WAZA (107.7 FM) is an American

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 ...

licensed to serve the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Liberty, Mississippi Liberty is a town in Amite County, Mississippi. It is part of the McComb, Mississippi McComb micropolitan area, micropolitan statistical area. It is the county seat of Amite County. The town can be accessed via Interstate 55 in Mississippi, I-55 ...

. The station is owned and operated by North Shore Broadcasting Co., Inc.

Programming

WAZA was launched as an urban outlet branded as "The Spot 107.7" in 1998. Throughout its early years it also had other formats including Variety Hits and Oldies. In mid-2010, the station flipped to

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

as a

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports ...

affiliate branded as "Sportstalk 107.7FM". Since April 2011, the station has

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

music format branded as "The Touch 107.7" and serves the McComb, MS area. 107.7 WAZA is known for the Blues Cruise with DJ Lonnie MC, which airs weekdays from 3-7pm and Saturdays 10am-1pm. In 2023, it became the home for

The Steve Harvey Morning Show ''The Steve Harvey Morning Show'' is a national radio program which is currently broadcast from Los Angeles. The nationally syndicated show features host Steve Harvey and a team of comedians and commentators. The show runs approximately four ...

History

WAZA was also the call letters of an AM station in the 1970s in

Bainbridge, Georgia Bainbridge is a city in Decatur County, Georgia, United States. The city is the county seat of Decatur County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 14,468, up from 12,697 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the ...

. After applying in July 1996, this station received its original

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

from 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 ...

on January 22,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. The new station was assigned the WAZA

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

by the FCC on February 20, 1998. WAZA received its license to cover from the FCC on September 25, 1998. On September 21, 2011, Charles W. Dowdy, acting as the sole owner of license holder Southwest Broadcasting, Inc., dissolved the corporation and assigned the broadcast licenses it held (WAZA plus

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

s WAKH, WAKK, WAPF, WFCG,

WJSH WJSH (104.7 FM) is a classic country-formatted radio station licensed to Folsom, Louisiana Folsom is a village in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 716 at the 2010 census, and 769 in 2020. The town is name ...

, WKJN, and WTGG) to himself acting as

debtor in possession A debtor in possession or DIP in United States bankruptcy law is a person or corporation who has filed a bankruptcy petition, but remains in possession of property upon which a creditor has a lien or similar security interest. A debtor becomes t ...

before initiating a

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

bankruptcy. The FCC approved the license transfer on December 19, 2011. On October 25, 2019, the stations emerged and this signal was transferred to North Shore Broadcasting.

References

External links

* {{Urban Radio Stations in Mississippi

AZA Aza or AZA may refer to: Places *Aza, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality *Azadkənd, Nakhchivan or Lower Aza, Azerbaijan *Aza, medieval name of Haza, Province of Burgos, Spain *Aźa, a Tibetan name for the Tuyuhun kingdom *Aza, a Hebrew roman ...

Urban adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1998 Amite County, Mississippi 1998 establishments in Mississippi