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History of WDVH-FM
Thanks to Marc
Tyll for this history of WDVH.
WDVH-FM began broadcasting in February 1988 as WCWB, which stood
for We’re Country and Western Bluegrass,
after Florida Radio Partners, Inc. applied for and received a
construction permit 101.7 mHz, a class “A” FM, bringing local radio service
to Levy and Gilchrist counties. The area had only one local radio station before
WCWB which was WLQH-AM 940,
Chiefland. The frequency – 101.7mHz – was originally assigned to Chiefland
although the frequency was licensed to
Trenton
and never went on the air in Chiefland. The original format on WCWB was
a mainly "Modern Country" although the format included one adult
contemporary song each hour. On Saturdays WCWB played solid gold oldies
from the 50s, 60s and 70s and could be heard from 6PM to Midnight. Former WDVH-AM
980 Gainesville on-air personality Pat
Patterson, who had a history with such legendary stations as WAPE-AM
690 Jacksonville and WSM-AM 650 Nashville, was the general
manager who also did an occasional on-air shift during the week. Patterson
broadcast numerous local live remote broadcasts from area businesses and
civic groups, reinforcing WCWB as a true local radio station.
After five years, Patterson left WCWB to become General Sales Manager
with WXCV-FM 95.3 Crystal River. Soon
after, the call letters were changed to WDJY and the programming was
shifted to total country, eliminating the Saturday evening solid gold oldies
show, With the change, WDJY became known as “Your Hometown
Station”. Eventually Florida Radio Partners sold the station to Pinnacle
FM Broadcasting, Inc. Pinnacle also acquired WLUS-AM
980 Gainesville which was broadcasting an Adult Standards format as "US
98".
Pinnacle
had planned to move the WDJY tower to Newberry with a studio move to
Gainesville
creating an AM-FM combination along with WLUS-AM. However it was
later determined the tower move was impossible since it would short-space
a few other FM stations. The plan was abandoned and soon WDJY went off
the air. Pinnacle sold WDJY and WLUS to Pamal Broadcasting
in 2000. Both stations were silent at the time of the sale, but returned to the
air with a classic country format within a few weeks of the Pamal acquisition,
remaining “Your Hometown Station”. Within a few years it was
decided to reintroduce WLUS-AM as its original WDVH with a format
changed to classic country. With this move, WDJY became WDVH-FM,
re-broadcasting WDVH-AM.
Gainesville
radio legend Jim Brand, who had
been the program director for the original WDVH and WLUS became
the program director and morning show host for both stations. Today WDVH-FM
continues to broadcast the classic country favorites to Chiefland,
Trenton
, Newberry,
Cross
City
and the surrounding area with its 3,000 watt signal.
* 
Pamal Sells Gainesville/Ocala
Cluster 4-19-11
Pamal Broadcasting Ltd. of Latham, NY
has agreed to sell its seven radio stations in the Gainesville-Ocala market. The
deal is between Pamal subsidiary 6 Johnson Road Licenses, Inc. and
MARC Radio Group of Winter Park, Florida. MARC includes
broadcasters Mike Schweitzer, Bob Longwell, and Tom Hauff.
Shawn Portmann will serve as President of the Gainesville-Ocala
Market Cluster. MARC does not own any other stations. The
deal includes; WTMG-FM 101.3, Williston,
WHHZ-FM 100.5, Newberry, WKZY-FM
106.9, Cross City, WDVH-FM 101.7,
Trenton, WRZN-AM 720 licensed to Hernando, WDVH-AM
980 and WTMN-AM 1430, both
licensed to Gainesville. The final sale price was $2,550,000.
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WDVH-FM
101.7