WCAV The station
signed on the air on November 30, 1947. It originally broadcast on 860
kilocycles and the
call sign was WCAV. It was owned by the Cavalier Broadcasting Company with studios in the Helena Building.
WRAP In 1954, owners of another Norfolk radio station, WRAP on 1050 kHz, acquired WCAV, moving it to 850 kHz. They changed the call letters to WRAP, adopting a
black-oriented format. On this new frequency, WRAP programming could broadcast around the clock after it was restricted to
daytime only on 1050 kHz. The daytime power was increased to 5,000 watts and the nighttime power was set at 1,000 watts. WRAP was programmed to Norfolk's African-American community. Its call sign used the word "RAP", an
African-American English word for "talk" or "discussion". (It would be several decades before "
rap" began referring to a musical style.) An advertisement in the 1957 edition of
Broadcasting Yearbook, using the descriptions of the era, said "Survey figures show the most
Negroes in the Norfolk area listen most to WRAP". It added that WRAP was "the only all-Negro station in Norfolk".
WNIS In 1987, WNIS on AM 1350 was acquired by local cable TV company Clinton Cablevision (later Sinclair Telecable). The new owner flipped the format to talk. A swap was made with AM 1350, which moved the WNIS call sign to this station, and transferred the WRAP call letters, with its associated black-oriented format, to AM 1350. WNIS, meaning "News and Information Station", picked up programming from
ABC Talkradio,
NBC Talknet and the
Mutual Broadcasting System's
Larry King Show.
WTAR On July 15, 1997, WNIS and its
sister station on AM 790, WTAR, exchanged call letters, with
AM 790 becoming WNIS, while WTAR was moved to 850 kHz. 850 has the stronger signal, broadcasting at 50,000 watts by day, the highest power authorized for AM stations by the
Federal Communications Commission. At night it runs 25,000 watts, while 790 kHz transmits 5,000 watts day and night. Both stations had talk formats. With the switch, 850 AM inherited the legacy of Virginia's oldest radio station; WTAR had signed on in 1923. WTAR flipped from talk radio to an
all-sports format on February 5, 2006. On September 15, 2017, WTAR began simulcasting on
WUSH-HD2 and
FM translator station W243DJ at 96.5 MHz in Norfolk. The station also signed on another low-powered FM translator, W243EK in Hampton (on the same frequency of W243DJ), to improve its nighttime signal on the
Lower Peninsula and the
Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel's AM/FM rebroadcast system. On September 1, 2022, WTAR dropped its sports format and began
stunting with a loop of
Justin Timberlake's "
SexyBack" (as well as construction sound effects). (However, on September 3, WTAR broke from the stunt to air a University of Virginia football game against Richmond; the 96.5 translators remained on the stunt during that time). On September 6, WTAR and its translators flipped to
hot adult contemporary, branded as "96.5 Lucy FM", modeled after its
sister station in Austin, Texas. The 850 AM signal continues to break away from "Lucy FM" programming for the University of Virginia broadcasts. Until September 1, 2022, the station aired a sports radio format. It carried
Fox Sports Radio most of the day, with a local afternoon
drive time show. The
syndicated Dan Patrick Show was heard in late mornings. WTAR was part of the
Washington Commanders Radio Network. On March 20, 2023, WTAR flipped to
adult album alternative (AAA), calling itself "96.5 The Coast". The format change returned the "Coast" branding to the market for the first time since
WKOC's flip in 2003. On September 3, 2024, the station's owner, Sinclair Communications, announced that it would flip WTAR and its two translators to
conservative talk radio "Talkradio 96.5/850" on Monday, September 16. It added a local talk and interview morning show, along with syndicated conservative hosts the rest of the day. ==Programming==