WFXF
City of license | Dundee, Illinois |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Northwest Suburban Chicago / Fox Valley |
Branding | 103.9 The Fox |
Slogan | The Northwest Suburbs Classic Rock |
Frequency | 103.9 MHz |
First air date | 1967 (as WVFV) |
Format | Classic rock |
ERP | 2,550 watts |
HAAT | 98 meters |
Class | A |
Facility ID | 3135 |
Former callsigns | WVFV (1967–1980) WCRM (1980–1989) WABT (1989–1996) WZCH (1996–2004) WWYW (2004–2013)[1] |
Owner | Peter Handy (Matrix Broadcasting, LLC) |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | rockthefox.com |
WFXF (103.9 FM, "The Fox") is a radio station licensed to Dundee, Illinois. Its transmitter is located in Gilberts, Illinois and its studios are located in Crystal Lake, Illinois. The station serves the northwestern suburbs of Chicago. Its format consists of classic rock, from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990's.
The station is an affiliate of the syndicated Floydian Slip Pink Floyd show.
History
The present day station on 103.9 traces its history back to 1967 as WVFV-FM, as the Voice of the Fox Valley. The new station was the creation of Jim French, who operated out of a space above a Ben Franklin store in West Dundee. WVFV-FM’s transmitter was built in Gilberts, Illinois, between Huntley and West Dundee. Originally operating between noon and midnight, the station featured a middle-of-the-road format, as well as broadcasts of local high school sports, and city council meetings. The station was sold in April 1970 to Richard Wilrett.
By February 1972, WVFV became a Top 40 rock station. By April 1980, the station was sold to CLW Communications, and became a Contemporary Christian formatted station under the calls WCRM-FM on May 27, 1980.[2] The Christian format lasted for the decade, until flipping again on April 10, 1989. Under new calls as WABT-FM, 103.9 became an album orientated rock station, branded as "The Wabbit”. WABT was first programmed by Randy McCarten until 1992, then Cara Carriveau (who went by the name Cara Simms at the time) until 1995 and then Dan Forthover until the format changed in June 1996.[3]
Between June 1996 and March 2004, 103.9 was branded with the calls of WZCH-FM. In May 2004, NextMedia Group purchased the station from Entravision Communications for $5 million. By the end of the month, WZCH was stunting with television theme songs.[4]
On Tuesday June 1, 2004, the station was branded as “Y1039, The Beat of the Bubs” under the calls WWYW-FM. The station debuted with a rhythmic oldies format, featuring mostly R&B leaning songs from the 60’s through the 90’s. The following year the station reformatted as an oldies station on November 21, 2005, branded as “Y 103.9, The Greatest Hits of All Time”. This worked to fill the void left by the format flip of WJMK-FM from oldies to Jack-FM.
Y103.9 featured local hosts such as Jim Shea, Marci Beeks, Jeff James, Carla Coulter, Ken Cocker, and Shawn Powers. Weekend programing included a Saturday night all 70’s show with Jeff James.
By 2011, under a new program director, airtime of live and local hosts was greatly reduced, leaving only middays, and a few hours on weekends as live and local. Mornings, afternoons, nights, and weekends were filled with Tom Kent’s syndicated programming.
In January 2013, the station had become fully automated. On February 25, 2013, at 3:00pm the station dropped its oldies and classic hits format for classic rock. The last song as Y103.9 was Mercy Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye, while the first song on 103.9 The Fox was Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix.[5][6]
The station shares facilities with sister station WZSR-FM in Crystal Lake, Illinois. The studios for both stations are located behind McHenry Country College on U.S. Route 14. The transmitter remains at its original Gilberts location. Current on-air staff includes Brian Sherman and Alex Quigley, formerly of WKQX Q101, and Pat Capone, formerly of WLUP The Loop
References
- ↑ Call Sign History FCC.gov. Accessed May 10, 2010
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20130525044229/http://24.15.236.20/public/zecom/museum/Chiradhist/northwestsuburban.htm
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20130426060043/http://24.15.236.20/public/zecom/museum/Chiradhist/stationdex.htm
- ↑ http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nextmedia-completes-purchase-of-wzch-fm-serving-dundee-illinois-and-suburban-chicago-74188857.html
- ↑ http://formatchange.com/wwyw-becomes-the-fox/
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Station Website
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WFXF
- Radio-Locator information on WFXF
- Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WFXF
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