WRNN-FM (99.5

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 ...

) is a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

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 to

Socastee, South Carolina Socastee is a census-designated place (CDP) in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 19,952 at the 2010 census. History Socastee is an Indigenous American name referred to as "Sawkastee" in a 1711 land grant to Percival P ...

and serves the

Grand Strand The Grand Strand is an arc of beach land on the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina, United States, extending more than from Little River to Winyah Bay. It is located in Horry and Georgetown Counties on the NE South Carolina coast. The term Gra ...

area. The station is licensed 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 ...

(FCC) to broadcast with an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

(ERP) of 21.5 kW. The station goes by the name Hot Talk WRNN and its current slogan is "The Grand Strand's News Talk Network." Its studios and transmitter are located separately in

Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as "The Grand Strand" in the northeastern part of the state. Its y ...

. The station airs Mike Gallagher, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton,

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commentar ...

Mark Levin Mark Reed Levin (; born September 21, 1957) is an American lawyer, author, and radio personality. He is the host of syndicated radio show Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and rad ...

, and

Jim Bohannon James Everett Bohannon (January 7, 1944 – November 12, 2022) was an American broadcaster who worked in both television and radio. He is best known for hosting the nationally syndicated late night radio talk show ''The Jim Bohannon Show'' orig ...

. A local morning talk show hosted by Dave Priest & Leanne Graham also airs. A portion of WRNN-FM's broadcast day is simulcast with 1450 WRNN.

History of 94.5 FM

In early 1991, 94.1 became WKOA-FM, "Coast 94.5". The station was all

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 ...

from the mid-1950s-Mid 1970s. They played many Oldies songs that weren't being heard on

WSYN WSYN (103.1 FM, "Sunny 103.1") is a classic hits music formatted radio station licensed to Surfside Beach, South Carolina and serves the Grand Strand area. The Cumulus Media outlet is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to b ...

Oldies Sunny 106.5. WKOA aired commercials stating that they had run a poll ad in the Myrtle Beach '' Sun News'' asking readers what kind of new radio station that they would like on the Grand Strand. Coast 94.5 claimed that the overwhelming answer was an oldies station that played a lot of 1950s' and early 1960s' Oldies with old commercials and old T.V. theme songs played also. So, Coast 94.5 was born. However, their playlist wasn't really very large with a lot of repeats. By September 1992, the station was all talk WRNN-FM and featured the

Tom Snyder Thomas James Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows '' Tomorrow'', on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and '' ...

Show.

Don Imus John Donald Imus Jr. (July 23, 1940 – December 27, 2019), also known mononymously as Imus, was an American radio personality, television show host, recording artist, and author. His radio show, ''Imus in the Morning'', was aired on various stat ...

was airing on WRNN prior to the mid-90s. In 1999,

Kim Komando Kimberly Ann Komando (born 1967) is the host of two daily radio shows and one weekend radio show about consumer technology. On her weekly call-in show, she provides advice about technology gadgets, websites, smartphone apps, and internet security. ...

and

Stephanie Miller Stephanie Catherine Miller (born September 29, 1961) is an American political commentator, comedian, and host of ''The Stephanie Miller Show'', a Progressive talk radio program produced in Los Angeles, California, by WYD Media Management and sy ...

(who replaced ''

Love Phones ''Love Phones'' was a popular call-in show, call-in radio show which was launched by Malrite Communications on Z-100 in New York City and Eagle 106 WEGX in Philadelphia in 1992. ''Love Phones'' ran from November 1992 in radio, 1992 until 1998 in r ...

'') joined WRNN's lineup. WRNN also aired the

Myrtle Beach Pelicans The Myrtle Beach Pelicans are a Minor League Baseball team in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and the Single-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The Pelicans compete in the Carolina League. Home games are played at TicketReturn.com Field, which open ...

. Rachel Roberts, promotions director for Pinnacle Broadcasting's Myrtle Beach stations (including

WYAV WYAV is a classic rock radio station licensed to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and serves the Grand Strand area. The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast at 104.1 MHz with an effective radiated powe ...

, WYAK, and WMYB), joined Steve Porter in the mornings.

History of 99.5 FM

WMYB

In 1995, WMYB signed on at 99.5 FM stunting with

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 ...

. Later, WMYB switched to 1970s music. Multi-Market Radio Inc., which had programmed and sold advertising for the station, announced on August 29, 1996 that it had purchased WMYB for $1.1 million from Puritan Radiocasting Co. Then on October 1, 1996, Pinnacle Broadcasting Co., owner of

, announced its purchase of WMYB, WRNN and WYAK.Andrew Shain, "WYAV-FM Owner Buys WYAK-FM, WMYB-FM, ''The Sun News'', October 2, 1996. In December 1996, WMYB switched from ‘70s musicToby Eddings, "Survey Says...", ''The Sun News'', February 9, 1997. to

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 ...

music. By 2000, the name had changed from Beach 99.5 to Star 99.5 When

NextMedia Group NextMedia Group was an out-of-home media company headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado. NextMedia owns and operates 33 AM and FM stations, 5,700 outdoor advertising display across several regions and markets, as well as an interactive divi ...

bought WRNN and WMYB in 2000, they traded frequencies because 99.5 FM had a stronger signal, though WMYB moved to 92.1 soon after that.Kathleen Dayton, "Radio Stations Playing Musical Chairs," ''The Sun News'', August 18, 2000. This left the 94.5 frequency vacant until

WEZV WEZV (105.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a soft adult contemporary format. Licensed to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States, the station serves the Myrtle Beach and Wilmington areas. The station is currently owned by Byrne A ...

needed better coverage of the south end of the market, so a simulcast began.

WRNN after the switch

WRNN-FM had a highly rated early morning talk show with Porter, Priest and Debbie Harwell. On September 21, 2011, NextMedia market manager Barry Brown announced that Porter would no longer be on the show, but would be replaced by Tara Servatius from WBT in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, who was new in the market. The show started streaming from the website, www.wrnn.net, in 2007 and is drawing listeners from around the country that use Myrtle Beach as their vacation spot or second home area. National, state and local news is discussed on the conservative format with Fox News at the top and bottom of the hour. On April 25, 2013 WRNN (AM) split from its simulcast of the FM. Liz Callaway replaced Kristine Ward on September 3, 2013 as co-host for Priest and Pat Taylor after Ward moved to a

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

station. NextMedia sold WRNN-FM and their 32 other radio stations to Digity, LLC for $85 million; the transaction was consummated on February 10, 2014. Effective February 25, 2016, Digity, LLC and its 124 radio stations were acquired by

Alpha Media Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , which ...

for $264 million. In September 2017, Dick Broadcasting announced the purchase of

stations in three markets — 18 stations and two translators in total, at a purchase price of $19.5 million. The acquisition of WRNN-FM by Dick Broadcasting was consummated on December 20, 2017. Callaway left WRNN-FM in 2019 to work for the

References

External links

* {{News/Talk Radio Stations in South Carolina RNN-FM News and talk radio stations in the United States