WDAV signed on in 1973 as a student-run
college radio station, taking over from a
carrier current station that had been on the air since 1969. WDAV experimented with two hours of jazz in 1975. It was so popular the amount was increased to six hours and then twelve. The station also had 24 hours of classical music per week. In 1978, it was upgraded to a full-service professional operation. However, student volunteers quit because they did not want the station to go all classical, and it took three months to return to the air. The students asked for another carrier current station, and WALT 1610 came on the air. After years of on and off broadcasting, WALT has been reinstated and operated by students since 2014. In 1985, WDAV made plans to increase its signal from 20,000 to 100,000 watts using a directional antenna to prevent interference with
WEPR. The station was also moving from a small space in the college's union building to a new building. The power boost, approved in August 1988 and completed in mid-1989, would increase the listening area from 1702 to 2402 square miles, with as many as 850,755 listeners. On October 1, 1988, WDAV began broadcasting 24 hours a day. That same month, the station became an affiliate of
American Public Radio, with
Radio Kronos and
High Performance with André Previn. On April 19, 1995, WDAV moved from a 350-foot tower two miles south of
Cornelius to an 815-foot one in
Huntersville, improving its signal in some areas and increasing its signal range to 22 counties. Also in 1995, WDAV ended
Metropolitan Opera broadcasts because they had to be live and WDAV felt not enough listeners liked opera. In July 2003, WDAV added the
NPR program
World of Opera, which ran until 2016. Lightning damage in August 2012 resulted in a reduced signal for WDAV after the station had to switch to its old tower temporarily. The signal was back to normal in June 2013. WDAV was one of the first classical radio stations to
stream its signal. As of 2018, 21 percent of the audience was 18 to 34. The station had three podcasts already and planned two more. == References ==