Earliest West Virginia Radio Stations

The following are the earliest broadcast stations licensed in West Virginia. Stations marked with an asterisk are still on the air. If you can improve this list (perhaps by supplying a call missing from a station's sequence), please e-mail Jeff Miller.

CALLCITYLICENSEESTARTCOMMENT
WHDMorgantownWest Virginia UniversityLicensed: March 16, 1922Deleted Nov. 19, 1923
WAAOCharlestonRadio Service Co.Licensed: April 10, 1922Deleted Dec. 1, 1922
WAARHuntingtonGroves-Thornton Hardware Co.Licensed: April 13, 1922Deleted Dec. 4, 1922
WHAJBluefieldBluefield Daily Telegraph & E. K. KittsLicensed: July 1922...
WHAKClarksburgRoberts Hardware Co.Licensed: July 1922...
WPAZCharlestonDr. John R. KochLicensed: January 1923...
WSAZ*Pomeroy, OHChase Electric Shop, Glenn E. ChaseLicensed October 10 or 16, 1923Later calls: WGNT, WRVC, WTKZ, WRVC; moved to Huntington
WDBDMartinsburgHerman E. BurnsLicensed: 1924...
WIBRWeirtonThurman A. OwingsLicensed: 1925Later moved to Steubenville OH
WWVA*WheelingJohn C. Strobel Jr.On air: December 16, 1926...
WOBU*CharlestonCharleston Radio Broadcasting Co.On air: October 12, 1927Later call: WCHS
WQBJClarksburgJohn RaikesLicensed: November 1927...
WQBZWeirtonJ. H. ThompsonLicensed: May 1928...
WMMN*FairmontHolt-Rome Novelty Co.Licensed: December 10, 1928...
WHIS*BluefieldDaily Telegraph Printing Co.On air: June 27, 1929...
WPAR*ParkersburgChancellor HotelOn air: July 12, 1935Later calls: WIKS, WLTP
WBLK*ClarksburgCharleston Broadcasting Co.On air: April 1937Later calls: WBOY, WBBN, WPQZ, WKKW, WPQZ, WOBG
WJLS*BeckleyJoe L. Smith Jr.On air: March 5, 1939...
WBTH*WilliamsonWilliamson Broadcasting Corp.On air: April 19, 1939...
WGKV*CharlestonKanawha Valley Broadcasting Co. On air: 1939Later calls: WHMS, WTGR, WHMS, WGKV, WXIT, WCZR, WSWW
WLOG*LoganC. H. Frey and R. O. GreeverOn air: 1940...
WBRWWelchMcDowell Service Co.On air: August 25, 1940Subsequent WMCD/WOVE/WXEE operated on same frequency
WAJR*MorgantownWest Virginia Radio Corp.On air: December 1940...
WKWK*Wheeling...On air: May 2, 1941Later call: WBBD


EARLIEST FM STATIONS

The first FM station in West Virginia was WCFC Beckley, which began regular programming at 2 p.m. on August 15, 1946, on 101.1 MHz. Its first experimental transmission was August 12, 1946, at 10:13 p.m. WCFC-FM ceased operations on June 30, 1951.

The second FM station in West Virginia was WJLS-FM, which has claimed a start date of November 15, 1946. Regular broadcasting, however, apparently actually began in early 1947. WJLS-FM is the oldest surviving FM station in West Virginia, if we ignore the fact that the station suspended broadcasting for a time in the 1950s.

The next four FM stations began in 1947. The order is uncertain, but they were WHTN-FM (July), WWVA-FM (September), WHIS-FM (date unknown), and WPLH-FM (in Huntington, date unknown).


SPECIAL LAND STATIONS

CallLicenseeCityFirst listed in
Radio Service Bulletin
8ZWJohn C. Stroebel Jr.WheelingMarch 1915
8XGC. W. Waggoner (WVU)MorgantownJuly 1, 1916
8YAWest Virginia UniversityMorgantownAugust 1, 1919
8YHWest Virginia UniversityMorgantownDecember 1, 1920
8YFCamp GreenbrierAldersonNovember 1, 1920


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