WYHW (104.5
FM) is a
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
Christian radio
Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk program ...
format. Licensed to
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...
, United States, the station serves the Wilmington area. WYHW is currently owned by
Bible Broadcasting Network.
History
"Gold 104" signed on in 1994 with 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 w ...
format. The original call letters were WUOY. It used a satellite fed network oldies format with a local morning show hosted by Bob Dale. Paul Knight was the Managing Partner and General Manager. Bob Dale was Program Director. When the
John Boy & Billy show was signed, the station eventually evolved into a hybrid format called "Rock-Talk 'n Roll" with John Boy & Billy in the morning, The Side Show with Bob Dale mid-days and the syndicated Don & Mike Show out of Washington D.C. in the afternoons.
In May 1996, Community Broadcasting sold radio stations WUOY,
WMFD and
WBMS to a new company called Ocean Broadcasting. At this time, WUOY changed from 1970s
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...
to rock from the 1960s through the 1990s but kept John Boy and Billy.
For many years, this station was
rock WRQR "Rock 104.5". In the Fall 1997
Arbitron
Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging ...
ratings, WRQR was the top station reaching number 1, with
John Boy and Billy.
In July 2004,
NextMedia Group purchased WRQR,
WAZO, and
WMFD from
Ocean Broadcasting LLC, and
WKXB and
WSFM from Sea-Comm Inc. In July 2008, Capitol Broadcasting announced its purchase of NextMedia's Wilmington stations.
WRQR lost John Boy and Billy to
WKXS-FM on January 1, 2007. On January 2, 2007, ''Two Guys Named Chris'' from
WKRR in
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...
began airing on WRQR, the first station other than Rock 92 to carry the show.
The Will FM
variety hits format and WILT call letters moved March 31, 2008, from what is now
WRMR in
Jacksonville, North Carolina
Jacksonville is a city in Onslow County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,723, which makes Jacksonville the 14th-largest city in North Carolina. Jacksonville is the county seat and most populous commu ...
for a better signal in Wilmington.
The station flipped to 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 on February 2, 2009.
In February 2013, the station dropped all 1970s songs from its library and adjusted to a Bright A/C format featuring songs from the 2000s and 1980s songs.
On November 19, 2015, it was announced the
Bible Broadcasting Network would buy WILT; the purchase was consummated on December 1, 2015 at a price of $300,000. As a result, the WILT calls and Sunny format moved to
WBNE on December 1, and 104.5 flipped to Christian radio under the new callsign WYHW.
Previous logos
References
External links
*
{{Bible Broadcasting Network
YHW
Radio stations established in 1995
1995 establishments in North Carolina
Bible Broadcasting Network
YHW