The River (1984 film)

The River is a 1984 film, directed by Mark Rydell, which tells the story of a struggling farm family in the Tennessee valley trying to keep its farm from going in the face of bank foreclosures, floods, and other hard times. The father faces the dilemma of having to work as a strikebreaker in a steel mill to keep his family farm from foreclosure. The film was based on the true story of farmers who unknowingly took the jobs as strikebreakers at a steel mill after their crops had been destroyed by rain. It stars Mel Gibson, Sissy Spacek, Scott Glenn and Billy Green Bush.

The film was written by Robert Dillon and Julian Barry. It was directed by Mark Rydell.

Cast

Production

Director Mark Rydell viewed the characters in this drama as iconically American, and he was eager to cast Sissy Spacek as the farm wife because of her performance in Coal Miner's Daughter and her home on a farm in near Charlottesville, Virginia. Rydell said, "She is the consummate American rural young woman, with strength and fiber and a luminous quality." Mel Gibson begged Rydell to let him play the Tennessee farmer who reminded him of his father, but the director was reluctant because of Gibson’s Australian accent. Before Gibson left for England to film The Bounty, he begged Rydell not to cast the part yet. Rydell recalled, "He came back to my house in Los Angeles and started reading the script, talking, reading the newspaper, in this perfect Tennessee accent. I was really impressed, even when he stood next to Sissy, who's like a tuning fork when it comes to accents, he had damn well done it."

W251AO

W251AO, WOXL-HD2, 98.1 the River is a Triple-A low-power radio station in Asheville, North Carolina. It is operated by Asheville Radio Group, owner of WOXL-FM, WISE and WTMT. In addition to the over-the-air signal, The River is also heard on WOXL's second HD Radio channel, where it began.

History

Originally, 98.1 was a translator for WISE. The River signed on October 1, 2008, with 10,000 songs in a row. Artists include Dave Matthews, Bob Marley, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Indigo Girls, R.E.M., U2, Norah Jones and Jack Johnson as well as less familiar performers such as Ray LaMontagne, Sara Bareilles, The John Butler Trio, My Morning Jacket, G. Love & Special Sauce and Ingrid Michaelson.

General manager Bob Bolak described the station as being designed for those who do not like radio. Listeners of The River, he said, want quality music, both old and new. Brad Savage of WCNR in Charlottesville, Virginia acted as consultant. The first songs played were "Take Me to the River" by the Talking Heads, "Radio Nowhere" by Bruce Springsteen and R.E.M.'s "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)."

105.7 The River

105.7 The River (ACMA callsign: 2BDR) is an Australian Adult contemporary-formatted FM radio station, broadcasting to Albury, New South Wales and the surrounding areas of Southwest New South Wales and North East Victoria. Owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo, The River also has translators in Falls Creek, Corryong and Omeo.

Frequencies

References

WHCN

WHCN ("The River 105.9") is an adult hits music formatted radio station based in Hartford, Connecticut. The city of license is Hartford. The iHeartMedia, Inc. outlet broadcasts at 105.9 MHz with an effective radiated power of 16,000 watts from West Peak State Park in Meriden, CT. Its format blends classic rock and new wave, with current and recurrent hit songs of today. It is similar to the "JACK-FM" formats that have been heard across the U.S. Studios are at 10 Columbus Boulevard, in Hartford, Connecticut. "The River" brand, shared with many adult contemporary stations nationwide, is a local reference to the Connecticut River.

WHCN has a long history, going back to when it was licensed as W1XSL in 1936. It subsequently became W1XPW, W65H, WDRC-FM and WFMQ before arriving at WHCN in 1958. The call letters stood for "Hartford Concert Network." WHCN remained a Classical music station from that point until shifting to underground rock in 1969. The station was a runaway success when it broadcast from the transmitter shack on Meriden Mountain. It was the only radio station in the state to play uninterrupted rock. All music no talk. Very hip DJs. The commercials were cool too. Everybody listened. Not enough can be said about that time period. The format was flipped to main stream album rock in late 1976. Known as "106-WHCN", it was very successful in the 1970s and the 1980s. It was home to the morning show Picozzi and The Horn, up until the mid-1990s. Picozzi would later move across town to WCCC-FM. WHCN flipped to Classic rock in the mid-1990s to compete for the older rock audience that grew up with WHCN, but changing owners would signal changes at WHCN as well. It would become "105-9 WHCN" and adapt a harder-edged classic rock sound billed as "Classic Rock that really rocks!". WHCN would be snapped up by Liberty Broadcasting and then SFX Broadcasting/Capstar, then AMFM and then Clear Channel Communications in 2000.