WNOX (93.1 FM, "Awesome 93.1") 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 ...

to the suburb of Karns,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, and serving the

Knoxville metropolitan area The Knoxville metropolitan area, commonly known as Greater Knoxville, is a metropolitan statistical area centered on Knoxville, Tennessee, the third largest city in Tennessee and the largest city in East Tennessee. It is the third largest metro ...

. The station is owned by SummitMedia and airs 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 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 ...

. WNOX's

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 on Amherst Road in Knoxville. 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 Vance Lane, also in Knoxville.

History

On October 3,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, the station first

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 ...

under the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

WCKS. The station was owned by Bill Strelitz and it aired an

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. The station switched call signs to WWZZ on December 3, 1990.

WWST and WMYU frequency swap

On May 20, 1994, 93.1 FM changed to ''Star 93.1 FM'' with the call sign WWST. The format remained

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

. On March 9, 2001 WWST and sister station WMYU (Oldies 102) swapped frequencies bringing "WMYU" to 93.1 FM while the

WWST WWST (102.1 FM, "Star 102.1") is a radio station licensed to Sevierville, Tennessee, and serving the Knoxville market. The station is owned by SummitMedia. The station is a Top 40 (CHR) station that broadcasts with 15,000 watts of power and is ...

call letters were moved to 102.1 FM as ''Star 102.1''. WMYU broadcast an 80's format known as "931 The Point", until November 26, 2008, when the station switched to a country music format as ''Q93'' switching its call sign to WCYQ. On May 9, 2013, WCYQ changed its call letters to WNOX, swapping calls with WNOX 100.3 FM Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which took the WCYQ calls. On May 23, 2013 WNOX split from its

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

with country-formatted

WCYQ WCYQ (100.3 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and serving the Knoxville metropolitan area and East Tennessee. The station is owned by SummitMedia and broadcasts a country music radio format, calling itself ...

100.3 FM Oak Ridge. WNOX changed its format to

, branded as "Classic Hits 93.1". From November 15, 2019 until December 25, 2019, it switched to all

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

. The brand was modified to "Knoxville's Greatest Hits" on December 25, 2019. On April 12, 2021 WNOX rebranded as "Awesome 93.1".WNOX Relaunches As Awesome 93.1
Radioinsight - April 12, 2021

Journal Communications Journal Media Group (formerly Journal Communications) was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based newspaper publishing company. The company's roots were first established in 1882 as the owner of its namesake, the ''Milwaukee Journal'', and expanded into br ...

and the

E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...

announced on July 30, 2014 that the two companies would merge to create a new broadcast company under the E.W. Scripps Company name that owned the two companies' broadcast properties, including WNOX. The transaction was completed in 2015, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. Scripps exited radio in 2018; the Knoxville stations went to SummitMedia in a four-market, $47 million deal completed on November 1, 2018.

Previous logo

References

External links

WNOX official website93.1 WNOX facebook
*

NOX In atmospheric chemistry, is shorthand for nitric oxide () and nitrogen dioxide (), the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution. These gases contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain, as well as affecting tropos ...

Classic hits radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1988 1988 establishments in Tennessee {{Tennessee-radio-station-stub