WRAD
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| WRAD | |
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| City of license | Radford, Virginia |
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| Broadcast area | New River Valley |
| Branding | Sports Radio 1460 WRAD |
| Slogan | Your 24-Hour Sports Station |
| Frequency | 1460 kHz |
| First air date | 1948 |
| Format | Sports Talk |
| Power | 5000 watts day, 500 watts night |
| Class | A |
| Callsign meaning | RADFORD ; Radford All Day |
| Former callsigns | AM Stereo 1460 WRAD, Classic Country 1460 WRAD, CD Country WRAD, Radford All Day 1460 WRAD, The Big "R" |
| Affiliations | Sporting News Radio, NASCAR |
| Owner | Cumulus Media |
| Sister stations | WBRW, WFNR-FM/WFNR, WPSK, WWBU |
| Webcast | WRAD Live Feed |
WRAD / 1460 AM is a sports talk formatted radio station licensed to Radford, Virginia. WRAD is owned by Cumulus Media, along with 107 Country WPSK-FM, 105.3 The Bear WBRW-FM, Hot 100.7 WFNR-FM, Supertalk 101.7 WWBU-FM, and News/Talk 710 WFNR-AM. The studios are located at 7080 Lee Highway in Radford, Virginia, but the physical broadcast antenna is located 1½ miles southeast of the Lee Highway studios.
WRAD is the New River Valley affiliate of Sporting News Radio, Radford University Women's Basketball, NASCAR Busch & Truck Series Racing, and select Virginia Tech Baseball games.
WRAD's history with Virginia Tech sports broadcasts dates back to September 18, 1954 when Joe Knakel and Bob Bradford called the first-ever VT football radio broadcast — a 30-21 victory over N.C. State.
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[edit] History
O. Wayne Rollins and his brother, John Rollins, purchased WRAD in 1948. The business grew quickly, and they renamed their company Rollins Broadcasting. One of the first companies to create programming for specific community markets, Rollins Broadcasting expanded into the television industry in 1956.
WRAD's format in 1948 was current popular music (what is now known as "nostalgia" or Adult standards) broadcasting with 200 watts on 1340 AM and known as The Big "R" Radio. The station originally broadcast from downtown Radford, next to the train station and the old post office on Main Street next to Radford University. Later, the frequency was changed to 1460 kHz in favor of a larger signal—therefore a greater coverage area—and moved across the bridge. The 1340 frequency was sold to new owners and is now WBLB. Throughout the years, the wattage was upgraded to 500, 1,000, then 5,000 kHz during daytime hours. The format was changed to country, putting themselves into direct competition with Roanoke's 610 WSLC-AM (now WVBE-AM).
WRAD was the first AM radio station in the New River Valley to broadcast in AM stereo, beginning in the early 1980's. The AM stereo phenomenon didn't catch on with consumers, likely due to prohibitive costs. WSLC & WRAD both remained in AM stereo until about 1999.
In 1965 WRAD acquired a new FM sister station WRIQ-FM (currently WWBU) 101.7 mHz. WRIQ used to broadcast a country format independent of WRAD-AM. In 1996, new owners made WRAD a simulcast of WRIQ's CD Country format. Two years later, WRAD was changed to Music and Memories, a nostalgia format that brought WRAD around full circle. In 2004, the nostalgia format was dropped in favor of the current sports talk format.
[edit] On-Air Lineup
The Dan Patrick Show — 9am-12Noon
The Jim Rome Show — 12pm-3pm
Big Dog Sports Talk with Rick Watson — 3pm-6pm (simulcast on WWBU Supertalk 101.7)
NASCAR Live with Eli Gold — Tuesdays nights 7-8pm
The Troy Aikman Show — Thursday nights 7-8pm
Sports Saturday with Bob Berger & Bob Stelton
- During hours in which specific shows are not on the air, WRAD airs Sporting News Radio, featuring an hourly Sporting News flash which updates the latest sports headlines in five minutes and audience interactive sports talk throughout each hour. WRAD also broadcasts the local weather forecast provided by meteorologists from Roanoke TV station WDBJ-7 multiple times each hour.
[edit] Local Sports
Radford Bobcats High School Football live every Friday night during high school football season. For over six decades WRAD has been the home for the RHS Bobcats.
RU women's basketball; all games air locally on WRAD with the pre-game show beginning 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
Virginia Tech Hokies Baseball will return to WRAD again for the 2008 season, with 45 regular season games to be carried.
[edit] External Links
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