located to the west of Pittsburgh, along the Ohio River and to the east of the Pittsburgh International Airport...
native Michael KeatonMichael KeatonMichael John Douglas , better known by the stage name Michael Keaton, is an American actor known for his early comedic roles, most notably his performance as the title character of Tim Burton's Beetlejuice . Keaton is also famous for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Tim Burton's...
, was largely shot in Beaver CountyBeaver County, Pennsylvania-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 181,412 people, 72,576 households, and 50,512 families residing in the county. The population density was 418 people per square mile . There were 77,765 housing units at an average density of 179 per square mile...
, just a short drive up Interstate 376Interstate 376Interstate 376 is a major auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, located entirely within the Allegheny Plateau. It runs from I-80 near Sharon south and east to a junction with the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Monroeville, after having crossed the Turnpike...
from WDVE's studios. - Bumper stickers for the station appear in the Mark WahlbergMark WahlbergMark Robert Michael Wahlberg is an American actor, film and television producer, and former rapper. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years, and became famous for his 1991 debut as a musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He was named No. 1 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of...
movie, "Rock StarRock Star (2001 film)Rock Star is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Herek and starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. It tells the story of Chris "Izzy" Cole, a tribute band singer whose ascendance to the position of lead vocalist of his favorite band was inspired by the real-life story of Tim...
", set in Pittsburgh.