WARH

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**WARH**

City of license	Granite City, Illinois
Broadcast area	St. Louis, Missouri
Branding	106.5 The Arch
Slogan	70s, 80s, Whatever We Want
First air date	April 18, 2005 (1965 as WGNU-FM)
Frequency	106.5 (MHz)
Format	Adult hits
ERP	90,000 watts
Class	C1
Callsign meaning	The ARcH
Former callsigns	WGNU, KWK, WWWK, WKBQ
Owner	Bonneville International
Website	www.1065thearch.com

WARH is a radio station in Granite City, Illinois located at 106.5 MHz FM. WARH serves the St. Louis metropolitan area.

WARH plays an Adult Hits as "106.5 The Arch - 70s, 80s, & Whatever We Want". The format is quite similar to the Jack FM stations in the US & Canada. It programs slightly differently from the Jack FM-branded stations, including more news and traffic and having voiceovers performed by John O'Hurley, who currently is seen on television as the host of the syndicated TV game-show Family Feud.

WARH is currently owned by Bonneville International (owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and broadcasts with 90 kW of effective radiated power from Resurrection Cemetery in Shrewsbury, Missouri. Because of the high concentration of radio and television transmitters in this area, it is sometimes referred to as the St. Louis Master Antenna site.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] History

Originally, the station took to the air in 1965 as WGNU-FM under the ownership of the late Chuck Norman. The station was programmed with a country music format and was simulcast on WGNU 920 AM. Norman sold the station to Doubleday Broadcasting in 1976. Doubleday changed the station's call letters to WWWK (later KWK-FM) and the format to Top 40. Eventually, KWK became WKBQ-FM, retaining the Top 40 format.

When the station was purchased by Zimmer Radio Group of Cape Girardeau, Missouri in the mid 1990s, the station flip-flopped dial positions with sister station WKKX (currently WHHL) on 104.1, which had a country format known as "Kix 104." The station became "New Country Kix 106.5", where it would remain until 2000, when it adoped a Smooth Jazz/NAC format as "Smooth 106.5 WSSM" (later "106.5 Smooth Jazz"). In April of 2005, the station adoped its current format and call letters.

[edit] On-Air Personalities

WARH has a roster of on-air personalities that include morning drive-time host Van Lorenz and midday host Michelle Steele, along with traffic reporter Kara Savio.