WHRV to WAAM

The WHRV we know today resides in the Norfolk Metro. But those calls didn't originate in that market. They only showed up in 1990. In Hampton Roads, VA 89.6 MHz debuted with the call sign WTGM.It was changed to WHRO in 1978 following the purchase of the station by the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association. Today it's part of a network, with 3 HD channels and seven other stations: WHRE, WHRX, WHRF, WHRG, WHRO, WHRJ and WHRL. They have become heritage calls in their second home. But the call sign started out in Michigan.

The original 1600 WHRV-AM signed on in Ann Arbor, MI (a suburb of Detroit)  in 1948 owned by the Huron Valley Broadcasters.  It was a full-service radio station, and ABC affiliate, running blocks of varied programming throughout the day.  In October of that year Billboard claimed that WHRV-AM was the first full time AM station in the county, which is probably true. It's first manager was James Hopkins, formerly affiliated with WJBK-AM, and an ill-fated Detroit Muzak franchise. They don't mention that on 1600 AM  few listeners had radios that could even tune in the station!  The AM band was only expanded in 1946.

It's best known DJ today would probably be Ollie McLaughlin [pictured above], a black rhythm & blues DJ in the early 1950s. He became a Detroit record producer, and you can find his name on a number of Chess and Atlantic 45s from that era. Before that he was cutting his own records under the Karen, Carla and Moira record labels right out of his basement. A mid-1950s Chet Baker LP described Ollie as the only Jazz DJ in the area. McLaughlin is best known for discovering Del Shannon, Barbara Lewis and later producing for Deon Jackson.Jackson's first local single was cut in 1962. WHRV-AM was sold in 1963 and changed its calls to WAAM-AM.

It's also interesting to note that from 1957 to 1965 the station engineer was Red Ellis, an accomplished Bluegrass musician, a singer who played both guitar, mandolin. After graduating from the Draughon School of Radio and Television in Little Rock in 1955 he moved to Ypsilanti to wok for Ford. Two years later he took the job at WHRV, becoming a DJ only a little later. Through his program he met fiddler Jimmy Williams, and started performing and recording together and with the Huron Valley Boys... often recording at the station. They cut 32 sides of fine bluegrass and gospel on Starday records. In 1961 Jimmy left to go into evangelism, Red stuck with the Huron Valley Boys, but moved to 1480 WYSI-AM in Ypsilanti in 1965. He later worked at 102.9 WOIA-FM / 1290 WOIB AM, now respectively WWWW-FM and WLBY-AM. More here.

Another notable was the lesser-known overnight disc jockey, Sleepyhead Ted —aka Ted Johnson. His overnight program had some real fans. He moved to WXYZ-AM in Detroit in 1951 and then to 910 WFDF-AM in Flint, and later to 600 WTAC-AM.  Later in his career he ran WDLZ and became and VP/GM at WTRX. Ted died in 2011. More here.

Before all this the WHRV calls lived, albeit informally, at Harvard on their carrier current radio station from about 1942 to 1949. The calls stood for Harvard Radio Voice. They began using the WHRB calls in 1951 when they came under the ownership of the Harvard Radio Broadcasting Co. The very real WHRB signed on in 1957. More here and here.  But from 1963 to 1990 there was no WHRV anywhere.

IBS vs The Ivy Network

There are a number of annual radio conferences running today. NAB of course is the large commercial conference and CMJ is usually considered the bigger of the college focal conferences: IBS, CBI etc. IBS of course is the oldest but it's ivy league roots have really kept it inside it's own social enclave and there is a strange long story to explain why.

The history of student broadcasting in Ivy League schools starts early. WBRU and WHCN founded IBS in February 1940. George Abraham a student at Brown interconnected half a dozen radios in his building so they could all hear his classical recordings. It went so well he expanded service to a dorm across the street, then the rest of the campus. Eventually 100 radios were tied to his "Brown Network" with 16,000 feet of cable. Programming began in earnest. The Brown University station WBRU was the first on air in 1940.

Harvard followed them in 1943 with WHCN graduating from their own carrier current system. You may nto recognize those calls because WHCN only used those calls until 1951 when they broke off from the campus newspaper and became WHRV. These two stations founded the first college network, IBS the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System.

IBS was founded by the intrepid engineer being WBRU George Abraham, and his cohort David Borst. they were still undergraduates at the time. By 1947 there were five members in the IBS: WDBS at Dartmouth, WHRV at Harvard, WXPN at U. Pennsylvania, WPRU at Princeton, and WYBC at Yale. WPRU at the time was broadcasting just through the universities electrical system. In 1956 they applied for a FM license but had to change calls because a ship at sea was using the WPRU calls.

In 1943 WVBR Cornell, WDCR Dartmouth, WPRU Princeton, and WYBC Yale split off from IBS and formed their own network called the Ivy Network. WXPN Pennsylvania joined in 1948. It's offices remained based at Yale in New Haven, CT. More here. At a conference in 1951 they met and accept ed a contract to allow Ivy stations to broadcast the nationally-heard "Philip Morris Play House." NBC was to install dedicated telephone lines to enable syndication. In 1953 the NBC tie was expanded with a contract to carry more programs. The Ford motor company sponsored a classical music program. More here. WKCR at Columbia University joined sometime in the 1950s.

What's most important to remember here is that these were all AM stations and were permitted to run advertising. It's only when they moved to the FM band they were restricted to non-commercial licenses that forbid advertising. IBS and The Ivy Network shared member stations. Some texts even have WBRU carrying programs via the Ivy Network after 1952, effectively merging the two splinter groups. I assumed originally that this marked the end of the Ivy Network but it did not. In 1960 a small group of stations from the Rural Radio Network began calling themselves "The Ivy Network." This had to create brand confusion. So I assumed that had to be after the end of the Ivy Network. That was wrong too.

In February of 1961 an issue of Billboard refers to IBS and the Ivy Network as the two largest college radio networks. The article was written by Jim Cameron of WLVR, the college radio station of Lehigh University. This was not a misinformed outsider. Clearly both IBS and Ivy were still operating in the early 1970s in some capacity. And it seems to be true. In 1966 the eight existing Ivy Network stations invited 11 more: Boston College, Colgate U. Middlebury College, M.I.T., N.Y.U., Lehigh, St. Lawrence, Union, and American University. Again many of these were still carrier current stations. One piece I read indicated that a slew of Boston area stations joined Ivy at the end: WTBU, WZBC, WBRS, WHRB, WTBS, WZLY and WBRU. I have some trouble crediting this as the network ceased to exist shortly thereafter. In 1969 the Network had a reporter Linda Sutter give a report by phone live from Woodstock. That was taped and survived to appear at a recent auction. More here.

I cant seem to find a firm date where the Network ended. But I think i know what happened. The growth in FM undermined their ability to sell advertising. A WYBC history spells it out "During the late 1970s and 1980s, WYBC fell into financial trouble due to declining student interest." Yale went through a rough patch in which 94.3 was LMA'd to COX radio, and their AM stick sold off outright. They had a resurgence in 1998 with 1340 a new license but they were the lynchpin for The Network. One record I found has Stan Federman, WXPN manager, named president o f the Ivy Network and the Network HQ relocating to U. Penn. So WYBC implodes, Ivy relocated around WXPN which was already moving to FM themselves. It fell apart gradually losing importance and being more fully absorbed into IBS.

Driving from RDU to ATL

I've driven over 1000 miles down the east coast this week and seen many cities from the rooftops where I end up working. No fruit is in season now, and that leaves me investigating greasy spoons instead. (Magic mushroom pizza in Atlanta, and the pork Carnitas at Azteca in Charlotte, NC.) My girlfriend has good-restaurant homing powers, and if she did not travel with me, I would probably be less adventurous.


Many radio discoveries so far. I found that 89.5 WHRV has lost Rollie Bristol from its ranks since I last heard them. Rollie had a friendly and deep old-school radio voice. He had comparisons to Paul Harvey but he had none of the schmaltz. Rollie won Best DJ in the local papers of Norfolk several times. He had been the voice of NPR's All Things Considered, and host of Rollie Radio. When WHRV and WHRO split in 1990, Rollie Went with WHRV to lead it as a pioneer of eclectic music for all of Norfolk. In his hands it became a respectable Triple A behemoth respected by all. His career stretched over 30 years including a stint as a jazz program on WGH-AM 1310 for years.

I heard Bob Rogers Blues Show Friday Night on WSHA which is truly a gem in their crown. "The Blues is the Blues." I wish I knew more about the show. But there website has no info.
In Gastonia I caught 660 WLFJ-AM around noon in Greenville, SC. There was a bonafide cooking show on that radio. They're supposed to be a christian talker, but there wasn't any of that while I was in town. There are cooking podcasts out there but I thought the cooking radio show was extinct. Nice to catch this on exhibit. Cooking Podcast here:
I Atlanta I found that the old war of indie music ideology has raged on. I am speaking of WRAS Vs. WREK. Ultimately the difference is that 91.1 WREK (like WFMU) is trying so hard to be eclectic that they are trying to make you change the channel. I deeply respect the idea that some outlet needs to do this. I just never like this when I hear it. 88.5 WRAS on the other hand is trying to treat college rock like a radio format. As much as any station does (Ex. KCMP) they do. Stations like WRAS sell records and break new bands. Purists try to argue to me that this isn't what college radio is for. Bah! Hell yes it is. Mister DJ play the records you love, try to sell those records, and break those bands.