 | |
| Broadcast area | Southside Virginia Richmond, Virginia Petersburg, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 104.7MHz |
| Branding | Praise 104.7 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Urban gospel |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WCDX,WKJM,WKJS,WTPS,WXGI | |
| History | |
First air date | 1949; 76 years ago (1949) |
Former call signs | WSVS-FM (1949–1991) WKIK (1991–1995) WBZU (1995–1996) WVGO (1996–1998) WKJS (1998–2004) |
Call sign meaning | WPraiZeZ |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 321 |
| Class | C1 |
| Power | 100,000Watts |
| HAAT | 299 meters (981 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 37°10′15.0″N77°57′16.0″W / 37.170833°N 77.954444°W /37.170833; -77.954444 |
| Links | |
| Webcast | WPZZ Webstream |
| Website | WPZZ Online |
WPZZ (104.7FM) is anurban gospel-formattedbroadcastradio station licensed toCrewe, Virginia, serving theSouthside and theRichmond/Petersburg metro area. WPZZ is owned and operated byRadio One.[1] The station's studios and offices are located just north of Richmond proper on Emerywood Parkway[2] in unincorporatedHenrico County, and itstransmitter is located nearBlackstone, Virginia.[3]
104.7 started in 1948 asWSVS-FM, a complement to itsAM sister WSVS. It broadcast just west of Crewe with 14,000 watts of power. In the late 1970s, the station upgraded to a class C1 station with 100,000 watts of power, which gave it an adequate signal that could be received in most of the Central Virginia area.[4] In 1988, they moved to their current tower location to not only send a better signal into Richmond, but also to make it more desirable to sell. It was at that time WSVS-FM became "Power Country 104.7," with all programming separate from WSVS-AM.[5] In 1991, the station was sold to ABS Communications in Richmond and became "104.7 The Bear," with theWKIK call letters.[6] The FM studios were moved out of Crewe and co-located in with ABS's Richmond based headquarters. ABS owned the only other country stations in the Richmond market with "K-95" and "The Bear." "The Bear" was designed to be a classic country format, while "K-95" was to be the new country format.
At 5 p.m. on August 23, 1995, ABS flipped WKIK tomodern rock asWBZU, "104.7 The Buzz, Richmond's New Rock Alternative."[7] The success of this station caused Richmond'sAAA station WVGO to lose listeners. ABS later purchasedWVGO (and its sister stationWLEE-FM), changed WVGO's AAA format (and ended the local broadcast of "The Howard Stern Show") and moved "The Buzz" and the WBZU calls to 106.5, while 104.7 became asatellite-fedoldies station as "Oldies 104.7" (the WVGO calls were moved to 104.7) in August 1996.[8][9][10]
In February 1998, the station was sold to Fifteen Forty Broadcasting, then owners of adult urbanWSOJ (100.3 FM) and local gospel station WREJ-AM, who began a simulcast of WSOJ on both 100.3 and 104.7 beginning February 10, and rebranded as "104.7 Kiss FM", and adopted theWKJS calls three days later.[11] Radio One later purchased both 104.7 and 100.3 from Fifteen Forty in March 1999.[12] In November 2000, the 104.7/100.3 simulcast ended, and Radio One began simulcasting their then-country station,WJRV ("105.7 The River") on 100.3 with new callsWARV.[13] On November 18, 2004, as part of a complex series of moves, Radio One moved theurban gospel-formatted "Praise 99.3" to 104.7, while "Kiss FM" moved to99.3 and 105.7 (this causedurban oldies WJMO to sign off). TheWPZZ calls would be adopted on December 7 of that year.[14]