WUDE

Last updated

WUDE
WWNQ 94.3TheDude logo.png
Broadcast area Columbia metropolitan area
Frequency 94.3 MHz
Branding94.3 The Dude
Programming
Format Country
Ownership
OwnerMidlands Media Group LLC
WZMJ
History
First air date
2004
Former call signs
WEHA (2004)
WWNQ (2004–2021)
Call sign meaning
W DUDE
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 83396
Class A
ERP 2,550 watts
HAAT 135.9 meters (446 ft)
Links
Public license information
Webcast http://943thedude.com/listen-live/
Website 943TheDude.com

WUDE (94.3 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Forest Acres, South Carolina, and serving the Columbia metropolitan area. Owned by Midlands Media Group LLC, the station broadcasts a country music radio format branded as 94.3 The Dude. It concentrates on country hits from the 1980s till today.

Contents

The radio studios and transmitter are on Gervais Street in Columbia, near the state capitol building. WUDE broadcasts from atop the South Trust Tower. [2] WUDE is a Class A FM station with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 2,550 watts. By contrast, country music rival 97.5 WCOS-FM is powered at 100,000 watts.

History

Early years

The 94.3 frequency was allocated to Forest Acres by the FCC in the fall of 1996. In order to make way for the new station, WPUB, located in nearby Camden, South Carolina, changed its frequency from 94.3 MHz to 102.7 MHz in 1998.

After several years of planning and delays, WWNQ finally signed on under test authority in the fall of 2004. It initially played a mix of songs from different genes of music in order to not tip off other stations in the market the true format for the new station. After testing was completed, the station signed on in November with a Classic Country format.

The Classic Country sound lasted until late November 2008, when it was abruptly dropped for an all-Christmas format. The all-Christmas format had not been done since former Adult Contemporary WLTY 96.7 MHz flipped its format to Adult Hits.

Classic Hits

On December 30, 2008, after stunting with full-length movies, [3] the station flipped to Classic Hits as "Flashback 94.3." The first song was "Let the Good Times Roll" by The Cars. Artists included Billy Joel, Queen, The Beatles, Tom Petty, and Electric Light Orchestra. [4]

On July 30, 2010, WWNQ rebranded as "94.3 The River", taking the station off the satellite and programmed locally, playing the top 40 hits of the rock era. Local on-air personalities were Mike Lockaby mornings, Lona Steele middays and Marty Hall afternoons. WWNQ promoted "Columbia's Most-Music Mornings" weekday mornings with 94 minutes of commercial-free Classic Hits. WWNQ also featured a locally produced Beatles specialty program, "The Beatles Radio Magazine," hosted by Marty Hall Sunday mornings at 10 A.M.[ citation needed ]

Classic Country

On June 28, 2011, at 3 pm, WWNQ began stunting with a ticking clock. On June 29, 2011, at 6 am, WWNQ changed its format to contemporary hit radio, branded as "Q94.3". The contemporary format turned out to be a stunt: at 6 pm on June 30, WWNQ resumed stunting with a ticking clock. The new format was actually Classic Country, branded as "Country Legends 94.3." The switch took place at 12 noon on Friday, July 1, 2011. [5]

Ownership Changes

In 2012, Hometown Columbia bought WWNQ and WWNU from Double O Radio. Minor changes were planned, but Kirk Litton of Hometown Columbia said Carolina Country would play "The Hall of Fame legends" instead of "bubblegum country." The focus would be the 1980s and 1990s. Also, "Good Morning Columbia", hosted by Doug Enlow, Bill Benton and Charlie Benton, moved from WWNU July 5; the show moved from WISW earlier in the year. WWNQ began airing Sprint Cup Series races as well. [6]

In early 2013, the station began to stunt again as 94.3 George , 94.3 Kenny and 94.3 Garth Brooks , before re-branding as 94.3 The Dude on February 7, 2013, with no change in format. [7]

On March 31, 2016, Hometown Columbia owner Thomas Davis transferred WWNQ's license to Hometown Columbia's parent company, Davis Media, LLC. Effective August 3, 2016, Davis Media sold the station to Midlands Media Group LLC for $900,000.

The call letters were changed to WUDE on September 15, 2021.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WAKL (FM)</span> Radio station in Gainesville, Georgia

WAKL is a non-commercial FM Christian contemporary radio station licensed to Gainesville, Georgia. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation, WAKL serves the Atlanta metropolitan area as the local affiliate for the national K-Love network. Besides a standard analog transmission, WAKL broadcasts in the HD Radio hybrid format.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WODC</span> Radio station in Ashville, Ohio, serving Columbus, Ohio

WODC – branded as 93.3 The Bus – is a commercial classic hits radio station licensed to Ashville, Ohio, serving Columbus and the Columbus metro area. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., the WODC studios are located in Downtown Columbus, while its transmitter resides near Obetz. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WODC broadcasts over three HD Radio channels, and streams online via iHeartRadio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WIAD</span> FM radio station in Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.

WIAD is a commercial radio station licensed to Bethesda, Maryland, and serving the Washington metropolitan area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., through licensee Audacy License, LLC, and broadcasts a classic hits radio format, branded as "94.7 The Drive". The studios and offices are on Half Street SE near the Navy Yard in Southeast Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KFBW</span> Radio station in Vancouver, Washington

KFBW is a commercial radio station licensed to Vancouver, Washington, and broadcasting to the Portland metropolitan area. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., the station airs a mainstream rock radio format with emphasis on the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, branded as "105.9 The Brew". The transmitter is located in Portland's west hills and the studios are in Tigard, Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WNRQ</span> Radio station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States

WNRQ is a commercial FM radio station in Nashville, heard in northern middle Tennessee and southern central Kentucky. It airs a classic rock format. It is owned by iHeartMedia, with studios in Nashville's Music Row district.

WRDU is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Wake Forest, North Carolina. The station is owned by iHeartMedia though licensee iHM Licenses, LLC and broadcasts a classic rock format. Its broadcast tower is near Middlesex at. The station's service contour covers a large portion of Eastern North Carolina, including the cities of Raleigh, Durham, Rocky Mount, Greenville, and Roanoke Rapids.

WHBQ-FM is a commercial radio station broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR) format. It is licensed to Germantown, Tennessee, and serves Greater Memphis. It is owned by Flinn Broadcasting with studios on Mount Moriah Road in Southeast Memphis. Despite sharing call letters, WHBQ-FM is not co-owned with WHBQ-TV.

KMAX-FM is a radio station broadcasting an mainstream rock format. Licensed to Wellington, Colorado, United States, the station serves the Fort Collins-Greeley area. The station is owned by Townsquare Media.

KBAY is a commercial radio station licensed to Gilroy, California, serving San Jose and the San Francisco Bay Area, and broadcasting a country music radio format. KBAY is owned by Alpha Media, along with sister station 106.5 KEZR. The radio studios and offices are located off U.S. Route 101 and Hellyer Ave in South San Jose.

WLGJ is a commercially licensed radio station serving Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, in Centre County. WLGJ operates at a daytime power of 5,000 watts and a nighttime power of 34 watts. The station is owned by Jim Loftus of Covenant Communications, through licensee JFLIV, LLC, and is broadcasting a classic country format, simulcasting WLEJ 1450 AM State College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WARQ</span> Radio station in Columbia, South Carolina

WARQ is a commercial radio station in Columbia, South Carolina. It is owned by Alpha Media and it airs a top 40 (CHR) format branded as "Live 93.5" Its studios are on Pineview Road in Columbia, off U.S. Route 378.

WCFJ is a Christian FM radio station affiliated with His Radio and licensed to Irmo, South Carolina and serves the Columbia, South Carolina market. The Hometown Columbia outlet is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 15 kW. Its studios and transmitter are located in Columbia separately.

WYAY is a radio station broadcasting a country format. Licensed to Bolivia, North Carolina, United States, WYAY serves the Wilmington area. The station is currently owned by Steve Clendenin, through licensee Maryland Media One, LLC.

WTRN is an American commercial AM radio station, licensed to the borough of Tyrone, Pennsylvania. The station operates at the federally assigned frequency of 1340 kHz with a full-time power output of 1,000 watts. WTRN also operates two FM translators. One at 100.7 MHz Tyrone and 96.9 MHz Altoona, Pennsylvania. WTRN was the flagship station for the former Allegheny Mountain Network (AMN).

WHUK is an Adult Hits formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Crozet, Virginia, serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. WHUK is owned and operated by Monticello Media.

WMTT-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Tioga, Pennsylvania, and serving New York's Southern Tier, including the Elmira-Corning radio market. WMTT-FM is owned by Seven Mountains Media, with the license held by Southern Belle, LLC. It broadcasts a classic rock radio format, simulcast with co-owned WENI-FM (92.7) in South Waverly. The radio studios and offices are on Chemung Street in Horseheads, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KLTD</span> Radio station in Temple, Texas

KLTD, branded as "Juan 101.7", is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Killeen, Texas and serving the Killeen-Temple radio market. It airs a Spanish adult hits radio format and is owned by Townsquare Media. The station's studios are located in Temple, and its transmitter is located south of Moody, Texas.

WJXN-FM is a radio station licensed to Utica, Mississippi, and serving the Jackson area. It airs a worship music format as part of the Air1 radio network. The station is owned by Educational Media Foundation.

KMCS is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Muscatine, Iowa and serving parts of Iowa and Illinois, including sections of the Quad Cities. It airs a mainstream rock format under the branding 93.1 The Buzz. The station is owned by Jam Media Solutions, LLC. The transmitter for KMCS is co-located with the transmitter of AM sister station KWPC in northwest Muscatine.

WLLI is an FM radio station licensed to Munfordville, Kentucky, United States, and serving the Bowling Green area. The station is currently owned by Commonwealth Broadcasting and airs an adult hits radio format.

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WUDE". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ Radio-Locator.com/WUDE
  3. ↑ "94.3 WWNQ Stunting". Radio Discussions. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  4. ↑ Jeffrey Day, "'Country Legends' Is Now Classic Rock: WWNQ Changes Format Today," The State, December 30, 2008.
  5. ↑ Taylor Jr., Otis R. (August 11, 2011). "After detour to classic hits, WWNQ returns to country legends". The State . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  6. ↑ Taylor Jr., Otis R. (July 3, 2012). "Revamped radio stations aim to rock your world". The State . Retrieved July 3, 2012.
  7. ↑ "WWNQ Relaunches as the Dude".

34°00′04″N81°02′06″W / 34.001°N 81.035°W / 34.001; -81.035

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.