City Fort Thomas, Kentucky Branding 97.3 The Wolf First air date 1993 (as WAAR) | Broadcast area Cincinnati, Ohio Frequency 97.3 MHz Format Country | |
WYGY (97.3 FM, "The Wolf") is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to the suburb of Fort Thomas, Kentucky, it serves the Cincinnati, Ohio metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in 1993 under the call sign WAAR. The station is currently owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. Its studios are located just northeast of Downtown Cincinnati and the transmitter site is in Finneytown, Ohio.
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97.3 "The Sound" launched ichannel.fm's broadcast as a sub channel (HD-2) on their HD Radio signal near the end of August 2008. In late May 2009, that format was dropped and 'Mormon Channel', a Christian talk and teaching station, took its place on the HD2 channel.
Station history
After signing on with the call sign WAAR, the station changed their call sign to WMMA in June 1993. The station then flipped to classic rock as WYLX, "Alex 97.3", in November 1997.
WAQZ
The WAQZ call sign and Alternative rock format abandoned by owner of 107.1 FM (Jacor Communications) was re-introduced by CBS Radio on 97.3 FM as "Channel Z" on April 3, 2000. In 2003, WAQZ was rebranded "New Rock 97.3" with a shift to more current modern rock artists. WAQZ was rebranded again in 2005 as 97.3 Everything Alternative."
On August 21, 2006, Entercom Communications bought WAQZ, along with several other stations, from CBS Radio. On October 30, 2006, Entercom abruptly fired the entire on-air staff, signaling the end of WAQZ.
"97.3 The Wolf" WYGY
On November 9, 2006, at Noon, after playing "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage" by Panic! at the Disco, Entercom moved WYGY's Country format to 97.3 FM and relaunched it as "The Wolf", this time as a top 40-styled country format, in order to appeal to a younger demographic than its other country station, WUBE ("B-105"). (WYGY was formerly "The Star", located at 96.5 FM and owned by Cumulus Media, but was traded to Entercom in exchange for WGRR.) At the same time as the flip, Entercom relaunched the alternative rock format on 94.9 FM as "The Sound". The WAQZ call letters remained on 97.3 for a month until the WYGY calls were finally in place on November 29.
On January 18, 2007, Entercom announced plans to swap its entire Cincinnati radio cluster, including WSWD, together with three of its radio stations in Seattle, Washington, to Bonneville International in exchange for all three of Bonneville's FM stations in San Francisco, California and $1 million cash. In May 2007, Bonneville officially took over control of the Cincinnati stations through a time brokerage agreement. On March 14, 2008, Bonneville officially closed on the stations.
"97.3 The Sound" WSWD
On November 7, 2008, at 11:00 a.m., WSWD and WYGY switched frequencies, returning an alternative rock format to the 97.3 FM frequency, while the country format would move back to 94.9 FM. (The call letters between the two stations would switch four days later.)
"97.3 The Wolf" Returns
On May 21, 2009, at 5 p.m., Bonneville discontinued the "Sound" format altogether, with 97.3 FM re-adopting the country format and the "Wolf" moniker (at the same time, 94.9 FM flipped to 80s-leaning adult hits as Rewind 94.9). The last song on "The Sound" was No You Girls by Franz Ferdinand. Many believe the Sound's demise was based on Cumulus' WFTK flipping to alternative rock earlier that year. The Sound is available on 94.9-HD2 and on the internet at www.thesoundcincinnati.com.
On January 19, 2011, it was announced that Bonneville International will sell WYGY and several other stations to Hubbard Broadcasting for $505 million. The sale was completed on April 29, 2011.
Airstaff
The current lineup consists of Jimmy (who worked for both WAQZ and WSWD) in morning drive, Ernie "The Fatman" Brown in middays, Pistol Pete in late afternoons, and Bud at nights.