wrvq summer of 73'

This had to be one of the best top 40 stations I ever heard way back when. I was stationed at Camp Pickett way out west of Richmond near Blackstone Virginia. Still reeling from being in Nam, I was stationed at Pickett the summer of 1973 just waiting until my enlistment was up. Living in Philadelphia we never had a top 40 station in FM stereo. I remember the summer of 1973 the liners were this is WRVQ summer rerun time with Bill Garcia, these guys were fun to listen to. I remember calling Bill and asking him about the station and where I was and how far I was from Richmond he told me they were broadcasting with 275,000 watts which floored me never knew a station could use that much power. If it were not for them I dont think I would of made it after being in the war it sounds funny but just laying in my bunk listening to that station made me feel good and gave me hope stupid as it sounds. My question now is are they still using all that power, are they still a tight top 40 station, how do they sound, is Bill Garcia still around...thanks for reading.

I guess they had a power cut since 1973. According to the FCC data base they are only 200,000 watts:

http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=11963

Kind of interesting having a 200 KW station that close to class a B (50 KW at 500 feet) area. Here is the best list I have ever seen:

http://www.w9wi.com/articles/grand_fm.htm

I never realized there were that many "overpowered" FM stations.

On a personal note:

Thank you for you service.

First off.. thank you for your kind words on a very unpopular war, you don't know how much its appreciated. I also remember a rock station at the same time WRXL it also was using over 100kw of power maybe around 150kw, it seems the Richmond FM's used enormous amounts of power on very small towers. I never heard of an FM US station using more than 100kw from the birth of FM until present.

WBCT in Grand Rapids Mich. runs 320kw @ 781 Feet. Talk about building penetration.

Also at one time WMIT Black Mtn. , NC was running 100kw @ 3100 Ft. but when they made upgrades later on they were dropped to 36kw at 3100 Ft. When it first went on the air I was told that they could be picked up from the east coast to Memphis, Tn.