WAVA’s end as a CHR station is featured here in this celebratory tape sent in by Chris Taylor! The original post used a copy of this aircheck sent to us on cassette by the late Robyn Watts back in 2004. WAVA staffer J.R. Russ also sent in a copy at some point but it’s this master copy on CD that Chris Taylor sent in you hear in this post
Many of the voices heard over the many years that this station was a hit maker are included in this, now LEGENDARY recording of the night it all came to an end. Arlington got ‘SAVED’ this night, and its been preaching salvation ever since.
This features the last night show, aired 6-11pm but doesn’t include the actual format change itself. Essentially, at the end of this recording, the voice says, “Its come to this…..”. There’s a pause, and then WAVA played a new Top of the hour ID and went directly into Christian programming. I’m told that there was a few minutes where the live staff got to say goodbye after the end of the production piece before the TOH, but I can’t find audio of it anywhere.
View this from our official AIRCHEXX CLASSIC RADIO YouTube Channel
I’m so glad I stumbled upon this. I remember my brother telling me that the Post had an article about WAVA ending its run as a top 40 station, and I dismissed him, thinking it was just Casey Kasem’s show they were ending. Sure enough, I tuned in the enxt day to find that WAVA was no more. Thanks for letting me finally listen to the last day.
Incidentally, the final hour can be found here: //www.reelradio.com/tktk/index.html#wava92
WOW! I was in thrid grade when WAVA went off the air…..I was the little unpopular kid that no one liked and I remember coming home and turning on the radio and how good WAVA made me feel.
FEB 12, 1992 I came home from school, turned on the radio and when i relized that WAVA was going off the air I couln’t bleive it…….thanks for posting this…it has really brought back memories!
the last song ever played on WAVA was “Goodbye” by Night Ranger. early ’92 was a time that country music and hip-hop were taking over the pop genre. it would be an incredible 4 and a half years before DC would see another CHR pop station, Z-104.
I was there that night. We did a farewell party at a nearby hotel when we returned to the station just before midnight the new owners were waiting. Such a shame.
I still have on an old cassette the last hour, along with snippets of Sandy Weaver’s midday show and Greg Thunder rolling in the evening hours. The next day D.C. woke up to snow, and music designed for “sharing the world throughout your day.” It came at a horrible time for Top 40 radio, and a horrible time for Jeff Smulyan’s Emmis Communications. Many still lament the demise of WAVA but there were myriad reasons for Emmis’ decision. The music had declined significantly; the demo shift between Don & Mike’s morning show and the pop music after 10am was one of the most severe in the industry; revenue was plummeting for radio overall after the Persian Gulf War; Emmis was saddled with debt from an ill-fated investment in the Seattle Mariners. WAVA was a difficult sale, but ultimately a correct move.