WVWI

WVWI
Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
Frequency	1000 AM (kHz)
Branding	Radio One AM 1000
Programming
Format	News/Talk
Affiliations	Fox News Radio, Fox Sports Radio, Atlanta Braves Radio Network
Ownership
Owner	Alma Francis Heyliger (Infinity Broadcasting, LLC)
History
First air date	October 6, 1962
Former call signs	WBNB (1962-1970) WVWI (1970-2017) WWKS (2017)
Call sign meaning	Welcomed Voice of the West Indies
Technical information
Facility ID	66976
Class	B
Power	5,000 watts (day) 1,000 watts (night)
Transmitter coordinates	18°20′11″N 64°56′41″W / 18.33639°N 64.94472°W / 18.33639; -64.94472
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	www.radio1000.net

WVWI (1000 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands. The station is licensed to Infinity Broadcasting, LLC which is wholly owned by Alma Francis-Heyliger. It airs a News/Talk format.^[1]

Programming

In addition to its regular programming, this station airs the "dLife Diabetes Minute" health advisory program^[2] and Major League Baseball games as an affiliate of the Atlanta Braves radio network.^[3]

Ownership

The station began operations in October 1962 as WBNB (the callsign stood for Bob aNd Bob, as in Bob Noble and Bob Moss, the station's co-founders) co-owned with the now-defunct WBNB-TV, the Virgin Islands' first television station.^[4] After founding owners Island Teleradio Service, Inc. sold the TV outlet in 1970, WBNB's call letters were changed to the present WVWI in order to comply with an FCC rule in place then that required TV and radio stations in the same market, but with different ownership to use different call signs.^[5]^[6] The station's co-founder, Robert Noble, acquired sole control of WVWI that same year, renaming his new company Thousand Islands Corporation. After its facilities were destroyed by Hurricane Marilyn in September 1995, Noble sold the station in 1996 to Randolph Knight, who proceeded to rebuild the station;.^[7] its former TV cousin, WBNB-TV was forced off the air when Hurricane Hugo destroyed its transmitter six years earlier in 1989, and unlike WVWI, WBNB-TV's owners, Benedek Broadcasting, did not have the financial means to rebuild the station, and stayed dark as a result.

Local businessman Gordon Ackley purchased WVWI and its FM sister station, WWKS, from Knight in 2006. The two men were partners in another radio station, WVJZ, and Ackley also bought out Knight's 50 percent interest in that outlet.^[8]^[9] On July 1, 2017, the station changed its callsign to WWKS but on July 6, the station reverted to its prior callsign WVWI.

Effective January 1, 2021, Ackley sold WVWI to Alma Francis Heyliger's Infinity Broadcasting, LLC for $160,000.

References

^ "Fall 2007 Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
^ "dLife Radio Affiliates". LifeMed Media. 2006-01-20.
^ "Affiliate Radio Stations". The Official Site of the Atlanta Braves.
^ "Radio stations: Virgin Islands-Charlotte Amalie" (PDF). Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, Inc.: B-208 1963. Retrieved 2013-03-20.
^ "For the Record: Existing FM stations-Call letter actions." Broadcasting, June 1, 1970, pg. 62.
^ "Cable group moves into broadcast." Broadcasting, May 11, 1970, pg. 43.
^ "Radio stations: Virgin Islands-Charlotte Amalie" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook. 1. New Providence, New Jersey: Reed Elsevier.: B-515 1997. Retrieved 2013-03-20.
^ BIA Financial Networks (2006-05-01). "Deals". Broadcasting & Cable.
^ Pennington, Shaun A. (2006-04-28). "Knight to Sell Radio One, KISS and JAMZ". St. Thomas Source. Retrieved December 25, 2007.