On January 10, 1945, WHP, Inc. applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a construction permit for a new station on 43.5 MHz on the original 42-50 MHz FM broadcast band. After the FCC created the current FM band on June 27, 1945, the Commission granted the permit on November 21, 1945, followed by permission beginning on March 18, 1946 to operate the station on 97.3 MHz on the new FM band. WHP, Inc operated the station under special temporary authority for several years, during which time numerous changes were made to the station's broadcast facilities. In June 1946, the station first signed on with the WHP-FMcall sign. It was the second FM station on the air in the region. A TV station, WHP-TV 21, was added in 1953. WHP-FM originally simulcast the programming of WHP 580. Over time, it duplicated WHP about 50% of the broadcast day, with the remainder devoted to instrumentals and some classical music programming. WHP-FM was granted its first license by the FCC on July 22, 1955. In the 1960s, the station's format evolved to beautiful music, which would continue for nearly three decades. But by the late 1980s, the soft instrumental sound was aging and management decided to change formats. In February 1990, the station switched its call sign to WXBB. Its format flipped to Contemporary Hit Radio as "B97.3." The Top 40 format was short-lived and the station returned to easy listening as WHP-FM in December 1990. In March 1992, WHP-AM-FM were sold to Pennsylvania Broadcasting Associates, a division of Dame Media, no longer co-owned with Channel 21. Studios were moved out of the WHP-TV building to a new location at 600 Corporate Circle, Harrisburg. The station went through numerous changes following the sale. The call sign was changed to WRVV in March 1992. The station's branding was switched to "The River 97.3" while the station's slogan was changed to "Rock and Roll without the Hard Edge." The station changed format to Rock AC, a rock music format playing releases from the previous 15 years intended for a general rock listener not interested in current releases. The station's new Operations Manager at the time, Chris Tyler, created the format. In August 1998, the Dame Media stations including WRVV were sold to Clear Channel Communications, the forerunner to iHeartMedia, Inc. The format changed to classic rock after the sale. In the mid-2000s, the station changed its slogan to "Real. Rock. Variety." In 2004, WRVV and Cumulus Media's WNNK-FM were the first stations in Harrisburg to begin using HD Radio. Since the mid-1990s, WRVV and WNNK frequently trade the number one spot in Nielsen Audio's Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle radio market.
