 | |
| Broadcast area | Huntsville metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 770kHz |
| Branding | NewsTalk 770 AM/92.5 FM WVNN |
| Programming | |
| Format | News/talk |
| Network | ABC News Radio |
| Affiliations | Westwood One Premiere Networks |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WHRP,WUMP,WVNN-FM,WWFF-FM,WZYP | |
| History | |
First air date | 1948 (as WJMW at 1010) |
Former call signs | WJMW (1948–1988) |
Former frequencies | 1010 kHz (1948–1953) 730 kHz (1953–1984) |
Call sign meaning | W TheValley'sNewsNetwork |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 3084 |
| Class | D |
| Power | 7,000wattsdays only |
Transmitter coordinates | 34°45′2″N86°47′58″W / 34.75056°N 86.79944°W /34.75056; -86.79944 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | wvnn.com |
WVNN (770kHz) is acommercialAMradio stationlicensed toAthens, Alabama, serving parts ofNorth Alabama includingHuntsville andDecatur. Owned byCumulus Media, it airs anews/talkformat. Programming on WVNN issimulcast onWVNN-FM 92.5MHz, which is licensed toTrinity, Alabama. Collectively, the stations are branded as "NewsTalk 770 AM/92.5 FM WVNN." Thestudios and offices are on U.S. Route 72 East in Athens.
WVNN is adaytimer station, broadcasting with 7,000wattsnon-directional, with itstransmitter located off Lee Highway (U.S. Route 72) in Huntsville.[2] BecauseAM 770 is aclear channel frequency reserved for 50,000-wattClass AWABC inNew York City, WVNN must go off the air at night to avoid interference. It abandoned its limited night signal in 2020 and operates days only withpre-sunrise and post-sunset authorization (PSSA).
WVNN-AM-FM feature Alabama-based shows on weekdays, including The Dale Jackson Show.Nationally syndicatedconservative talk shows are heard the rest of the day withDan Bongino in middays, and at nightMark Levin,Ben Shapiro,Chris Plante andRed Eye Radio.
Weekends feature shows on money, health, religion and the syndicatedKim Komando show on technology, as well as repeats of weekday shows. Most hours begin with an update fromABC News Radio.
WVNN-AM-FM formerly carriedUniversity of Alabama Crimson Tide football andTennessee Titansfootball during the fall, andAlabama Vipersarena football games in the spring, as part of a simulcast withsister station,WUMP "SportsRadio 730/103.9, The UMP". Aside from occasionalhigh school football games, or some spillover games from WUMP, WVNN-AM-FM currently offer no sports programming.
WVNN is descended from two radio stations; one isWJMW, adaytimer that firstsigned on in 1948.[3] WJMW's frequency was 1010 kHz. It transmitted with 250 watts and was required to go off the air at sunset. It was owned by the Athens Broadcasting Company, founded by Homer Felix "Pap" Dunnavant.[4]
The other station was also a daytimer;WKSR went on the air in 1947, on 730 AM inPulaski, Tennessee, a town about 30 miles north of Athens.[5] It was owned by the Pulaski Broadcasting Company and was aMutual Broadcasting Systemnetwork affiliate.
In 1953, the Athens Broadcasting Company acquired the license for WJMW and got permission from theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) to move it to Athens, putting WJMW on the lower frequency (this would give the station greater range, since lower frequencies travel farther), & the power was increased to 500 watts. It remained a daytimer, because730 kHz is a Mexican clear channel frequency. At the same time, WKSR moved to 1420 kHz, also in Pulaski, Tennessee.
The station made another move on the dial in the early 1980s, from 730 to 770 kHz. While WJMW had to now protect WABC in New York, it was more than 800 miles away. That was far enough for the FCC to allow the station to operate around the clock, with reduced power at night. The station switched itscall sign toWVNN on September 26, 1988.[6] It changed to a news/talk format, using news fromABC News Radio and talk shows from theABC TalkRadio Network.
WJMW was owned and operated by the Dunnavant family of Athens for 55 years prior to being sold toCumulus Media as part of a four-station deal in 2003. The sale ended a 55-year presence in the market for Athens Broadcasting, founded in 1948 by Pap Dunnavant.
Cumulus also acquired several other Huntsville-area stations,WHRP,WUMP,WVNN-FM,WWFF-FM andWZYP.
Notable former WVNN air personalities include George Rose who, along with his alter-ego "Cousin Josh" character, hostedThe Cousin Josh Jamboree on several North Alabama radio stations in a career that began in 1948 at then-WJMW and ended atWKAC with his death in 2006.[7]
Several well-knowntalk radio hosts spent early portions of their careers at WVNN, includingSean Hannity,[8] Peter Thiele,Kevin Miller,[9] Keith Larson, Darla Jaye,[10] andMike Church. Will Anderson hosted a show on WVNN until August 2007, then returned a few years later. Tim Knox hosted a show on WVNN until December 2007.[11]
Dunnavant, Homer Felix "Pap," 98, whose media career began with a part-time job in radio and ended with a chain of stations; in Athens, Ala. He had been a farmer and barber in north Alabama when he decided to buy some time on radio in the 1930s and do his own show. In 1948, the FCC gave him permission to open his first radio station in Athens. From that first station, Athens Broadcasting grew, with radio stations WZYP, WVNN, WPZM and WUMP in Athens
Mr. Hannity, a Long Island boy, is an aficionado of all things Southern: he got his first break on WVNN radio in Huntsville, Ala., and married an Alabama girl, Jill.
A frequent contributor to MSNBC, the Today Show, Fox and CNN, Miller has hosted mornings on WWTN in Nashville, as well as shows on WPTF/Raleigh, WERC/Birmingham, Ala., WVNN/Huntsville, Ala., and WMVU/Nashua, N.H.
At KMBZ/Kansas City [...] Darla Jaye joins from WVNN/Huntsville for middays