WAEZ (94.9 FM) is a

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

serving the Tri-Cities TN-VA Metropolitan Statistical Area with an ERP of 100,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s. It is licensed to

Greeneville, Tennessee Greeneville is an incorporated town in and the county seat of Greene County, Tennessee, United States. The population as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census was 15,479. The town was named in honor of American Revolutionary War, Revol ...

. The station started out as a Top 40 station until 2004, when the station went with a

Hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, ...

format, but due to lower ratings, the station reverted to the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

format in early 2006. WAEZ is owned by Bristol Broadcasting Company, along with "twin stations"

WVSR-FM WVSR-FM (102.7 MHz) is a contemporary hit radio station serving the Charleston, West Virginia, Metropolitan Statistical Area with an ERP of 50,000 watts. The station started out as a Top 40 station until 2004, when the station went with a Hot ...

(Electric 102.7) in

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in West Virginia, most populous city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Kanawha County, West Virginia, Kanawha County and ...

, and

WDDJ-FM WDDJ (96.9 FM) is a radio station licensed to serve Paducah, Kentucky, United States. The station is owned by Bristol Broadcasting Company along with "twin stations" "Electric 94.9" in Tri-Cities, Tennessee/Virginia, and "Electric 102.7" in ...

(Electric 96.9) in

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in the Upland South, and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. The most populous city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located in the Southeastern Unit ...

. The station targets active young adult females ages 18 to 34, according to Bristol Broadcasting.

History

On January 4, 1956, the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

granted a construction permit to Radio Greeneville, Inc., to build a new FM radio station in Greeneville. The station was on the air by July. It changed its call sign to WOFM on June 9, 1966. The station was airing a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format by 1979. The call letters changed to WIKQ in 1982, and by 1985 the station was airing an adult contemporary format, utilizing a format from the

Satellite Music Network Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered Radio network, network to provide complete live 24-hour-a-day music programming to radio stations, local stations, under several different formats. History Affiliate stations, mostly i ...

. However, it was far behind

WTFM WTFM (98.5 FM), – branded as 98.5 WTFM - is an adult contemporary music formatted radio station licensed to Kingsport, Tennessee, United States, it serves the Tri-Cities area. The station is owned by Glenwood Communications Corporation, t ...

, its direct format competitor, in the ratings. The WAEZ format and call sign moved from 99.3 MHz in 2000. The WIKQ call sign moved to 103.1 MHz in Tusculum. In 2011, Bristol Broadcasting purchased a translator (W237DV), which it uses to rebroadcast WAEZ on 95.3 in

Kingsport, Tennessee Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It lies along the Holston River and had a population of 55,442 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city in the Kingsport–Bristol metropolitan area, ...

. Previously, WAEZ dealt with many (terrain) issues getting the main signal into parts of Kingsport.

References

External links

Official Electric 94.9 Site

Tri-Cities Radio Market @ Bristol Broadcasting.com
{{Contemporary Hit Radio Stations in Tennessee AEZ Radio stations established in 1956 1956 establishments in Tennessee Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States