WERV-FM
Encyclopedia
WERV-FM, also known as 95.9 The River, is a classic hits
radio station, playing familiar rock
and pop
songs that span from the early 1970s through the mid 1990s
. Its digital HD-2 channel "The Rapids!" plays hard rock
/heavy metal
from the '70s through the late 1990s. The Aurora
/Naperville, Illinois
station serves the suburban Chicago
market and is owned by NextMedia Group
, LLC.
Radio engineer Russ Salter, who put this station (then WKKD-FM); along with WKKD-AM on the air. WKKD-AM debuted on September 21, 1960 and WKKD-FM on February 12, 1961. Both stations broadcasted out of a very small building, on the east side, on Plain avenue. At the time, this was a remote part of the Aurora area. Studios, transmitters and the towers were all at this location.
For years the station served the Will, Kane, Kendall and DuPage County areas (hence the call letters W-K-K-D) with popular music along with local news and sports. For a decade the stations ran in unison…the FM extending the AM’s programming into the evening hours. By the early 1970s the stations had separated and the AM station changed its calls to WFVR (Fox Valley Radio) with an oldies
format. Veteran Chicago weathercaster Tom Skilling
began his career at WKKD, delivering weather forecasts while he attended High School in Aurora.
Over the next two decades WKKD-AM would jump around to various formats; always under the shadow of it’s more powerful and successful FM sister station. In 1990 the AM station changed its calls back to WKKD and at one time or another had a Spanish, all-news, oldies
and big band
format. WKKD-FM spent many years as a soft rock
station, going by the handle “K-Lite 96 FM.” By the early 1990s, it too switched to oldies
music, first as “Pure Gold 96,” then later changing their handle to “Kool 95.9.”
In 2000, the Salter family got out of broadcasting and sold WKKD-AM & FM (and several Rockford
stations) to Radioworks and then the Aurora
stations were spun off to NextMedia in 2001. On January 25, 2001 the new owners switched the FM to WERV “95.9 The River,” with the AM holding onto the WKKD calls as a local and satellite delivered news/talk outlet. In early 2002, NextMedia sold the AM station to Kovas Communications who, for years simulcast their ethnic WONX-AM/Evanston
signal on 1580 as an absentee owner, from the WERV Aurora facility. Kovas tried to have 1580 moved to Silvis, Illinois, in order to increase the power of 1590 WONX. The Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) still has this application pending. Frank Kovas died in early 2005, just as the station was embarking on a new format, the Radio Health Network.
WERV-FM serves the Aurora
/Naperville
area as well as much of DuPage, northern and eastern Cook and parts of Kane and Will counties. The River's air talent line up is Scott Mackay in Morning drive, Danielle Tufano in Middays, Mitch Michaels in Afternoon Drive and Leslie Harris each night until 12a. Mark Zander serves as Program Director.
In the spring of 2005, WERV-FM became the first suburban Chicago station to broadcast a digital HD Radio
signal. By 2006, the station debuted it HD-2 secondary signal. It's a hard rock
gold format reminiscent of 103.5 The Blaze, called “The Rapids!”
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
radio station, playing familiar rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
songs that span from the early 1970s through the mid 1990s
1990s in music
For music from a year in the 1990s, go to 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99This article includes trends in popular music in the 1990s....
. Its digital HD-2 channel "The Rapids!" plays hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
/heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
from the '70s through the late 1990s. The Aurora
Aurora, Illinois
Aurora is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the 112th largest city in the United States. A suburb of Chicago, located west of the Loop, its population in 2010 was 197,899. Originally founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded greatly over the past...
/Naperville, Illinois
Naperville, Illinois
Naperville is a city in DuPage and Will Counties in Illinois in the United States, voted the second best place to live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2006. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 141,853. It is the fifth largest city in the state, behind Chicago,...
station serves the suburban Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
market and is owned by NextMedia Group
NextMedia Group
NextMedia Group is an out-of-home media company headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado. NextMedia owns and operates 33 AM and FM stations , 5,700 outdoor advertising display across several regions and markets , as well as an interactive division ....
, LLC.
History
This station was the radio dream of WLSWLS (AM)
WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
Radio engineer Russ Salter, who put this station (then WKKD-FM); along with WKKD-AM on the air. WKKD-AM debuted on September 21, 1960 and WKKD-FM on February 12, 1961. Both stations broadcasted out of a very small building, on the east side, on Plain avenue. At the time, this was a remote part of the Aurora area. Studios, transmitters and the towers were all at this location.
For years the station served the Will, Kane, Kendall and DuPage County areas (hence the call letters W-K-K-D) with popular music along with local news and sports. For a decade the stations ran in unison…the FM extending the AM’s programming into the evening hours. By the early 1970s the stations had separated and the AM station changed its calls to WFVR (Fox Valley Radio) with an oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
format. Veteran Chicago weathercaster Tom Skilling
Tom Skilling
Thomas Ethelbert Skilling, III , known on-air as Tom Skilling, is a popular meteorologist in Chicago, Illinois. He is the chief meteorologist for the weekday midday, 5 and 9 p.m. newscasts at CW affiliate and national cable superstation WGN-TV .-Early beginnings:Skilling began his career in...
began his career at WKKD, delivering weather forecasts while he attended High School in Aurora.
Over the next two decades WKKD-AM would jump around to various formats; always under the shadow of it’s more powerful and successful FM sister station. In 1990 the AM station changed its calls back to WKKD and at one time or another had a Spanish, all-news, oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
and big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
format. WKKD-FM spent many years as a soft rock
Soft rock
Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...
station, going by the handle “K-Lite 96 FM.” By the early 1990s, it too switched to oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
music, first as “Pure Gold 96,” then later changing their handle to “Kool 95.9.”
In 2000, the Salter family got out of broadcasting and sold WKKD-AM & FM (and several Rockford
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...
stations) to Radioworks and then the Aurora
Aurora, Illinois
Aurora is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the 112th largest city in the United States. A suburb of Chicago, located west of the Loop, its population in 2010 was 197,899. Originally founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded greatly over the past...
stations were spun off to NextMedia in 2001. On January 25, 2001 the new owners switched the FM to WERV “95.9 The River,” with the AM holding onto the WKKD calls as a local and satellite delivered news/talk outlet. In early 2002, NextMedia sold the AM station to Kovas Communications who, for years simulcast their ethnic WONX-AM/Evanston
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
signal on 1580 as an absentee owner, from the WERV Aurora facility. Kovas tried to have 1580 moved to Silvis, Illinois, in order to increase the power of 1590 WONX. The Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) still has this application pending. Frank Kovas died in early 2005, just as the station was embarking on a new format, the Radio Health Network.
WERV-FM serves the Aurora
Aurora, Illinois
Aurora is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the 112th largest city in the United States. A suburb of Chicago, located west of the Loop, its population in 2010 was 197,899. Originally founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded greatly over the past...
/Naperville
Naperville, Illinois
Naperville is a city in DuPage and Will Counties in Illinois in the United States, voted the second best place to live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2006. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 141,853. It is the fifth largest city in the state, behind Chicago,...
area as well as much of DuPage, northern and eastern Cook and parts of Kane and Will counties. The River's air talent line up is Scott Mackay in Morning drive, Danielle Tufano in Middays, Mitch Michaels in Afternoon Drive and Leslie Harris each night until 12a. Mark Zander serves as Program Director.
In the spring of 2005, WERV-FM became the first suburban Chicago station to broadcast a digital HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
signal. By 2006, the station debuted it HD-2 secondary signal. It's a hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
gold format reminiscent of 103.5 The Blaze, called “The Rapids!”