WVIS

Isaac J. Bahr and George M. Arroyo applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a construction permit to build a new radio station at 106.1 MHz at Frederiksted on St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands; the application was approved on November 12, 1971.{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=83571 |title= History Cards for WVIS|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) The station began broadcasting June 10, 1973; it was the first radio station in Frederiksted, and the third FM in the Virgin Islands after outlets at Christiansted and Charlotte Amalie.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1975/1975-BC-YB.pdf|access-date=August 25, 2020|date=1975|work=Broadcasting Yearbook|title=WVIS(FM)|page=C-218 (468)}} Bahr became the sole licensee in 1976.{{r|hc}} The city of license was changed from Frederiksted to Christiansted in 1982. Bahr also filed to establish a television station on channel 27, but lost out to another applicant who was preferred on media diversity grounds.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1985/BC-1985-05-06.pdf|access-date=August 25, 2020|date=May 6, 1985|page=72|title=Christiansted U|work=Broadcasting}}

The station was an urban contemporary outlet, competing with a number of similar stations; this meant that the station struggled to hold an audience, and further, national advertising accounts showed little interest in the Virgin Islands.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1980s/1986/RR-1986-04-11.pdf|work=Radio & Records|date=April 11, 1986|access-date=August 25, 2020|first=Walt|last=Love|title=Radio in the U.S. Virgin Islands|page=97}} One on-air personality at the station was a young Wendy Williams, who started her media career as a DJ at WVIS; in a 2003 memoir, Williams described the station as "disorganized" and would return to the mainland eight months later after seeing an ad in Radio & Records magazine for a new station starting up in New York, WQHT (103.5 FM).{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58062552/|pages=38, 39|title=Wendy's hot now, but back then... (excerpt from "Wendy's Got the Heat")|work=New York Daily News|date=September 7, 2003|access-date=August 25, 2020}}

WVIS lost its tower when Hurricane Hugo devastated the Virgin Islands in 1989.{{cite web|url=http://www.presenciapr.com/michael-bahr-encaminado-al-triunfo-y-continuando-el-legado-de-su-padre/|work=Presencia |first=Wilmady|last=Pagán Rosa|title= Radio Joe: Locutor Michael Bahr encaminado al triunfo |date=May 31, 2013|access-date=August 25, 2020}}

In 1995, WVIS was approved to move its city of license and transmitter from the Virgin Islands to Vieques in Puerto Rico, as part of a larger shift of allocations.{{cite news|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2077/m1/204/|access-date=August 25, 2020|title=10 FCC Rcd 6673: Report and Order|date=June 13, 1995|author=Federal Communications Commission|work=FCC Record}} The move would not come for years and almost did not happen. In August 2002, the FCC declared that WVIS, having been silent more than 12 months, had lost its license under the provisions of Section 312(g) of the Communications Act of 1934; the company sought review, asking the FCC to use discretion granted to it by a 2004 law change, as the facility had been operating intermittently at Christiansted due to damage from four hurricanes, one of which destroyed the station's tower.{{cite news|url=https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=1136|access-date=August 25, 2020|date=November 20, 2006|title=In the Matter of V.I. Stereo Communications Corp. For Modified Construction Permit and Special Temporary Authorization for DWVIS(FM), Vieques, Puerto Rico: Memorandum Opinion and Order|author=Federal Communications Commission}}

As a result of the intervening circumstances, and particularly the damage from hurricanes, the FCC in 2006 reinstated the deleted WVIS license on the condition that it file various applications that would have been necessary in the period—one of them to reflect owner Bahr's 2004 death.{{r|order}} The station returned to the air in December 2007;{{cite web|url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101225534&formid=1&fac_num=69631|access-date=August 25, 2020|title=APPLICATION FOR FM BROADCAST STATION LICENSE (BMLH-20071214AAN)|date=December 14, 2007}} it fully relaunched as Radio Joe on June 28, 2008,{{cite news|url=https://www.indicepr.com/noticias/2013/05/31/spot/5177/la-evolucion-de-radio-joe/|work=Índice|date=May 31, 2013|access-date=August 25, 2020|title=La evolución de Radio Joe|first=Wilfredo R.|last=Cubero Jiménez}} with the Radio Joe name in honor of the late Joseph Bahr.{{cite news|url=https://www.primerahora.com/entretenimiento/cine-tv/notas/radio-joe-la-emisora-guerrilla/|date=May 30, 2013|first=Mariela|last=Fullana Acosta|title=Radio Joe: la emisora "guerrilla"|work=Primera Hora|access-date=August 25, 2020}} It then spent six months off the air after a September 2008 storm caused a power surge, damaging the antenna.{{cite web|url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101276510&formid=910&fac_num=69631|title=Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA (BLSTA-20081107AAR|date=November 7, 2008|access-date=August 25, 2020}}

WVIS lost electrical service to its transmitter site on Culebra in 2014 when the Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica, the Puerto Rico electrical utility, shut off power to co-sited station WJVP, which owned the tower, for nonpayment; as a result, the station applied for and received special temporary authority to operate a low-power transmitter at the studios, located on the main island of Puerto Rico at Luquillo.{{cite web|url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101657851&qnum=5030©num=1&exhcnum=1|title=Exhibit to BSTA - 20141110AFB|date=November 10, 2014|access-date=August 25, 2020}}{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} The Culebra tower was blown down in Hurricane Maria three years later,{{cite web|url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101796924&formid=911&fac_num=69631|access-date=August 25, 2020|title= BESTA - 20181204AAE Extension of STA|date=December 4, 2018}} and in the most recent extension filed in June 2020, V.I. Stereo noted that the hurricane and subsequent earthquakes had created an economic disaster that stalled attempts to locate a new site.{{cite web|url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101818279&formid=911&fac_num=69631|title= BESTA - 20200604AAC Extension of STA|date=June 4, 2020|access-date=August 25, 2020}}

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• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|69631|WVIS}}
• {{FMARB|WVIS}}

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{{Puerto Rico Radio}}

{{US Virgin Islands Radio}}

VIS

Category:Radio stations established in 1973

Category:Vieques, Puerto Rico

Category:1973 establishments in the United States Virgin Islands

Category:Radio stations in the United States Virgin Islands