WRUF-FM (103.7

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 ...

) is a

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 ...

broadcasting 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 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 ...

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

. It is owned by the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

. While the university is a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

owned by the State of Florida, WRUF-FM and its AM

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 ...

850 WRUF, are operated as

commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

stations, in contrast to co-owned

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

member station 89.1

WUFT-FM WUFT-FM (89.1 Hertz, MHz) is an NPR member radio station owned by the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, broadcasting news and public media programming from NPR along with other distributors including American Public Media, APM, Publ ...

, a

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...

outlet. The studios and offices are in Weimer Hall on Stadium Road in Gainesville. WRUF-FM is a Class C1 FM station. It has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(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, the maximum for most FM stations. 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 ...

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

is off NW 53rd Avenue at Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park.Radio-Locator.com/WRUF-FM
/REF>

Programming

Weekdays on WRUF-FM begin with the

nationally syndicated Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

Bobby Bones Show ''The Bobby Bones Show'' is an American, nationally Broadcast syndication, syndicated country music radio show aired during the morning hours. The Bobby Bones Show, which originally aired from Austin, Texas, now broadcasts from studios at WSIX-F ...

'' from

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

in morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

. That's followed by midday personality Allie, Tommy Bodean in afternoons, ''The Big Time with Whitney Allen'' in evenings and '' After Midnite with Granger Smith'' overnight. WRUF-FM is a "new country" style radio station, targeting adults 18–49 years of age, including some of the university's students. While WRUF 850 AM is a full-time

sports radio 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 ...

station, WRUF-FM also

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

s most big university sporting events, including

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American football, American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the ...

men's basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and Sunday

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

games. The station's Director of Programming is Rob Harder, the Operations Coordinator is Brett T. Holcomb and the Sports Director is Steve Russell.

History

Beautiful and Classical Music

WRUF-FM

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 in , among the earliest FM stations in Florida.''Broadcasting Yearbook 1950'' page 111. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
/REF> In its first decades, it largely

the programming on 850 WRUF. The stations were

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

s of the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Golden Age of Radio, ...

. In its early years, WRUF-FM was powered at 12,000 watts, a fraction of its current output. From the 1960s to 1981, WRUF-FM played beautiful music and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

under the moniker "Stereo 104." The one exception was a Saturday-night

disco music Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife, particularly in African-American, Italian-American, Gay and Latino communities. Its sound features four-on-the-floor ...

program from 1979-1980 called "Studio 104."

Top 40 and Album Rock

By the early 1980s, the

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

format was beginning to age. WRUF-FM flipped to 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 from 1981 to 1983. The hit music format was adopted because another local FM station had recently begun playing hits on the FM dial with great success. For many years, WRUF 850 AM had a Top 40 format, so technically, it was an easy switch, though many important powers at the university disfavored putting teen-oriented music on the FM station. WRUF-FM became an

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...

(AOR) station in 1983. It called itself "Rock 104". The station played songs from the best-selling rock albums of the day. The rock format continued for nearly three decades.

Country music

On October 11, 2010, the university announced that WRUF-FM would soon switch to a

format. The "Rock 104" name and format would be moved to an internet-only station. Country music was gaining in listeners and management decided WRUF-FM would take advantage of its popularity. On October 15, 2010, WRUF-FM made the format change, branded as "Country 103.7, The Gator". (University of Florida sports teams are called the Gators, which is short for

alligator An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the Family (biology), family Alligatoridae in the Order (biology), order Crocodilia. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the American alligator (''A. mis ...

, an animal common in local swamps.) The first song played under the new format was " Roll with It" by

Easton Corbin Dan Easton Corbin (born April 12, 1982) is an American country music singer. He signed to Universal Music Group Nashville, Mercury Records Nashville in 2009 and released his Easton Corbin (album), self-titled debut album in March 2010, featuring ...

Past personalities

* Paul Castronovo, host of the syndicated morning radio program, ‘ The Paul & Young Ron Show’, was a former Rock 104

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

, as well as a graduate of the

. *

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

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 ...

personality

Andrew Wilkow Andrew Steven Wilkow (born August 18, 1972) is a conservative political talk radio host on the Sirius XM Patriot channel, specifically on SIRIUS channel 125 and XM channel 125. Until July 2006, Wilkow had been on WGY in Schenectady, New York, ...

, host of an eponymous show on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio ( SDARS) service that operated in the United States and Canada. Sirius launched in 2002, and primarily competed with XM Satellite Radio, until the two services merged in 2008 to form Sirius XM. Li ...

's "Sirius Patriot", is an alumnus of the station, having spent the latter half of his college years at the

. Unlike his current calling, his work at WRUF was solely as a disk jockey. *

Rich Fields Richard Wayne Fields (born November 30, 1960) is an American media personality, author, motivational speaker, former game show announcer and meteorologist. He is best known as the announcer for the American version of ''The Price Is Right'' with ...

, the former announcer for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

's ''

The Price Is Right ''The Price Is Right'' is an American television game show where contestants compete by guessing the prices of merchandise to win cash and prizes. A 1972 revival by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman of their The Price Is Right (1956 American game ...

'' and '' Gameshow Marathon'', was a former WRUF-FM afternoon drive disc jockey and music director, as well as a graduate of the University of Florida. Rich Fields is also a recipient of the

Red Barber Walter Lanier "Red" Barber (February 17, 1908 – October 22, 1992) was an American sports announcer and author. Nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", he was primarily identified with broadcasts of Major League Baseball, calling play-by-play across four ...

Award for Broadcasting Excellence. * Brad Abrell, co-host of the syndicated morning radio program, ‘The Ashley & Brad Show’, was a former Rock 104 disc jockey, as well as a graduate of the

.http://www.bradabrell.com Brad Abrell, official site

References

External links

Station History from Central Florida Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wruf-Fm RUF Country radio stations in the United States 1948 establishments in Florida Radio stations established in 1948