WVAL AM 800

A commercial AM radio station broadcasting at 800 kHz and serving the St. Cloud, Minnesota area. The station operates a classic country music format and airs CBS News Radio on the hour, supplemented by detailed local weather forecasts. It is owned by Tri-County Broadcasting and forms part of a rare engineering arrangement known as a "Quadplex," sharing AM towers with three sister stations: WMIN, WBHR, and WXYG, using a seven-tower array with complex filtering and reject circuitry. The station was founded by Herb Hoppe, a New Munich native and former dairy farmer who received an initial construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission on July 2, 1962. It originally signed on August 3, 1963, as a 250-watt daytimer licensed to Sauk Rapids. The call letters are derived from Hoppe's wife, Val. Hoppe's management style was hands-on, and the station became the dominant country music outlet in Central Minnesota during its first decade, promoting concerts by artists such as Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner. In 1986, the station migrated from 800 kHz to 660 kHz to take advantage of new clear channel rules permitting a power increase to 10,000 watts. It returned to 800 kHz on March 29, 1999, following relaxed FCC ownership rules that allowed Tri-County Broadcasting to hold multiple AM licenses in the same market. The original studios, known locally as "The Red House," were designed to be convertible into a residential home as a hedge against potential financial failure. Programming is supplemented by Minnesota's Linder Farm Network, a farm broadcast service targeting rural and agricultural audiences. On-air personalities have included morning host Cowboy Kurt and afternoon and evening talent with traditional country persona names.