WSEV-FM (105.5 FM, "Mix 105.5") operates as Sevier County's only local FM

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 ...

. While other stations are licensed to Sevierville, their studios are based in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

History

WSEV-FM was originally licensed to

Gatlinburg, Tennessee Gatlinburg is a city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. It is located southeast of Knoxville, Tennessee, Knoxville and had a population of 3,577 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a popular mountain resort town, as it ...

, as a sister to WSEV, although the studios for both stations were located in

Sevierville, Tennessee Sevierville ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Sevier County, Tennessee, United States, located in East Tennessee. The population was 17,889 at the 2020 United States Census. History Native Americans of the Woodland period were among th ...

. In 1990 the station was purchased, along with its AM sister station WSEV/930, by the Dollywood Broadcasting Company, a privately owned corporation whose owners included

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

; Orr & Earls Broadcasting, Inc., of

Branson, Missouri Branson is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. Most of the city is situated in Taney County, Missouri, Taney County, with a small portion in the west extending into Stone County, Missouri, Stone County. Branson is in the Ozarks, Ozark Mountain ...

; and other investors. Orr & Earls Broadcasting, Inc. was selected as the managing partner due to their success in managing Branson-area radio stations KRZK and KOMC. WSEV-FM's call letters were changed to WDLY to reflect the connection with Parton, and the design of the call letters incorporated the

Dollywood Dollywood is a theme park that is jointly owned by Herschend Family Entertainment and country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton through her entertainment company, Dolly Parton Productions. It is located in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Pig ...

theme park's butterfly logo. Its format was changed to

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 ...

. The station's slogans was ''"This Is Dolly's Station! 105.5 WDLY"'', ''"The Best Music! Dolly's Station! WDLY"'', and ''"Dolly's 105.5 WDLY"''. However, WDLY had a tough time competing against Knoxville's

WIVK-FM WIVK-FM (107.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Knoxville, Tennessee. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts a country music radio format known as "107.7 WIVK " The studios and offices are on Old Kingston Pike in the Sequoya ...

and

WOKI WOKI (98.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Oliver Springs, Tennessee, and serving the Knoxville metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media and it broadcasts a news/talk format. The studios and offices are on Old Kingston ...

during the years they had a country format. After ten years as WDLY, the station was sold to East Tennessee Radio Group and the call sign reverted to WSEV-FM in May 2000. Its studios were moved from Middle Creek Road in Sevierville to Dumplin Valley Road in

Kodak, Tennessee Kodak is an unincorporated community and a neighborhood of Sevierville in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. The small city is located along State Route 139 and State Route 66, and just south of I-40 and Knoxville, Tennessee. The eleva ...

External links

* SEV-FM Hot adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1983 Sevier County, Tennessee {{Tennessee-radio-station-stub