WWEG (106.9 FM, "106.9 The Eagle") is a commercial FM

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 serve

Myersville, Maryland Myersville is a town in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,626 at the 2010 United States Census. History The town was incorporated in 1904.

. The station is owned by Manning Broadcasting, Inc. and broadcasts a

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

format. The station's broadcast tower is located west of Myersville at (). The station's service contour covers portions of the "Four-State Region" of western

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

South Central Pennsylvania South Central Pennsylvania is a region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the fourteen counties of Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry, Snyder, and York. Portions of west ...

, eastern

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

and northern

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. WWEG uses

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

and broadcasts an

Christian AC Christian adult contemporary, also known as Christian AC or CAC, is a radio format. In the United States, Christian adult contemporary radio stations cater to a mostly adult audience and are similar to mainstream adult contemporary stations in that ...

format on its HD2 subchannel, branded as "Hope FM", which is simulcast on translator W271BV in Hagerstown, Maryland. The station also broadcasts a

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 on its HD3 subchannel, branded as "93.5 & 100.5 Max Country", which is simulcast on translators W228AM in Frederick, Maryland, and W263CR in Halfway, Maryland. The HD4 subchannel is a simulcast of talk formatted WARK AM.

History

The station signed on for the first time in 1954 with the WARK-FM call sign. In 1976, the call sign was changed to WWCS, standing for "Country Sunshine", an automated country format it ran at the time. In a market dominated with country stations (WYII & WAYZ), WWCS struggled in the ratings even though it had the most powerful broadcast signal. On October 6, 1982, WWCS became WXCS, dropping its

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

format for

Album Oriented Rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-oriente ...

using the branding "107 X Marks The Rock". 107 X was a hit immediately, although its popularity waned as the "AOR" format struggled in the 80's. On March 1, 1985, the call sign was changed to WARX, the AOR format was switched to

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, quiet sto ...

and the station rebranded as "Magic 106.9". In early 1991, the station switched 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 ...

format with a branding change to "Oldies 106.9". On March 1, 2005, nearby

Waynesboro, Pennsylvania Waynesboro is a borough in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on the southern border of the state. Waynesboro is in the Cumberland Valley between Hagerstown, Maryland, and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. It is part of Chambersburg, PA Micropolitan Stat ...

-based WWMD (now

WBHB-FM WBHB-FM is an active rock music formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, serving "Four-State" area (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia). WBHB-FM is owned and operated by M. Belmont Verstandig, Inc ...

) had switched from

Contemporary Hit Radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

with the WEEG call sign and a branding change to "Eagle 101.5". On March 9, 2005, Nassau sued WEEG owner Verstandig Broadcasting for the use of the "Eagle" branding, even though Verstandig had been using the name prior to Nassau's purchase of WARX. However, Nassau had been operating WARX under an LMA since January 1, 2005. WARX was changed to the Eagle at 11 am Sunday, February 27, before Eagle 101.5 switched later that same afternoon. On March 9, Verstandig dropped the "Eagle" branding and changed WEEG's calls to WFYN. On March 10, 2005, owner Manning Broadcasting sold WARX to

Nassau Broadcasting Nassau Broadcasting Partners LP was a company based in Princeton, New Jersey that owned radio stations in New England and the Mid-Atlantic United States. Nassau's stations, which included both AM and FM frequencies, were located in Maryland, New J ...

. Nassau changed WARX's calls to WWEG the same day. In 2008, the city of license was changed to Myersville, Maryland. Because of the lawsuit against Verstandig, ratings for WWEG were weak at the beginning but have improved. WFYN, which now airs an

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

format as

, consistently ranked higher than WWEG, except during the ratings cycle in the Summer of 2009. After Nassau went into

chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

, WWEG and

WARK Wark or WARK may refer to: * Wark (surname), including a list of people with the surname *Wark (river), a river in Luxembourg *WARK (AM), talk radio station in Hagerstown, Maryland *Wark on Tweed, a village in Carham parish, in the north of Engla ...

, along with

WAFY WAFY (103.1 FM; "Key 103") is a radio station located in Frederick, Maryland, in the United States. The station currently airs a Hot AC format and is owned by Manning Broadcasting, Inc. History The station was founded in 1990 by Barbara Marmet, ...

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

, were purchased by Manning Broadcasting in May 2012, with the sale being completed on November 1, 2012 at a price of $6.4 million. Manning's repurchase of WWEG and WARK followed a lawsuit against Nassau over missed payments.

History

Translators

References

External links