WFFN (95.3 FM, "95.3 The Bear") is a

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 radio ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to serve

Coaling, Alabama Coaling is a town in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, United States. It incorporated in September 1997. At the 2020 census, the population was 2,035. It is part of the Tuscaloosa, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. History On April 27, 2011, part ...

, United States, and broadcasting to the

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

, area. The station is owned by

Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

. It broadcasts a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

format. It is home to, as of 2021, the "Steve & DC Show". The station was assigned the WFFN call letters by 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 jurisdiction ...

on April 15,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. The station changed its city of license from

Cordova, Alabama Cordova is a city in Walker County, Alabama, United States. It was formerly a textile mill town. It was incorporated in 1897. At the 2010 census the population was 2,095, down from 2,423 in 2000. History Cordova was originally a settlement on the ...

, to

, in late 2005. In June 2004, New Century Radio (Vachel L. Posey Jr., president) reached an agreement to transfer WFFN to Apex Broadcasting Inc. (Houston L. Pearce, chairman) in consideration of the costs to build the facilities related to the then-upcoming change in the community of license. The deal was approved by the FCC on June 24, 2004, and the transaction was consummated on June 30, 2004. At the time of the sale, the station broadcast an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

music format. In February 2005, Apex Broadcasting Inc. (Houston L. Pearce, chairman) reached an agreement to sell WFFN and six other radio stations in Alabama to

Citadel Broadcasting Company Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media ...

(Farid Suleman, chairman/CEO) for a reported sale price of $29 million. At the time of the sale, the station broadcast an

music format. Citadel merged with

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

on September 16, 2011. Cumulus sold WFFN and its sister stations to Townsquare Media effective July 31, 2012.

References

External links

95.3 The Bear WFFN official website
* FFN Country radio stations in the United States Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Radio stations established in 1987 1987 establishments in Alabama Townsquare Media radio stations {{Alabama-radio-station-stub