WWON is a commercial AM

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...

licensed to the city of

Waynesboro, Tennessee Waynesboro is a city in and the county seat of Wayne County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,449 at the 2010 census, up from 2,228 in 2000. History Waynesboro was founded in 1821 as a county seat for the newly created Wayne Count ...

, the seat of

Wayne County, Tennessee Wayne County is a county located in south central Tennessee, along the Alabama border. As of the 2010 census, the population was 17,021. Its county seat is Waynesboro. The county is named after General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, a prominent milita ...

. The station operates at the assigned frequency of 930

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one h ...

, at a power output of 470

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of 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 quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s day, and 91 watts at night.

History

The birth of WAAN AM 1480

Wayne County's first radio station went on the air in January 1970, with studios located upstairs above Helton's Drug Store. "

Orange Blossom Special Orange most often refers to: * Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...

" was the first song played on what was then the new 1480 WAAN radio. That first record was played by beloved former announcer and singer Neal "Tywhop" Jones. In the mid-1970s the station changed hands and

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divi ...

members

Ernie Ashworth Ernest Bert Ashworth (December 15, 1928 – March 2, 2009) was an American country music singer, broadcaster, and longtime Grand Ole Opry star. Signed to the Hickory label, he recorded two studio albums in his career and charted several singl ...

and Ralph Davis became the owners for a brief period, along with Carl Swafford. In between the call letters WAAN and WTNR was the call letters WNBG.

Frequency move and callsign change

In the late 1980s, the station was moved to its present location in the old bank building on the Public Square in downtown Waynesboro. After years of paperwork the station changed frequency and call letters, and AM 930 WTNR was born. The call letters stood for Waynesboro, Tennessee Radio. Aside from past owner

fame, country singer, actor, writer, and Waynesboro native

Mark Collie George Mark Collie (born January 18, 1956) is an American country music singer, songwriter, musician, actor, record producer, and fundraiser for Type 1 diabetes study. He has won awards and acclaim for his music, his acting, and his philanthrop ...

also got his start on AM 930. Mark became a popular

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

star. Also in the 1980s and early 1990s country singer Jacky Ward was an announcer. "Wile Willie" as he was called on the air, had success on the country charts with his hit " Big Blue Diamond". ("Wile" as in

Wile E. Coyote Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short ''Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode, ...

of the "Roadrunner" cartoons.) In July 1991, a new chapter in broadcasting began when WTNR-FM went on the air featuring hot new country music. AM 930 even simulcast the FM station until going all talk with syndicated talk shows. In 1994 the stations were sold to Ohio Broadcasting, and in 1998 the FM license was moved to

Florence, Alabama Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner. It is situated along the Tennessee River and is home to the University of North Alabama, the oldest college in the ...

. This left AM 930 in Waynesboro, as WTNR-FM became Froggy 94, and then The River 94. Subsequently, all of Wayne County's other FM stations moved to Florence, leaving AM 930 as the only Wayne County radio station.

As WWON: the first time around

WTNR continued as a talk station until August 3, 2000 when the station was sold again and changed its call letters and format to WWON (W1) " Familiar Favorites." The station continued a great tradition of "Hometown Radio" providing Wayne County with local news, weather, and sports broadcasts. Due to these circumstances beyond their control, the owners were forced out of business. AM 930 WWON went

dark Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low l ...

in August 2005.

Rebirth after silence

Legends 930

Six months after WWON went silent,

Huntingdon, Tennessee Huntingdon is a town in Carroll County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 4,439 at the 2020 census and 3,985 in 2010. It is the county seat of Carroll County. History European-American settlers named Huntingdon for Memucan Hunt, who f ...

, residents Chris and Karen Lash returned WWON to the air, purchasing the station in February 2006. The Lashes quickly returned AM 930 to its country roots when Legends 930 W-WON was born. The station featured

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on inn ...

music, with local, national and statewide news every hour. An interactive, and updated website with local news headlines was restarted, and coverage of Wayne County Wildcat sports, and

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

football was added to the programming line-up. Also new to the radio station and county was a monthly newspaper, direct-mailed to homes in Waynesboro. ''The Advisor'', Waynesboro's Hometown News and Shopper began, giving Waynesboro and the county positive stories of the people, places and things relative to the local community.

AM 930 The Farm

On January 8, 2007, the station changed its name and added current country songs to its rotation, in response to a web-based poll of its listeners. The station was then known as "AM 930 The Farm". The station was an affiliate of the Tennessee Titans radio network.

Kickin Country

On April 20, 2008 WWON was sold to Small Potatoes Broadcasting, LLC based in Nashville, Tennessee. The new owners kept a country format and changed to a new name: Kickin Country, KICKN.

WWON now

Big Oldies 930

In the summer of 2008 Small Potatoes Broadcasting, LLC. flipped the format to true oldies, calling the station "Big Oldies 930". The station derives a portion of its programming from

Scott Shannon Michael Scott Shannon (born July 25, 1947) is an American radio disc jockey who hosted the morning show for WCBS-FM in New York City from 2014 to 2022 as well as ''Scott Shannon Presents America's Greatest Hits'' which is syndicated nationally wi ...

The True Oldies Channel Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel (also known more recently as ''The True Oldies Channel: Greatest Hits'') is a radio network begun in the spring of 2004. Originally distributed by ABC Radio Networks via satellite, the service plays a hybrid o ...

from ABC Radio. On October 26, 2011, WWON was sold to Jukebox Media, LLC.

References

External links

* * {{coord, 35, 18, 30, N, 87, 44, 42, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title WON Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1970 1970 establishments in Tennessee