WAZA (107.7 FM, "The Touch") is an American

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

licensed to serve the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

Liberty, Mississippi Liberty is a town in Amite County, Mississippi. It is part of the McComb, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area. It has a population of 728 according to the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Amite County. The town can be accessed via I-5 ...

. The station is owned and operated by North Shore Broadcasting Co., Inc.

Programming

WAZA was launched as an urban outlet branded as "The Spot 107.7" in 1998. In mid-2010, the station flipped to

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

as a Fox Sports Radio affiliate branded as "Sportstalk 107.7FM". Since April 2011, the station has broadcast an

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban conte ...

music format branded as "The Touch 107.7" to South-Central Mississippi.

History

WAZA was also the call letters of an AM station in the 1970s in

Bainbridge, Georgia Bainbridge is a city in Decatur County, Georgia, United States. The city is the county seat of Decatur County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 14,468. History The first European settlement in what is today Bainbridge was a tra ...

. After applying in July 1996, this station received its original construction permit from the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

on January 22,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. The new station was assigned the WAZA

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...

by the FCC on February 20, 1998. WAZA received its license to cover from the FCC on September 25, 1998. On September 21, 2011, Charles W. Dowdy, acting as the sole owner of license holder Southwest Broadcasting, Inc., dissolved the corporation and assigned the broadcast licenses it held (WAZA plus sister stations

WAKH WAKH (105.7 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format, licensed to McComb, Mississippi, United States. The station is owned by North Shore Broadcasting Co., Inc. and features programming from Citadel Media. The transmitter is lo ...

, WAKK,

WAPF WAPF (1140 AM) is a sports formatted broadcast radio station licensed to McComb, Mississippi, serving McComb and Pike County, Mississippi. On September 21, 2011, Charles W. Dowdy, acting as the sole owner of license holder Southwest Broadcas ...

, WFCG, WJSH,

WKJN WKJN is a classic country formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Centreville, Mississippi, serving Wilkinson and Amite counties in Mississippi and East Feliciana Parish in Louisiana. The station is owned by North Shore Broadcasting Co., ...

, and

WTGG WTGG (96.5 FM is a radio station airing an Oldies format, licensed to Amite, Louisiana. The station serves the Hammond, Louisiana, area. On September 21, 2011, Charles W. Dowdy, acting as the sole owner of license holder Southwest Broadcasting, ...

) to himself acting as debtor in possession before initiating a

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy. The FCC approved the license transfer on December 19, 2011. On October 25, 2019, the stations emerged and this signal was transferred to North Shore Broadcasting.

References

External links

* {{Urban Radio Stations in Mississippi

AZA Aza or AZA may refer to: Places *Aza, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality *Azadkənd, Nakhchivan or Lower Aza, Azerbaijan *Aza, medieval name of Haza, Province of Burgos, Spain *Aźa, a Tibetan name for the Tuyuhun kingdom *Aza, a Hebrew roman ...

Urban contemporary radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1998 Amite County, Mississippi