| City of license | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Pittsburgh metropolitan area |
| Branding | "102.5 DVE" "102.5 WDVE" |
| Slogan | "DVE Rocks" |
| Frequency |
102.5 HD2 Steelers Nation |
| First air date | May 10, 1962 (as KQV-FM) |
| Format | Mainstream rock |
| ERP | 55,000 watts |
| HAAT | 250 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 59588 |
| Callsign meaning | W DoVE |
| Former callsigns | KQV-FM (1962-1971) |
| Owner | Clear Channel Communications |
| Sister stations | WBGG, WKST-FM, WPGB, WWSW, WXDX |
| Webcast | WDVE Webstream |
| Website | dve.com |
WDVE (102.5 FM) is a mainstream rock music formatted radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA at 102.5 MHz. It is often referred to by Pittsburghers as simply "DVE." WDVE's transmitter is located on Pittsburgh's North Side. Since 2006, the station has been the highest-rated radio station in the Pittsburgh market, surpassing longtime market leader KDKA.
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The station has aired rock music since 1969, when it was owned by ABC. Previously, it was known as KQV-FM and simulcasted sister station KQV. The new programming was a tape service of album rock entitled "Love" created by ABC official Allen Shaw designed specifically for airing on the 7 FM stations owned by ABC. Shaw changed the format from automated "Love" format to live "free form" album rock in 1970. The station's current call letters were chosen in 1971 at the height of the "hippie" era. "DVE" was derived from "dove", the bird of peace. In the fall of 1971, Shaw, along with ABC Radio programming executive Bob Henaberry, replaced the "free form" rock programming with the very first album rock "format", playing only the best cuts from the best selling rock albums with minimal disc jockey talk. WDVE was the most successful FM radio station in Pittsburgh throughout the 1970s. In early print marketing the phrase "Rock'n Stereo WDVE 102.5" was set in white text against a black oval background surrounded by vivid rainbow-like colors. Later the logo was rendered in white and yellow with red accents against a black background, generally using the slogan "DVE Rocks."
Starting in the 1980s, the station started playing the Beat Farmers song Happy Boy every Friday around 3PM to signal the end of the work week and the start of the weekend, making WDVE one of the few stations to play a song from the nearly-forgotten cowpunk band on a regular basis. Also on Fridays, the station airs a slogan; "Hey yinz guys! It's FRIDAY!!" numerous times throughout the day. The station also parodies The Beatles song Birthday at times, often incorporating Confucius into the song.
Radio personality Maxwell (Ben Bornstein), formerly heard on WMMS (and later WNCX) in Cleveland as host of The Maxwell Show, spent time at WDVE in the mid 1990s as Max Logan.[1]
The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications, and (along with WBGG) serves as the flagship radio station of the Pittsburgh Steelers radio network. For years it was the home for Pittsburgh Penguins hockey (currently WXDX is the flagship), promoting itself with such oddities as a young Jaromir Jagr reading the morning weather forecast in heavily accented English during his suspension from the NHL.
Because of the station having a largely male audience, the station refers to fellow Clear Channel stations WXDX-FM and WPGB as "brother" stations as opposed to the more commonly-used term sister station, since WXDX also has a predominantly male audience and all three having younger listeners. In recent years, the station's format has gradually drifted towards "classic rock" with current releases rarely incorporated into the playlist, though some recent songs such as Ozzy Osbourne's 2007 hit "I Don't Wanna Stop" are played on the station (Osbourne himself is a fixture on many classic rock stations).
The DVE Morning Show is hosted by local comedian Randy Baumann and airs on weekdays from 6 AM to 10 AM. Additionally, the "News and Celebrity Sleaze" is read by Val Porter at the top of every hour, and the sports news is read by Mike Prisuta at the middle of every hour. The show is a fairly standard morning show, with a few songs and comedy skits played between the news sections. Before Randy Baumann joined the show in early 2000, the morning show was hosted by Krenn and Scott Paulsen, who replaced "Little Jimmy" Roach and "Big Steve" Hansen of "The DVE Morning Alternative" morning show.
As of Monday, 18 January 2010, the morning show returned to the air without Randy Baumann and used the name "DVE Morning Show" (rather than "Jim and Randy and the DVE Morning Show"). Randy Baumann's contract expired at the beginning of 2010 and according to comments on the PBRTV blog, Baumann's contract was not renewed and will not be returning to the WDVE morning show[2].
As of Wednesday, 17 February 2010, the WDVE morning show reunited with Randy Baumann after current contract negotiations have been settled. The show resumed its previous title "Jim and Randy and the DVE Morning Show".
On Saturday, 31 December 2011, Clear Channel announced that Jim Krenn would no longer be part of the DVE Morning show but is still employed at the station. According to a statement made by Dennis Lamme, President and Market Manager of Clear Channel Media & Entertainment-Pittsburgh, "We are currently in discussion with Jim about his role with the station moving forward."[3]. They are again using the name "DVE Morning Show"[4].
WDVE broadcasts on its HD2 subchannel dates back to 2006, when the subchannel launched a format focusing on Blues music. In August 2011, HD2 became a 24-hour channel devoted to Steelers coverage, billed as "Steelers Nation Radio."
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