WFGF (92.1
FM, "92.1 The Frog") is a commercial
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 ...
based in
Wapakoneta, Ohio
Wapakoneta, (, ) is a city in and the county seat of Auglaize County, Ohio, United States, about north of Dayton and south of Toledo. The population was 9,957 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Wapakonet ...
, broadcasting 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
Format may refer to:
Printing and visual media
* Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements
* Paper formats, or paper size standards
* Newspaper format, the size of the paper page
Computing
* File format, particular way that informatio ...
. Its studios are located in
Lima, Ohio
Lima ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, southwest of Toledo, Ohio, T ...
, with their transmitter located in
Cridersville, Ohio
Cridersville
is a village in Auglaize County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,852 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Wapakoneta, Ohio Micropolitan Statistical Area.
The village is located about halfway between the cities of Li ...
, between Wapakoneta and Lima.
History
Originally called WERM (for its main air personality Ernestine R. Miller, wife of the station's founder, the late Harry B. Miller...later with
WHJM
WHJM, "Radio Maria" (for "Hearts of Jesus and Mary") is a non-commercial FM station operating at 88.7 MHz licensed to Anna, Ohio. It is a repeater station of KJMJ (AM) 580 in Alexandria, Louisiana (where its local Catholic diocese is also he ...
before her passing in 2013) when it first began broadcasting in 1964, under the licensee name West Central Ohio Broadcasters Inc.. WERM was a family owned and operated station located west of Wapakoneta on County Road 33-A (old
U.S. Route 33
U.S. Route 33 (US 33) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs northwest–southeast for from northern Indiana to Richmond, Virginia, passing through Ohio and West Virginia en route. Although most odd-numbered U.S. routes are north– ...
) in
Moulton
Moulton may refer to:
Places in the United Kingdom
;In England
*Moulton, Cheshire
*Moulton, Lincolnshire
**Moulton Windmill
* Moulton St Mary, Norfolk
*Moulton, Northamptonshire
**Moulton College, agricultural college
**Moulton Park, industria ...
which aired local news and sports. Its format was a mix of traditional
middle of the road and
beautiful music
Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...
. In the mid 1970s the gradual shift towards contemporary pop began with the evening shift "6 to 10 Club" and occasional rock music. It also operated an in-house training school for local aspiring broadcasters along with jazz-formatted Xenia sister stations WELX (now southern gospel
WGNZ
WGNZ (1110 kHz "Good News 1110") is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Fairborn, Ohio, with radio studios in Dayton and its transmitter in Xenia (the original city of license). It airs a Christian talk and teaching radio format with ...
in Fairborn) and WHBM-FM (now active rock
WZDA
WZDA (103.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to Beavercreek, Ohio, serving the Dayton metro area, owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. As of December 27, 2021, it broadcasts country music on its standard anal ...
in Beavercreek.)
In 1978 WERM was purchased by John A. Bulmer (dba:Bulmer Communications Inc.)who previously managed the former WPNM in Ottawa (now
WBUK
WBUK (106.3 FM) – branded ''106.3 The Fox'' – is a commercial classic rock radio station licensed to Ottawa, Ohio. Owned by the Findlay Publishing Company through licensee Blanchard River Broadcasting, the station serves the Northwest Ohio co ...
) with the call letters switched to WAXC (previously used at an AM station in Rochester, New York now
WHIC
WHIC is a Catholic radio station broadcasting from Rochester, New York. WHIC is located at 1460 on the AM dial. Referred to as '' The Station of the Cross'', WHIC is owned and operated by Holy Family Communications. The station began broadcasting ...
) as "Waxcee 92 FM...Your Radio Station" putting greater emphasis on the Wapakoneta/St. Marys community while gradually moving closer to the Lima market when its transmitter was moved from its studios in Moulton to Cridersville in the early 1980s. The station's new owner went as far as installing newer audio equipment and airing major market-styled jingles produced by
PAMS
PAMS Productions, Inc. (an acronym for Production, Advertising and Merchandising Service), based in Dallas, Texas, was one of the most famous jingle production companies in American broadcasting. It produced identification packages for radio stat ...
and
Jam Creative Productions
JAM Creative Productions, Inc., is an American company that produces radio jingles, promo music for television, and commercial jingles for advertisers. It has made more radio jingles than any other jingle company and has become part of American ...
along with high energy production values giving it a more professional sound and image over the former WERM with a soft
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
-day/
Hot AC
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet s ...
-evening format.
In 1981, WAXC's transmitter was moved to a new tower site located on east National Rd. in Cridersville to better cover Lima. When WAXC became WZOQ, the main studio was moved to Lima....hence the original WERM tower at Moulton was dismantled while the original 1960s "A-Frame" brick house studio building still stands next door to the former Swonger's Furniture City (now J & S Electronics) and is currently unoccupied.
After a short-lived format switch to an adult standards/pop oldies mix, WAXC was sold in 1986 to Arrow Communications who (under Bulmer's direction as General manager before his departure to WRQC Cleveland) changed the station's call sign to WZOQ "92 ZOO" which became Lima's outlet for
Top 40 Hits
''Top 40 Hits'' is the second full-length album by Anal Cunt, released in 1995 on CD and cassette by Earache Records.
The cover of this album is a parody of the compilation albums released in the 1970s by TV advertising company K-Tel.
The album ...
. In 1991 the station was sold to Pennsylvania-based Keymarket and then to Forever Broadcasting in 1993 slowly moving the operation from the small 1960s-styled brick house in Moulton to a former
KFC
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...
restaurant on Cable Road in Lima. It also added sister station WYRX later in 1993 both of whom eventually moved up the street to the former WCIT/WLSR-FM studios(now
WCIT/
WEGE
Wege is a form of weg, which means ''way'' in several Germanic languages.
Wege of WEGE may refer to
*Wege (surname), people with the name
*WEGE, radio station in Lima, Ohio
*''Wege zum Glück'', a German telenovela
**''Bianca – Wege zum Glüc ...
respectively) when Forever purchased both stations and added country newcomer WFGF (formerly WYRX) to the new cluster operation which is where it is located today.
Programming history
In 2003, WZOQ along with other Forever-owned Lima stations were sold to Connecticut-based Maverick Media and a year later purchased classic country
WDOH
WDOH (107.1 FM "Fun 107.1") is a commercial American radio station licensed to Delphos with a classic hits format. Its studios are located in Delphos and offices are located in Lima, Ohio with transmitter located in Delphos between Van Wert ...
in Delphos switching to a soft
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
format. At midnight on April 2, 2007, the station was rebranded as "Star 92.1". A week later on April 9, 2007, its callsign was changed from WZOQ to WWSR. The
WZOQ
WFGF (92.1 FM, "92.1 The Frog") is a commercial radio station based in Wapakoneta, Ohio, broadcasting a country music format. Its studios are located in Lima, Ohio, with their transmitter located in Cridersville, Ohio, between Wapakoneta and L ...
callsign was moved to its sister station at 940 AM, the former WLJM, before reverting to its original WCIT call sign in 2009.
On June 1, 2009, the sports/talk format on sister station WZOQ was moved over to the 93.1 FM facility, while the country music format and WFGF calls were moved to the 92.1 FM facility, replacing the soft AC ''"Star"'' format. WFGF since adjusted their on-air nickname, and are now referred to as "New Country 92.1 The Frog."
Effective July 1, 2013, WWSR and the rest of the Lima cluster of Maverick Media LLC was purchased by a local company, Childers Media Group LLC, at a price of $2.1 million; studios and offices were moved to 57 Town Square in downtown Lima.
Effective February 15, 2018, Childers Media Group sold WFGF and four sister stations to Woof Boom Radio of Lima LLC for $2.425 million.
Station ownership
*1965-1978 WEST CENTRAL OHIO BROADCASTERS INC. (as WERM)
also owned WELX/WHBM-FM Xenia
*1978-1986 BULMER COMMUNICATIONS INC.(as WAXC)
*1986-1991 ARROW COMMUNICATIONS (as WZOQ)
also owned WZNY Augusta, WTNN-A/WFFX-F Tuscaloosa, WFRG A/F Utica, KLIO Quad Cities, KZBB Ft. Smith, KHUM Topeka, WENI-A/WZKZ-F Corning
*1991-1993 KEYMARKET COMMUNICATIONS
also owned stations in Pittsburgh, Wheeling and Riverside Calif.
*1993-2003 FOREVER BROADCASTING LLC
also owned stations in Altoona, Johnstown, State College and Meadville
*2003-2013 MAVERICK MEDIA LLC (as WWSR)
also owns stations in Santa Rosa Calif, Eau Claire WI and Rockford Ill.
*2013–2017 CHILDERS MEDIA GROUP LLC
with offices and studios moved to 57 Town Square in downtown Lima.
*2017–present WOOF BOOM RADIO
See also
*
Froggy (brand)
Froggy is a brand name radio format used for a variety of radio stations in the United States, most of which broadcast a country music format, with a few playing adult contemporary. (There was, however, an oldies-themed "Froggy" in Erie, Pennsylvan ...
References
External links
92.1 The Frog official website*
{{Froggy Radio stations
Lima, Ohio
FGF
Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1964
1964 establishments in Ohio