WWLS-FM (98.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) is a

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radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

licensed to The Village, Oklahoma, and serving the

Oklahoma City metropolitan area The Oklahoma City metropolitan area is an urban region in Central Oklahoma. It is the largest metropolitan area in the state of Oklahoma and contains the state capital and principal city, Oklahoma City. It is often known as the Oklahoma City Metr ...

. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

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 broadcasting, ...

, calling itself "The Sports Animal." Local hosts are heard weekday mornings, afternoons and evenings, as well as weekends. WWLS-FM is the

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for the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

in the

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. The

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s and offices are on NW 64th Street in Northwest Oklahoma City. The

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is on the Northeast side on Ridgeway Road off NE 78th Street. Programming on WWLS-FM is

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of 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, simultaneously) ...

WKY WKY (930 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, owned by Cumulus Media. It is the oldest radio station in Oklahoma and among the oldest in the nation. WKY airs a sports ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. Many of the shows are also heard on "Sports Animal" stations in

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

(FM 99.9 and AM 1550), Muskogee (FM 97.1 and AM 1490), Elk City (1240 AM) and Woodward (AM 1450).

History

Early years

On June 28, 1962, the station signed on as KWHP. The call letters came from the owner's name, William Haydon Payne. He also served as the station manager and chief engineer. KWHP broadcast on 97.7 MHz and the original

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

was

Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States. It is a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, located in Central Oklahoma. Its population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States census, a 16% increase from 2010. maki ...

. The

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 ha ...

(ERP) was only 410 watts, a fraction of its current output. In 1964, the station moved to Kelly street. The station was put on the air in a small house on 1305 South Boulevard Street in Edmond. The radio station was in the owner's home, the transmitter in the bedroom and the studio in the garage. His wife threatened to leave unless the radio station was moved out of the house. In 1964, the station moved to Kelly street. In 1978, call letters change to KCFX, representing the change to country and the station mascot "The Fox." In 1979, Payne sold the station
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It later became KKLR and then KTNT. Porter Davis, whose family owned Davis Foods distributors, bought the station, switching it to Smooth Jazz in 1993 as KTNT "97.7 The Trend".

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company founded and developed by Larry Wilson. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the count ...

purchased the station, along with "SportsRadio 640" WWLS and "Sports Talk 1340" KEBC, in 1998.

The City 97.9, and Wild 97dot9 (1999–2006)

In February 1999, the station changed its call letters to KCYI, moved to 97.9 FM, and became "The City 97.9", retaining the Smooth Jazz format. On January 24, 2000, at noon, KCYI dropped its smooth jazz format and began stunting with a Microsoft robotic countdown (similar to Willow Pond's text-to-speech male voice), counting down until 6:45 a.m. on January 27. At that time, KCYI flipped to Rhythmic CHR as "Wild 97dot9." The first song on "Wild" was Wild Thing by Tone Lōc.

The Sports Animal (2006–present)

On October 23, 2006, WWLS (then at 104.9 FM) switched signals with sister station KKWD and moved to the 97.9 frequency. On July 9, 2008, WWLS upgraded its signal to 31,000 watts ERP and moved from 97.9 to 98.1 FM. In addition, WWLS is the hub for the "Sports Animal Network" that simulcasts selected programming on stations throughout Oklahoma including: 930 AM

, 1550 AM KYAL and 99.9 FM in Sapulpa and

, 97.1 FM KYAL-FM in Muskogee and Tulsa, 96.1 FM KITO-FM in Vinita, 101.1 FM KEOJ in Caney and Bartlesville, 1470 AM KGND in Vinita, 1240 AM KADS and 98.1 FM in Elk City, 1450 AM KSIW in Woodward, Oklahoma, and 1240 AM KVSO and 107.5 FM in Ardmore. WWLS is also the radio home of

of the NBA, and the market's affiliate for

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

Unusual call letters

While nearly all radio and TV stations in Oklahoma have

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 as ...

s beginning with at "K," WWLS-FM is linked to an AM station that dates from the earliest days of broadcasting, KWPN. That station signed on in 1922 as WNAD in

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...

, owned by the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

. At that time, Oklahoma was in "W" territory. When WNAD switched call letters to WWLS, it got to keep its historic W call sign. To give WWLS an FM simulcast, 98.1 became WWLS-FM. That made WWLS-FM the only FM station in Oklahoma with a call sign starting with a W. When the owners decided to focus the local sports programming on the FM station and switch the AM station to mostly national ESPN Radio shows, the AM station's call sign flipped to KWPN, leaving WWLS-FM with its unique W call letters. Sister station WKY is the other station in the market with a "W" call sign.

References

External links

* {{Cumulus Media μWWLS-FM Sports radio stations in the United States Cumulus Media radio stations Radio stations established in 1962 Infinity Sports Network stations Oklahoma City Thunder