WFFY (98.5 FM) 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 ...

San Carlos Park, Florida San Carlos Park is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 18,563 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography San Carlos Park is ...

, and broadcasting to the

Fort Myers, Florida Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

. WFFY broadcasts at 50,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s at .

History

From 2007 to 2014, the station was known as WDEO-FM, airing

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

-based

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

programming branded as "Ave Maria Radio" under the ownership of the Ave Maria Foundation. WDEO-FM aired all

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the intercollegiate football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, north of the city of South Bend, Indiana. The team plays its home games at the campus' Notre Dame ...

games in the 2008 season using the ISP Sports feed. On September 4, 2014, it was announced that

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest ...

(EMF) would purchase WDEO-FM for $2.2 million and convert the station to its

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

network, K-Love. The call sign was changed to WLVO. On June 24, 2015,

Classical South Florida Classical South Florida was a radio network serving South Florida, owned by the American Public Media Group. Its stations carried classical music programming from American Public Media's Classical 24 service, as well as programs such as '' Performa ...

announced the sale of its three south Florida classical stations, including WNPS (88.7 FM) in Fort Myers, to EMF. On July 17, 2015, EMF took over operations of 88.7 and began simulcasting K-Love format on both WLVO and WNPS (renamed

WDLV WDLV (88.7 FM) is a non-commercial contemporary Christian-format radio station licensed to serve Fort Myers, Florida. The station is part of Educational Media Foundation's K-Love network. History 88.7 FM was first founded by Bob and Felice Augs ...

). On August 13, 2015, the license was converted to commercial and EMF announced the sale of WLVO to local group Sun Broadcasting. The sale, however, was quite contentious. Competing radio groups Renda Broadcasting and Beasley Media filed a joint petition with the FCC to deny the sale. The petition was based on the fact that while Sun Broadcasting was below ownership limits in the market, it operates as one de facto group with Fort Myers Broadcasting. The two companies together share studio and staff, and Renda and Beasley argued the sale should not go through because the two companies combined own far more signals than the FCC allowed. In the interim, on August 20, 2015, WLVO switched from K-Love to the

Radio Nueva Vida Radio Nueva Vida (''New Life'') is a Spanish-language Christian radio network based in Camarillo, California, United States. It is owned and operated by The Association for Community Education, Inc., a California non-profit 501(c)(3) organization ...

Spanish Christian format. After two years of airing Radio Nueva Vida format, the FCC dismissed the petition and approved the sale. On June 12, 2017, the station changed its call sign to WKHW. On June 13, 2017, the purchase of the station by Sun Broadcasting from Educational Media Foundation was consummated, at a price of $3,045,000. The new owners immediately changed the call sign to the current WFFY. On June 15, 2017, WFFY changed its format from Spanish Christian to rhythmic contemporary, branded as "Fly 98.5".Hip Hop Fly 98.5 Launches in Fort Myers
Radioinsight - June 15, 2017

References

External links

Official Website
* {{coord, 26.505, N, 81.854, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title FFY Rhythmic contemporary radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1996 1996 establishments in Florida