[2] The station's service contour covers a large portion of Eastern North Carolina, including the cities of Raleigh, Durham, Rocky Mount, Greenville, and Roanoke Rapids.

The stations hired legendary agricultural broadcaster Ray Wilkinson in 1948, and along with WRAL-FM Raleigh and WGBR Goldsboro, started the Tobacco Network.

With the relaxation of dual ownership rules, WTRG was sold in 1994 to Hicks Muse of Dallas, along with Carl Venters' WRDU, a move-in from nearby Wilson.

On November 8, 2004, WTRG axed its longtime oldies format and began stunting with simulcasts of Clear Channel sister stations WRSN (now WNCB), WDCG, WDUR and WRDU (now WTKK).

[citation needed] However, "The Bull" also turned out to be a stunt, as three days later, on November 15, at 5 p.m., the station became adult album alternative-formatted "100.7 The River", with the new call sign WRVA-FM following shortly thereafter.

In anticipation of sister station and heritage rocker WRDU's switch to a country format, which took place on October 6 of that year, "The River" shifted to classic hits.

In 2010, WRVA-FM changed its city of license from Rocky Mount to Wake Forest in part of a multi-station agreement that allowed Capitol Broadcasting sports outlet WCMC-FM 99.9 to increase its coverage.

On November 11, 2011, at 6:00 p.m., after playing The Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" and going into Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock", WRVA-FM made the switch to all-Christmas music.

Another format change took effect on June 8, 2012, with the station this time going in a more general classic rock direction, with artists such as Guns N' Roses, Van Halen, Pink Floyd, and ZZ Top.