Branding 94.3 Jack FM Frequency 94.3 MHz | Slogan Playing What We Want First air date 1971 (as WROE) | |
City Neenah-Menasha, Wisconsin Broadcast area Appleton-Oshkosh, and the Fox Valley of Wisconsin | ||
WYDR (94.3 FM) is a radio station broadcasting an Adult Hits music format, licensed to both Neenah and Menasha (giving it and sister station WNCY-FM a rare dual cities of license situation) and transmitting from High Cliff State Park in Northwestern Calumet County, Wisconsin. Jack FM has its studios at Midwest Communications' facilities at 1420 Bellevue St in the Green Bay suburb of Bellevue, Wisconsin, adjacent to the tower site of sister station WNFL.
History
The station that would eventually become WYDR was launched by Midwest Communications in 1971 under the call sign of WROE with a beautiful music format, a format found quite frequently on FM radio in that era. In 1977, Midwest bought WBAY-AM and WBAY-FM (the current WTAQ and WIXX, respectively), forcing the company to sell WROE due to FCC regulations limiting station ownership at the time. Later ownership would change WROE in the 1980s to the soft AC format that many people would associate with the frequency and its call sign.
In 1997, Midwest repurchased WROE and sister stations WNCY-FM and WNFL after loosening of radio ownership rules the year before. From 1998 to 2001, WROE simulcast on sister station WLTM, with the stations branded as "The Lite FM, 94.3 and 99.7." During this time, WROE and WLTM would add Delilah's nationally syndicated program (though it would eventually drop it later in the 2000s). When WLTM dropped away from the simulcast in March 2001 and launched its own format, WROE reverted to using its call sign for on-air branding.
In March 2006, WROE made a shift toward an adult hits format, branded as "94.3 The Bridge." On November 14, 2008, the station dropped "The Bridge" and reverted to its WROE branding and Soft AC format. In August 2009, the station rejoined in a simulcast with 99.7 FM and its Green Bay translator at 101.9 FM, which dropped its own adult hits format. WROE and WRQE would eventually add the John Tesh nightly radio program after the show's former home in the Fox Cities, WECB, changed formats at the end of 2009.
At 5PM on September 3, 2010, Midwest Communications dropped the Soft AC format a second time, and with it WROE's longtime call sign. The stations became WYDR (94.3) and WZDR (99.7/101.9) and adopted a classic hits/classic rock hybrid format as "The Drive," a format similar to that of WDRV in Chicago and sister station WOZZ, which adopted a more mainstream rock format at the same time and date as "The Drive's" debut (and using 99.7's former WRQE call sign).
On March 16, 2015, WZDR split off from its simulcast with WYDR, changing its call sign to WDKF. WDKF now simulcasts with sister station WGEE (93.5 Duke FM).
On October 23, 2015, WYDR dropped the "Drive" format after five years and rebranded as a Jack FM affiliate. This is the second time that the station has adopted an Adult Hits format (since "The Bridge" in 2006). While WYDR pays to license the Jack FM name, the station is locally programmed and is not part of the syndicated format that is delivered via satellite.