WOWW (1430

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 ...

Germantown, Tennessee Germantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 41,333 at the 2020 census. Germantown is a suburb of Memphis, bordering it to the east-southeast. Germantown was founded in 1841 by mostly German emigrants. The ...

, and serving the Memphis metropolitan area. WOWW carries a Top 40 (CHR)

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

and calls itself "B97.7". It is owned and operated by Flinn Broadcasting Corporation. The

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

s and offices are in

Southaven, Mississippi Southaven is a city in DeSoto County, Mississippi, United States. It is a principal city in Greater Memphis. The 2020 census reported a population of 54,648, making Southaven the third-largest city in Mississippi and the second most populous ...

. WOWW is powered at 2,500

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 night, to protect other stations on

1430 AM 143 may refer to: *143 (number), a natural number *AD 143, a year of the 2nd century AD *143 BC, a year of the 2nd century BC * ''143'' (EP), a 2013 EP by Tiffany Evans * ''143'' (album), a 2015 album by Bars and Melody * ''143'' (2004 film), a 200 ...

, WOWW uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performance ...

with a six-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower a ...

. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is off Orgill Road in

Bartlett, Tennessee Bartlett is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 57,786 at the 2020 U.S. Census. History Bartlett, originally called "Union Depot", first served as the last major Tennessean depot along the westward stagecoach rout ...

. Programming is also heard on an

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

: 220 watt W249BN at 97.7

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

in Memphis.

History

WHER

On October 29, 1955, the station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

as WHER, a pioneering station with an all-female air staff, including broadcaster Vida Jane Butler. The radio station was the brainchild of

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

, who used a portion of the $35,000 he made from the sale of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

's recording contract to

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

to finance the station.Dye, Robert W. (2017).
Memphis: Birthplace of Rock and Roll
'.

Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American publisher of neighborhood, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs the History Press, which publi ...

. p. 71. Retrieved July 24, 2019. A portion of the balance of the funding came from

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...

founder

Kemmons Wilson Charles Kemmons Wilson (January 5, 1913 – February 12, 2003) was an American hotelier. He is best known for founding the hotel chain Holiday Inn in the 1950s. Personal life He was born in Osceola, Arkansas, the only child of Kemmons and Ruby ...

, who also provided the station's first home, in a part of the third Holiday Inn ever built. It aired light music and had the slogan "1,000 Beautiful Watts". The licensee was Tri-State Broadcasting Service, initially owned by Phillips, Clarence A. Camp, and James E. Connolly.History Cards for WOWW
fcc.gov. Retrieved July 24, 2019.

WWEE

In the early 1970s, WHER went to a mixed-gender air staff and became talk station WWEE. The station gave birth to the longest running sports talk show "SportsLine" (now called "SportsTime"). "SportsLine" went on the air in 1972. Notable former staff members include Marge Thrasher, Bill Thomas, George Lapides, Dick Palmer, Jim Fields, and Jeff Weinberger. In 1981, the Phillips family bought out the other owners of Tri-State Broadcasting Service, becoming known as the Big River Broadcasting Corporation. Big River liquidated in 1986, selling WWEE to the Ardman Broadcasting Corporation of Tennessee. In 1989, after seven months spent simulcasting co-owned WEZI (now

WLFP WLFP (94.1 FM) is a country music radio station. It is licensed to Germantown, Tennessee, and serves the Memphis area. WLFP broadcasts in HD. WLFP is a Class C2 FM station that transmits with an ERP of 50,000 watts from a tower just south of ...

with the same call letters, Ardman relaunched the station as WNWZ. Flinn bought the station in 1993, changing the call letters to WOWW in 1997.

Format flips

On February 15, 1997, WOWW flipped from adult standards to

Radio AAHS Radio AAHS was a radio network managed by the Children's Broadcasting Corporation. Its flagship station was WWTC (1280 AM) in Minneapolis, which broadcast from the former First Federal Bank building at Minnesota State Highway 100 and Excelsior ...

, a

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

format. Due to Radio AAHS ceasing operations on January 30, 1998, the station switched to a

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

format. After later shifting to 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 ...

and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

format, WOWW returned to a children's format with

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

in late March 2000. On March 12, 2012, WOWW dropped Radio Disney after nearly 12 years in favor of a

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

format. On April 10, 2013, WOWW changed their format to country, simulcasting WEBL 95.3 FM. On June 21, 2013, WUMY dropped its

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

format for variety hits as "97.7 Guess FM". On January 2, 2014, WOWW began stunting, directing listeners to WUMY 830 AM Memphis, Tennessee, which took over the "Guess FM" variety hits format. A few days later, WOWW changed their format to country, branded as "The Rebel", simulcasting WEBL 95.3 FM Coldwater, MS. On August 6, 2018 WOWW changed their format to classic hits, branded as "97.7 Guess FM". On May 13, 2022 at noon, WOWW changed their format from classic hits to top 40/CHR, branded as "B97.7". This returns the station to playing current Top 40 music on this frequency for the first time since Radio Disney in 2012, which also carried a similar format. B96 Memphis Moves To 97.7
Radioinsight - May 13, 2022

Translator

In addition to the main station, WOWW is relayed by an FM translator to widen its broadcast area. It also provides the listener with high fidelity/

stereophonic Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

sound.

Previous logo

References

External links

* *

WHER

Kitchen Sisters documentary on WHER
'' On the Media'', October 28, 2005. '
"Talk on Lost and Found Sound's"
Peter Guralnick {{Contemporary Hit Radio Stations in Tennessee OWW Germantown, Tennessee Radio stations established in 1955 1955 establishments in Tennessee Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States