WAVA Radio history

On August 1, 1948, the station first signed on as WARL-FM. It was originally located at 105.5 MHz on the FM dial and was powered at only 1,000 watts, a fraction of its current output.

In the 1950, WARL-FM switched to its current frequency at 105.1 MHz.

In 1960, WARL-AM-FM were acquired by the United States Transdynamics Corporation.

In 1977, the two stations were sold; AM 780 went to the American Bible Society, airing a Christian radio format as WABS, while FM 105.1 kept the WAVA call letters and was sold to the WAVA Limited Partnership, airing a soft rock format.

After three years of low ratings, in 1980, WAVA-FM switched its format to AOR, branded as Rockradio 105 WAVA. However, the new format also failed to gain many listeners.

Doubleday Broadcasting bought the station in 1982 and planned a format flip.

On October 28, 1983, WAVA-FM switched to a CHR/Top 40 format, the first FM station to play all the hits in the D.C. market.

In 1986, WAVA was acquired by Emmis Broadcasting.

On February 12, 1992, at midnight, after playing a montage of station memories, WAVA went off the air, with "Goodbye" by Night Ranger as the final song.

The Washington D.C. radio market was left with no Top 40 station until 1996, when Z104 was launched.