WOWW (1430

kHz 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 uni ...

) is a commercial AM radio station

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 ...

Germantown, Tennessee Germantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 41,333 at the 2020 census. It was given a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence in 2019. Germantown is a suburb of Memphis, border ...

, and serving the

Memphis metropolitan area The Memphis–Clarksdale–Forrest City Combined Statistical Area, TN–MS–AR (CSA) is the commercial and cultural hub of the Mid-South or Ark-Miss-Tenn. The census-defined combined statistical area covers eleven counties in three states, Tenne ...

. WOWW carries an

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

and calls itself "Radio Pig". It is owned and operated by Flinn Broadcasting Corporation. The station's studios and offices are in

Southaven, Mississippi Southaven is a city in DeSoto County, Mississippi, United States. It is a principal city in Memphis metropolitan area, Greater Memphis. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census reported a population of 54,648, making it the List of municipal ...

. WOWW is powered at 2,500 watts. At night, to protect other stations on

1430 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 1430 kHz: 1430 AM is a regional broadcast frequency, as classified by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the Canadian Radio-television and ...

, WOWW 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 six-

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 off Orgill Road in

Bartlett, Tennessee Bartlett is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 57,786 at the 2020 U.S. Census. History Bartlett, originally called "Union Depot", first served as the last major Tennessean depot along the westward stagecoach ...

. Programming is also heard on an

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 ...

: 220 watt W249BN at 97.7

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 Memphis.

History

WHER

On October 29, 1955, the station

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 ...

as WHER, a pioneering station with an all-female air staff, including broadcaster Vida Jane Butler. The radio station was the brainchild of

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, R ...

, who used a portion of the $35,000 he made from the sale of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

's recording contract to

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

to finance the station.Dye, Robert W. (2017).
Memphis: Birthplace of Rock and Roll
'.

Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American Publishing, publisher of neighborhood, local history, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs th ...

. p. 71. Retrieved July 24, 2019. A portion of the balance of the funding came from

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn by IHG is a chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson (1913–2003), who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee. The chain was a division ...

founder

Kemmons Wilson Charles Kemmons Wilson (January 5, 1913 – February 12, 2003) was an American hotelier. He is best known for founding the hotel chain Holiday Inn in the 1950s. Personal life He was born in Osceola, Arkansas, the only child of Kemmons and Ru ...

, who also provided the station's first home, in a part of the third Holiday Inn ever built. It aired

light music Light music is a less-serious form of Western classical music, which originated in the 18th and 19th centuries and continues today. Its heyday was in the mid‑20th century. The style is through-composed, usually shorter orchestral pieces and ...

and had the slogan "1,000 Beautiful Watts". The licensee was Tri-State Broadcasting Service, initially owned by Phillips, Clarence A. Camp, and James E. Connolly.History Cards for WOWW
fcc.gov. Retrieved July 24, 2019.

WWEE

In the early 1970s, WHER went to a mixed-gender air staff and became talk station WWEE. The station gave birth to the longest running sports talk show "SportsLine" (now called "SportsTime"). "SportsLine" went on the air in 1972. Notable former staff members include Marge Thrasher, Bill Thomas, George Lapides, Dick Palmer, Jim Fields, and Jeff Weinberger. In 1981, the Phillips family bought out the other owners of Tri-State Broadcasting Service, becoming known as the Big River Broadcasting Corporation. Big River liquidated in 1986, selling WWEE to the Ardman Broadcasting Corporation of Tennessee. In 1989, after seven months spent simulcasting co-owned WEZI (now

WMLE WMLE (94.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Christian adult contemporary format. It is licensed to Germantown, Tennessee, and serves the Memphis area as its K-Love station. The station is owned by the Educational Media Foundation. WMLE u ...

) with the same call sign, Ardman relaunched the station as WNWZ. Flinn bought the station in 1993, changing the call sign to WOWW in 1997.

Format flips

On February 15, 1997, WOWW flipped from adult standards to

Radio AAHS Radio AAHS was an American radio network owned and operated by the Children's Broadcasting Corporation. The flagship station of the format was WWTC (1280 AM) in Minneapolis, from where network programming originated at the former First Federal ...

, a

children's radio Children's radio is a term used to refer to both Radio program, radio series and Radio format, formats designed specifically for Child, children. It has existed as far back as the beginning of Radio broadcasting, broadcasting in the 1920s, and surv ...

format. Due to Radio AAHS ceasing operations on January 30, 1998, the station switched 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. In September 1999, WOWW changed their format to urban gospel, becoming 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 ABC Radio's ''Rejoice! Musical Soul Food''. After later shifting to an

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 ...

and classical music format, WOWW returned to a children's format with

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

with a

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

format on April 6, 2000. On March 12, 2012, WOWW dropped Radio Disney after nearly 12 years in favor of a

all-news radio All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and radio syndication, syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news sta ...

format. On April 10, 2013, WOWW changed their format to country, simulcasting WEBL 95.3 FM. On June 21, 2013, WUMY dropped its classic country format for variety hits as "97.7 Guess FM". On January 2, 2014, WOWW began stunting, directing listeners to WUMY 830 AM Memphis, Tennessee, which took over the "Guess FM" variety hits format. A few days later, WOWW changed their format to country, branded as "The Rebel", simulcasting WEBL 95.3 FM Coldwater, MS. On August 6, 2018, WOWW changed their format to classic hits, branded as "97.7 Guess FM". On May 13, 2022, at noon, WOWW changed their format from classic hits to Top 40/CHR, branded as "B97.7". This returned the station to playing current Top 40 music on this frequency for the first time since Radio Disney in 2012, which also carried a similar format. On July 4, 2023, WOWW changed their format from Top 40/CHR to adult album alternative, branded as "Radio Pig".Flinn Flips Two in Memphis With LMA
Radioinsight - July 5, 2023.

Translator

In addition to the main station, WOWW is relayed by an FM translator to widen its broadcast area. It also provides the listener with

high fidelity High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...

stereophonic Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

sound.

Previous logo

References

External links

* * *

WHER

Kitchen Sisters documentary on WHER

'' On the Media'', October 28, 2005. '
"Talk on Lost and Found Sound's"
Peter Guralnick {{Memphis Radio 1955 establishments in Tennessee Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States Germantown, Tennessee Radio stations established in 1955 OWW