WVAB

{{Short description|Radio station in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States (1954–2018)}}

{{Infobox radio station

| name = WVAB

| country = US

| frequency = 1550 kHz

| airdate = {{start date and age|1954}}

| last_airdate = {{end date|2018|9|7}} (date of license surrender){{cite web |last1=Trent |first1=John C. |title=Re: Surrender of Radio Station License WVAB (AM) Virginia Beach, VA (Fac Id. 57611) |url=https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=87722 |website=CDBS Public Access |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |access-date=September 10, 2018}}

| format =

| power = {{ubl|5,000 watts (daytime)|9 watts (nighttime)}}

| class = D

| facility_id = 57611

| coordinates = {{Coord|36|51|29.5|N|76|9|26.8|W|type:landmark_region:US-VA|display=inline,title}}

| callsign_meaning = Virginia Beach

| former_callsigns = {{ubl|WBPA (1954)|WAVA (1954)|WBOF (1954–64)|WKVK (1964–66)[https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=68155 FCC History Cards for DWVAB]}}

| former_frequencies = 1600 kHz (1954–60)

| owner = Birach Broadcasting Corporation

}}

WVAB was a commercial radio station licensed to serve Virginia Beach, Virginia, at 1550 AM, and serviced parts of the Hampton Roads region. The station broadcast from 1954 to 2018, ceasing operations when owner Birach Broadcasting Corporation voluntarily turned their license back to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for cancellation. The license surrender had followed an investigation by the commission into a decade of limited operations for it and co-owned WBVA (1450 AM).{{cite web|url=http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?call=WVAB|title=WVAB Facility Record|work=Federal Communications Commission, audio division}}

History

WVAB had a long history in Virginia Beach, moving from a popular music station to strictly news and finally gospel programming.[http://www.wtkr.com/Global/story.asp?S=8027058 WTKR NewsChannel 3: News, Weather and Traffic in Hampton Roads and North Carolina | Two AM Radio Stations Now Silent In Virginia Beach]{{dead link|date=July 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Sidney Kellam, a scion of political and economic power in Princess Anne County and Virginia Beach during mid-20th century, and members of the Kellam family, were the original owner and founders of WVAB. The studio and offices were long-located over the Jewish Mother Restaurant on Pacific Avenue, its headquarters for the first 34 years of its existence. WVAB had been a pop and rock music station, relying on a series of itinerant disc jockeys to purvey their various musical tastes to a limited local audience. Don Beckstrom was a constant figure on WVAB both on the air and as program sirector during this period.

Eventually, advertising revenues trickled to a halt at the end of the 1980s. A succession of new owners followed beginning in the early 1990s.[https://www.pilotonline.com/2008/03/16/wvab-am-and-sister-beach-station-off-air-after-tower-felled WVAB-AM and sister Beach station off air after tower felled]{{Cite web |url=http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1994/vp941030/10280262.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=March 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110608090311/http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1994/vp941030/10280262.htm |archive-date=June 8, 2011 |url-status=dead }}

Since March 19, 2008, the station was off the air, following financial problems and an apparent vandalism incident of March 16. The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported that both WVAB—which had carried local gospel programming—and WBVA were off the air, with was no word on when or if they would return.[http://hamptonroads.com/2008/03/wvabam-and-sister-beach-station-air-after-tower-felled WVAB-AM and sister Beach station off air after tower felled | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com]

According to Virginia Beach police, on March 16, 2008, someone felled the stations' {{convert|200|ft|m|sp=us|abbr=off|adj=on}} tower. Margie Long with the Virginia Beach Police Department was quoted in local media as saying "The tower, approximately 200 ft. of it, collapsed to the ground. It appears there were numerous lines, support lines that were cut. We are investigating this as a destruction of property. There are no suspects, he said, but the investigation is ongoing." The tower stood in the 500 block of de Laura Lane, just off North Witchduck Road and north of Virginia Beach Boulevard.[http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=8029341&nav=23ii WAVY TV 10 : Virginia and North Carolina News -Vandals may have targeted radio tower in Va. Beach]{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

WVAB was in bankruptcy and the station was sold to Birach Broadcasting Corporation on April 1, 2008, according to FCC records.

On January 22, 2018, the FCC designated WVAB and WBVA's license renewals for a hearing.{{cite web|title=Hearing Designation Order|url=https://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2018/db0122/FCC-18-2A1.pdf|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} According to the commission's records, WVAB operated for a total of 357 days in the two license terms between April 1, 2008, and November 30, 2017, and was silent for the remaining period of nearly nine years. When it did operate, in order to avoid automatic deletion of its license after one continuous year of silence, it was at 6 watts from a temporary transmitter site at the western edge of Virginia Beach, Virginia; the FCC estimated that WVAB covered two percent of its licensed service area from that site. Birach claimed since acquiring the stations that it had been unable to get zoning approval for a new tower. The full board of five commissioners would have determined whether renewing WVAB and WBVA's licenses would serve the public interest.{{cite news|title=FCC's Silent Station Crackdown Targets Virginia AMs|url=http://www.insideradio.com/free/fcc-s-silent-station-crackdown-targets-virginia-ams/article_9795caba-000e-11e8-81c1-fbf05ea20f2c.html|work=Insideradio.com|language=en}}{{cite web|title=WVAB Facility Data|url=https://fccdata.org/?facid=&call=WVAB|website=FCCData}}

Before the FCC came to a decision, Birach attempted to donate WVAB's license and audio equipment—but not any transmission equipment or facilities—to two different nonprofits.{{cite web |title=Re: Donation of Radio Stations |url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101789945&qnum=5040©num=1&exhcnum=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912170916/https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101789945&qnum=5040©num=1&exhcnum=1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 12, 2018 |website=FCC CDBS}} When both donations fell through, Birach surrendered the WVAB license on September 7, 2018. The FCC cancelled the station's license on September 10, 2018.{{cite web|url= https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityDetails.html?facilityId=57611|title=License Cancelled|work=Federal Communications Commission Licensing and Management System|date=September 10, 2018|access-date=November 24, 2024}}

References

External links

[https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityDetails.html?facilityId=57611 Facility details for Facility ID 57611 (WVAB)] in the FCC Licensing and Management System
{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=68155 |title= History Cards for WVAB|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) (covering 1954–1981)

VAB

Category:Radio stations established in 1954

Category:Birach Broadcasting Corporation stations

Category:1954 establishments in Virginia

Category:Radio stations disestablished in 2018

Category:2018 disestablishments in Virginia

Category:Defunct radio stations in the United States

VAB