WFAW (940 AM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin Fort Atkinson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. It lies along the Rock River (Illinois), Rock River a few miles upstream from Lake Koshkonong. The population was 12,579 at the 2020 census. Fort Atkinson is the largest city ...

, serving the Jefferson County and Janesville and Beloit area. The station is owned by Magnum Media, through licensee Magnum Communications, Inc., and features programming from

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

. WFAW has a

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

. By day, WFAW is powered at 500 watts. It slightly increases its power at night to 550 watts. Because

940 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 940 kHz: 940 AM is a Mexican and Canadian clear-channel frequency. XEQ-AM, XEQ Mexico City is the dominant List of North American broadcast station c ...

is a Mexican and

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

clear channel frequency, to avoid interference WFAW uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

with a four-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is on Finlay Road at Jacobson Lane in

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

. Programming is also heard on two

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

s at 96.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

in Watertown and at 101.1 in Janesville.

History

WFAW

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on November 24, 1963. For several decades, it was a

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

, required to go off the air at night. In its early years, WFAW was a middle of the road (MOR) station, playing popular adult music with news and sports. In the 1970s, it aired a

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 and was an

affiliate Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation platfo ...

of the ABC Contemporary Network. In the 1980s and 1990s, WFAW played

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 ...

. As music listening moved from AM stations to the FM dial, the station added more talk shows and by the early 2000s had shifted to a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

format. On October 5, 2020, WFAW changed from talk to

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

. It played hits of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, branded as "Oldies 940". In December 2021, WFAW added an FM translator licensed to Janesville on 101.1 FM broadcasting from a tower near Edgerton which also provides

rimshot A rimshot is a percussion technique used to produce an Accent (music), accented snare drum backbeat. The sound is produced by simultaneously hitting the Drum hardware#Rim, rim and Drumhead, head of the drum with a drum stick. The sound and var ...

coverage to the

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

area. On August 22, 2022, WFAW changed its format to classic rock, dropping the remainder of local sports and the majority of local news programing. The new format was branded as "Rock 96.1/101.1". The Janesville translator at 101.1 FM was supplemented by a second translator, W241BQ 96.1 FM in Watertown, giving WFAW FM coverage in most of the southern and eastern portions of the Madison market as well as the Janesville-Beloit area.Magnum Media Brings Classic Rock to Southern Wisconsin
Radioinsight - August 23, 2022 WFAW now competes with fellow rock outlet

WWHG WWHG (105.9 FM) is a commercial mainstream rock radio station licensed to Evansville, Wisconsin, and serving the areas of Madison and Janesville. The station is owned by Scott Thompson, through licensee Big Radio, and began a new rock music ...

in the Janesville/Beloit area as well as Madison and Milwaukee based rock outlets. WFAW also compliments identically branded

Portage Portage or portaging ( CA: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a '' ...

based rock station WAUN which similarly is paired with two FM translators. WAUN with its AM and two FM frequencies cover the northern side of the Madison market as well as the Wisconsin Dells sub-market effectively giving Magnum's rock format coverage of the entire Madison area.

References

External links

* * * * {{Milwaukee Bucks Radio Network FAW Classic rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1963 1963 establishments in Wisconsin