[6] It was owned by the Times World Corporation, publisher of The Roanoke Times-World, which in 1955 started Channel 7 WDBJ-TV.

In the early 1960s, WDBJ-FM was separately programmed with an automated beautiful music format, which lasted till the mid-1990s.

In the 1990s, many easy listening stations began decreasing the orchestrated instrumentals, and by 1992, WPVR had evolved into soft adult contemporary, branded as "Lite 95.

On March 13, 2002, AM 610 ended its run as a country station, becoming urban adult contemporary WVBE, "The Vibe.

The station's logo appeared during a segment in Borat where he mocked the US National Anthem in a county fair in Salem, VA.[12]