WKVP
WKVP is a non-commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Camden, New Jersey in the Philadelphia media market. The station is owned and operated by Educational Media Foundation and is an affiliate of K-LOVE, EMF's contemporary Christian music network. Its broadcast tower is located southeast of Camden at.
Station history
MOR music to Family Radio
The station signed on the air on December 31, 1959 as WKDN-FM. In 1966, the station was airing a MOR music format and was co-owned with WKDN, which changed calls to WTMR after the two stations were sold to separate owners in 1968.Family Stations, Inc., the holding company for stations run by Harold Camping's Family Radio religious ministry, acquired WKDN-FM for $500,000 on July 23, 1968. Under Family Stations' ownership, programming on WKDN consisted mainly of Christian radio and teachings from Family Radio, along with some public affairs programming on weekends.
On December 6, 2011, Merlin Media, LLC announced it would acquire WKDN from Family Radio, a sale that was completed on March 6, 2012. After the sale, Family Radio continued to program WKDN through a local marketing agreement while Merlin constructed new facilities for the station.
Talk radio as "IQ 106.9"
Family Radio programming ceased on WKDN at precisely Midnight on the morning of April 16, 2012; after about a half-hour of dead air, a continuous playing loop of "It's the End of the World as We Know It " by R.E.M. began, likely a play on Camping's infamous rapture predictions. After 12 Noon on April 16, the station changed its stunt to round-the-clock airings of The Sean Hannity Show, complete with the branding of "Hannity @ 106.9." With this "all-Hannity" change, the station also adopted a new call sign, WWIQ.Early speculation after Merlin's purchase had WWIQ being converted to an all-news format, replicating Merlin-owned stations WEMP in New York City and WWWN/WIQI in Chicago. Merlin, however, would go instead with a combination of news and talk radio for the station, an approach confirmed on May 7, 2012. The station took the branding of "IQ 106.9", and intended to go after CBS Radio's mainstay stations in Philadelphia, KYW and WPHT, with a combination of news, information, and conservative-leaning talk that at times would have an irreverent, us-against-them tone. "IQ's" approach was confirmed by both a welcome statement on its website and by a YouTube video posted by the man who would be one of "IQ's" original local hosts, former Philadelphia TV anchor Larry Mendte; in the video, Mendte took aim at other Philly media outlets and called WWIQ "a fresh new voice in the city of Philadelphia, an important alternative."
Though "IQ 106.9" did include local weekday programming, it relied heavily on nationally syndicated content, including three shows distributed by Premiere Networks: Sean Hannity Show, Glenn Beck Program, and The Rush Limbaugh Show; Limbaugh joined "IQ 106.9" on June 25, 2012 after previously being heard on WPHT. "IQ" would later add The Mark Levin Show in July 2012, and by January 2013 would round out its syndicated schedule with the addition of Michael Savage's The Savage Nation, The John Batchelor Show, and Red Eye Radio, all 3 of which are syndicated by Cumulus Media Networks.
Local content on "IQ 106.9" included "Philly's Morning News," a combination news/talk show initially co-hosted by Larry Mendte and Al Gardner; a radio veteran and Philadelphia native, Gardner was hired by Merlin Media in December 2011 to program "IQ," arriving from a morning host position at WBT/Charlotte. Mendte would be dropped from WWIQ on December 31, 2012, with the host claiming in retrospect that his tenure at "IQ" was "a big experiment" New York City-based radio commentator Lionel would fill Mendte's seat on "Philly's Morning News" alongside Al Gardner until Gardner was released from the station in March 2013, after which Michelle Murillo would join Lionel. "Philly's Morning News" would be dropped altogether in mid-July 2013 in favor of the Cumulus-distributed Imus in the Morning with Don Imus, making "IQ's" weekday schedule all-national in nature.
Sale to EMF and change to K-LOVE
On August 7, 2013, Merlin Media announced that it had reached a deal to sell WWIQ to Educational Media Foundation. The sale, which would be consummated on November 19, 2013 at a reported price of $20.25 million, would mean a return to religious-themed programming on the 106.9 signal, as EMF intended to move its K-LOVE contemporary Christian music network to the signal. K-LOVE had been heard in Philadelphia on WKVP in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, whose 1,900-watt signal provides only a rimshot signal to the city. The sale of WWIQ would leave Merlin with operations in only one radio market, Chicago, where it owns alternative rock station WKQX and classic rock station WLUP-FM and also operates alternative rock outlet WKQX through a local marketing agreement; Merlin would exit the Chicago market a few months later.Merlin would continue to program "IQ" as a talk station until November 3, 2013. During "IQ's" last week, part of its daily schedule was turned over to Glenn Beck's online network TheBlaze, in part to promote that network's Philadelphia-focused content as well as to fill air time caused by the early departures of The Rush Limbaugh Show and Sean Hannity Show, who moved from WWIQ back to WPHT on October 28. "IQ" and its talk format ended just before midnight on November 3, 2013, after which time the station relaunched as a K-LOVE affiliate. EMF would move the WKVP call sign to 106.9 on November 5; the call sign's former home, at 89.5 FM in Cherry Hill, is now WYPA, an Air 1 affiliate.
Signal and facilities
From the first sign-on until April 16, 2012, WKDN transmitted from a broadcast tower located in Camden, New Jersey, approximately 12 miles southeast of most other Philadelphia FM signals; as a result, the station enjoyed a better than average signal in southern New Jersey, especially in the Jersey Shore counties of Atlantic, Monmouth, Ocean, and Cape May. Under Family Radio, WKDN also operated three FM translator stations: W207AB in Atlantic City, New Jersey; W207AE in Reading, Pennsylvania; and W249AA in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. These translators were not part of the station's sale to Merlin. W207AB and W207AE continue to broadcast Family Radio programming through a satellite feed of its Sacramento station, KEBR. WKDN's studios under Family Radio ownership were located at 2906 Mt. Ephraim Avenue in Haddon Township, New Jersey.At the "IQ 106.9" debut on April 16, 2012, the station transmitted from a broadcast tower located on the spire of One Liberty Place in Center City with an effective radiated power of 9,000 watts at a height above average terrain of 244 meters. This site is licensed as an auxiliary transmitting facility, but it was expected to eventually be licensed as the station's primary transmitting facility, subject to whether EMF carries through on Merlin's previous applications.