WMC-FM

Last updated

WMC-FM
Broadcast area Memphis metropolitan area
Frequency 99.7 MHz
Branding99.7 The Wolf
Programming
Language(s) English
Format Country
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
May 22, 1947 (1947-05-22)
Former call signs
WMCF (1947–60)
Call sign meaning
Carried over from WMC (AM); originally an extension of the Memphis Commercial Appeal
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID 59449
Class C
ERP 300,000  watts (horizontal)
100,000 watts (vertical)
HAAT 277 meters (909 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
35°10′09″N89°53′10″W / 35.16917°N 89.88611°W / 35.16917; -89.88611
Links
Public license information
Webcast Listen live (via  Audacy)
Website www.audacy.com/997thewolf

WMC-FM (99.7 MHz, "99.7 The Wolf") is a commercial country music radio station licensed to Memphis, Tennessee, serving the Memphis metropolitan area and much of surrounding West Tennessee, northern Mississippi, and eastern Arkansas. Owned by Audacy, Inc. The WMC-FM studios are located in Memphis' Colonial Acres neighborhood, while the station transmitter resides in northeast Memphis. Besides a standard analog transmission, WMC-FM is also available online via Audacy.

Contents

Founded by The Commercial Appeal , WMC-FM is notable for being an FM "superpower station," with an output exceeding Federal Communications Commission (FCC) restrictions; [1] [2] of FM stations operating in the FCC's Zone II, WMC-FM is the most powerful. [3]

History

The Memphis Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Scripps-Howard Newspapers which owned the Memphis Commercial Appeal and founded WMC (790 AM), launched this station as WMCF on May 22, 1947. [4] WMCF was the first FM station established in Memphis and the second in the state of Tennessee, after WSM-FM in Nashville, which began in 1941. From its establishment, WMCF had an output of 515,000 watts; this would be adjusted multiple times before settling at its current power output of 300,000 watts. As the FM adjunct to WMC, WMCF largely simulcast the AM station's programming.

On December 11, 1948, a TV station was added, WMCT. WMC, WMCF and WMCT moved to studios at 1960 Union Avenue in Midtown Memphis in 1959 and celebrated with a broadcast hosted by comedian George Gobel. WMCF changed its call sign to WMC-FM on May 27, 1960; WMCT would become WMC-TV in 1967.

WMC-FM was the first FM radio station in the market, and the first in Tennessee, to play progressive rock, beginning February 6, 1967. Personalities on the station included Greg Hamilton, Ron Michaels, Jon Scott, David Day, and the program director was Mike Powell. Artists included the likes of King Crimson, It's a Beautiful Day, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. The versions of "Light My Fire" by The Doors and "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly (with its extended drum solo) were longer than the one most stations played. [5] In the early 1970s, the station was responsible for regionally breaking many new artists such as David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top and Billy Joel. By 1978, WMC-FM had evolved to a Top 40/CHR format, which would transition to a hot adult contemporary format by September 1992.

Scripps Howard sold WMC, WMC-FM, and WMC-TV to Atlanta businessman Bert Ellis in 1993. Ellis, in turn, sold his station group in the spring quarter of 1996 to a new broadcasting group formed by the Retirement Systems of Alabama, also composed of Aflac's broadcast holdings and Ellis' Raycom Sports operations; [6] this was subsequently named Raycom Media. [7]

Raycom Media sold off WMC and WMC-FM in 2000 to Infinity Broadcasting, a subsidiary of CBS Radio, while keeping WMC-TV. In 2006, Entercom Communications purchased WMC and WMC-FM from CBS Radio; this preceded both companies merging a decade later. [8] WMC and WMC-FM relocated to the Entercom complex in the Moriah Woods Business Park, near the intersection of I-240 and Mount Moriah Road in eastern Memphis.

Many of the station's air personalities worked there for a decade or longer. Most notably, Ron "Hey Now" Olson had been the station's morning host since the 1980s, partnered with Steve Conley for some of that time, until leaving the station to join co-owned WRVR. Tom Prestigiacomo had been the afternoon host since 1979, staying for nearly three decades; Prestigiacomo left in 2007 for rival AC outlet WKIM.

By 2023, WMC-FM's schedule include the morning team of Ryan Anderson and Erin Austin; Jill Bucco in middays; Chris Michaels in afternoons; Chase Daniels in evenings; and Bennett Doyle in overnights. WMC-FM also carried the "Acoustic Sunrise" on weekends.

In April 2023, as part of a memo to staff, Audacy disclosed that the country music programming of WLFP (94.1 FM) would relocate to WMC-FM as "99.7 The Wolf", replacing WMC-FM's hot adult contemporary format (which was stated to continue as a stream exclusively on Audacy's online app), following the sale of the 94.1 license to the Educational Media Foundation. [9] The move of "The Wolf" would take place at 12 pm on June 12, 2023, following a six-hour farewell program for FM100, in which a majority of the past and current airstaff voiced their stories about the station. [10] The final song on FM100 was "Memphis, I'm Coming Home to You" by The Breaks (a longtime promotional song for the station), while the first song on "The Wolf" was "Like I Love Country Music" by Chattanooga native Kane Brown; in a final nod to the legacy of FM100, the first promotional sweeper under the "Wolf" format, immediately following the sign-off, was a tribute saluting the prior format. [11] With the move, the WMC-FM callsign will also be retired, as Audacy has filed with the FCC to move the WLFP calls to 99.7 (due to a clerical error encountered by the FCC in interacting with three-letter callsigns, the WLFP calls were initially slated to move to Hartford, Connecticut sister station WZMX before it was corrected).

Superpower status

Current FCC restrictions were passed in 1962 and mandate a maximum 100,000 watts across most of the country on the FM band, with most of the Northeast and much of California limited to 50,000 watts. [12] WMC-FM is calculated to exceed power restrictions by 4.6 decibels. However, WMC-FM was grandfathered at the high power since it went on the air before the restrictions began.

Logo memphis FM100.png


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References

  1. "Grandfathered Super-power FM Stations". www.bostonradio.org. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  2. ""Superpower" Grandfathered FM's". www.w9wi.com. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  3. "OET --FM Broadcast Zones". February 9, 2005. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  4. Broadcasting Yearbook 1948 page 318
  5. "The Commercial Appeal - Memphis Breaking News and Sports" . Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  6. Treaster, Joseph B. (August 14, 1996). "Venture in Accord to Buy 7 TV Stations From Aflac". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  7. Colman, Price (February 4, 2015). "Raycom: Succeeding By Evolving, Innovating". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  8. Hicks, Ed (August 21, 2006). "Entercom Buys 3 CBS Radio Stations in Memphis". Memphis Business Journal.
  9. "WLFP (94.1 The Wolf)/Memphis To Move To 99.7, 'Sunsetting' Hot AC WMC (FM 100)". All Access. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  10. Venta, Lance (June 7, 2023). "Audacy Sets Sign-Off Time For FM 100 Memphis; Call Change Set For Buffalo". RadioInsight. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  11. YouTube: "Aircheck: 'FM 100' WMC-FM/Memphis, Tennessee Signs Off; Flips to Country - June 12, 2023"
  12. "FMpower - Find ERP for an FM Station Class". Archived from the original on January 6, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2015.