WLVA (580AM) is acommercialradio stationlicensed toLynchburg, Virginia. It airs atalk radioformat and is owned and operated by Brent Epperson.^[3] Thestudios and offices are on Timberlake Road in Lynchburg.

WLVA is powered at 250 watts by day, 14 watts a night, using anon-directional antenna. Thetransmitter is on Ragland Road in Lynchburg.^[4] WLVA is also heard on twoFM translator stations:W231CE at 94.1MHz and 100.5W263DD at 100.1 MHz in Lynchburg.^[5][6]

Most of WLVA's weekday schedule is fromnationally syndicated programs:Rick and Bubba,Glenn Beck,Todd Starnes,Dan Bongino,Charlie Kirk,Ben Shapiro,Sebastian Gorka andMark Levin. Weekends include shows on money, health and other topics, as well as repeats of weekday shows. Most hours begin with an update fromFox News Radio. WLVA also carriesBaltimore Oriolesbaseball games.

WLVA was Lynchburg's first radio station. Itsigned on at 7:00 PM on April 21, 1930, originally on 1370 kHz. By 1934, WLVA was broadcasting at a power of 100 watts.^[7] At a time when many local radio stations were owned by or affiliated with newspapers, WLVA was not. Consequently, the station frequently found itself in direct competition with Lynchburg's papers. In 1934, WLVA allied itself with theWashington Herald which was attempting to increase circulation in the Lynchburg area. TheHerald's Lynchburg correspondent, Nowlin Puckett, furnished local news on WLVA from August until December 1934.^[7]

In late 1934, WLVA experimented withrebroadcasting selected programs from stationWLWCincinnati. Most listeners in Lynchburg could not ordinarily receive WLW, more than 400 miles away. WLVA installed a special high-powered receiver on the outskirts of Lynchburg which it used to tune in WLW and re-broadcast the signal to Lynchburg listeners.^[8]

In December 1935, WLVA moved to a new building in Lynchburg and boasted a "selling staff" of 12, headed by Glenn E. Jackson. At that time, Jimmy Moore was director of programs; Al Heiser was chief engineer, and Jim Howe was head of continuity.^[9] In late 1939, under president Edward A. Allen, WLVA acquired station WBTM (Danville, Virginia). On January 1, 1940, the two joined together to form the fledgling Piedmont Broadcasting System. Each station took turns originating programs that were heard over both simultaneously.^[10] The network expanded in late 1940 to include station WSLS (Roanoke, Virginia).^[11] When Glenn Jackson, after 13 years at WLVA, killed himself at age 33 on April 9, 1942, the news was reported inVariety^[12]

Beginning in 1935 and continuing well into the 1950s, WLVA hosted an annual "Christmas Party" to raise money and clothing for needy children in the area. The all-day broadcast (usually the Sunday before Christmas) featured local performers who stopped by to entertain the listening audience. In between performances, announcers read the names of contributors. In 1942, WLVA's "Christmas Party" made national news when Byron Price, war censorship chief in Washington, D.C., forbade the station to read the names of donors on-air, fearing that doing so might "tipoff, accidentally...enemy agents."^[13]

On January 1, 1940, after Lynchburg Broadcasting Corporation gained managerial control ofWBTM in Danville, Virginia, that station and WLVA began exchanging programs for four hours daily via newly installed lines that connected the two.^[14] WLVA radio moved to 590 kHz in 1947.^[15]

A companion FM station, WLVA-FM on 97.5 MHz, was briefly on the air from February 1952. The license was returned on March 10, 1955, as Lynchburg Broadcasting concentrated on its newtelevision station and didn't see much of a future in FM radio. The 97.5 MHz allocation was occupied several years later by WCCV-FM (nowWWWV) inCharlottesville.^[16][17]

On February 8, 1953, WLVA-TV began broadcasting from a transmitter on Tobacco Row Mountain west ofSweet Briar. The station was picked up as far north asCharlottesville, where residents reported good reception. WLVA-TV was originally aCBS affiliate, but also carried programs fromABC,NBC, andDuMont as well.^[18]

In 1965, Lynchburg Broadcasting merged with theWashington Star Company, which also ownedWMAL-AM-FM-TV in Washington.^[19] The Washington Star was mainly interested in acquiring WLVA-TV and got the radio station as part of the package. The Washington Star Company chose to sell off its non-television assets, including WLVA radio, in April 1977.^[20] Channel 13 was now owned byAllbritton Communications, which changed itscall sign toWSET-TV.

During part of the 1990s, WLVA was joined with two other stations known as "The Lake", simulcasting on 106.9 FM and 880 AM fromSmith Mountain Lake. The format was "All the Great Songs," playingadult standards music. For several years during the 1990s, WLVA aired atalk radio format. Most of this programming was lost within a year afterWLNI signed on.

In 2005, Truth Broadcasting purchased WLVA from Kovas Communications. The station was off the air at that time. In 2008, Truth Broadcasting, whose president was Stuart Epperson, Jr., announced WLVA's sale to Chesapeake-Portsmouth Broadcasting Corp., whose president was Nancy Epperson.^[21] In 2011, another of Chesapeake-Portsmouth Broadcasting's stations,WLES of Bon Air/Richmond started broadcasting on 590 kHz, while the still-silent WLVA was given 580 kHz.

As of June 1, 2012, WLVA switched formats fromChristian radio tooldies/classic hits, as "QRockRadio". In November 2012, WLVA began simulcasting on translator W294BO on 106.7FM from nearbyConcord, Virginia.

May 31, 2013, was the final day that WLVA and W293BY transmitted QRockRadio. On June 1, 2013, W293BY started simulcasting gospel stationsWKBA/WKPA (AM 1550 from Vinton/AM 1390 from Lynchburg). For most of June, WLVA rebroadcast the output of co-owned talk radio station 1050WBRG. On September 1, WLVA began airing its own talk format.

On February 16, 2014, Chesapeake-Portsmouth Broadcasting sold WLVA to Brent Epperson, at a purchase price of $55,000.

In addition to the main station, WLVA is relayed by FM translators:

• Facility details for Facility ID 39579 (WLVA) in theFCC Licensing and Management System
• WLVA inNielsen Audio's AM station database

• Radio stations in Virginia
• Radio stations established in 1930
• 1930 establishments in Virginia
• Talk radio stations in the United States

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