WIXY (100.3
MHz) 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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 was compelle ...
.
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
Champaign, Illinois
Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metrop ...
, United States, the station serves the
Champaign-Urbana area. The station is currently owned by the Illini Radio Group subsidiary of Saga Communications under licensee Saga Communications of Illinois, LLC. The
radio studio
A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enou ...
s and offices are on West Bradley Avenue in Champaign.
WIXY has 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 h ...
(ERP) of 13,000
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 ...
s. The
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...
is on County Road 1700 East at County Road 900 North in
Philo, Illinois
Philo is a village about nine miles south of Urbana in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,392 at the 2020 census.
Geography
Philo is located three miles south of Urbana township and six miles south of the city of U ...
.
HD Radio
WIXY broadcasts using
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 ...
technology. It also had 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 tra ...
, W221CK, on 92.1 MHz in Champaign. During late 2009, these ran a new "WIXY Classic" country format. In early January 2010, that format swapped with WXTT "eXtra 99.1" in Savoy; 99.1 changed its
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 ass ...
to
WYXY
WYXY is a radio station licensed for Savoy, Illinois on 99.1 MHz and owned by Saga Communications' Illini Radio Group.
WYXY formerly had the callsigns WIAI then WXLS. It was sold from IAI Broadcasting to Saga Communications in 2004 and cha ...
and picked up WIXY Classic, and the 92.1 WIXY-HD2 subcarrier and 92.1 translator changed branding to "WXTT eXtra 92.1" The translator for WXTT later switched to 96.9 W245DP. The active rock format is now known as "eXtra 96.9."
In May 2012, WIXY signed on an HD3
digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compres ...
, and began airing a
Top 40/CHR format branded as "Hits 99.7" (in reference to translator W259BG (99.7 FM), which dropped its simulcast of WIXY-HD2). On April 22, 2021, WIXY-HD3/W259BG changed 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, quiet sto ...
format, branded as "EZ 99.7".
History
The call letters WIXY have been used off and on in other U.S. cities, most notably in
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S ...
; that station later became
WCCR. The current FM station was assigned the WIXY
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 ass ...
by the FCC on December 13, 1991. WIXY began broadcasting on June 1, 1992.
See also
*
WYXY
WYXY is a radio station licensed for Savoy, Illinois on 99.1 MHz and owned by Saga Communications' Illini Radio Group.
WYXY formerly had the callsigns WIAI then WXLS. It was sold from IAI Broadcasting to Saga Communications in 2004 and cha ...
— sister station 99.1 WIXY Classic
References
External links
Saga Communications StationsWIXY.com
— official 100.3 analog/HD1 site
EZ 99.7 FM
— official 100.3 HD3 and 99.7 W259BG website
*
*
*
*
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{{Saga Communications
IXY
Champaign, Illinois