WYOY

WYOY (101.7 FM, "Y101") is a contemporary hit radio station in Jackson, Mississippi. WYOY debuted in September 1996, and gave the Jackson area its first Top 40 station since 1993. Its studios are located in Ridgeland and the transmitter site is in Raymond.

WYOY
CityGluckstadt, Mississippi
Broadcast areaJackson, Mississippi
Frequency101.7 MHz
BrandingY101
SloganJackson's #1 Hit Music Station
Programming
FormatContemporary hit radio
Ownership
OwnerThe Radio People
(New South Radio, Inc.)
WHJT, WIIN, WJKK, WUSJ
History
First air date
January 6, 1976 (1976-01-06)
Former call signs
WWLM (1976–1980)
WDGM (1980–1983)
WZXQ (1983–1986)
WEQZ (1986–1989)
WLIN (1989–1996)
Call sign meaning
Y is used in "Y101" branding
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID48647
ClassC2
ERP50,000 watts
HAAT139 meters (456 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
32.427°N 90.206°W / 32.427; -90.206
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.y101.com

History

Originally licensed to Canton, Mississippi, Lles Communications put WWLM on the air January 6, 1976,[1] but only for a short time. Issues with the construction permit prompted the station to go dark later that year.[2] After Lles transferred the station to Donald G. Manuel in 1980,[2] it returned in 1981 as WDGM, airing classical music.[3]

WDGM flipped to a rock format on July 7, 1982, going by the name "Rock 102". The rock, however, would be short-lived. On September 10, a fire destroyed the station's temporary studios in a mobile home.[4][5] It was the second in a series of fires at rock radio stations in Mississippi, including a deliberately set March 1982 blaze at a station in Lexington and a January 1983 fire that consumed the transmitter of WQMV in Vicksburg.[5]

In the wake of the fire, the station filed to relocate and change its city of license from Canton to Gluckstadt.[6] That allowed Rock 102 to return on April 14, 1983, under new WZXQ call letters, using a tower on Livingston Road in Jackson.[3]

Jackson Radio, Inc., sold WZXQ and WYAI (780 AM) to Exchequer Communications for $700,000 in late 1985.[7] When the station shifted from rock to adult contemporary as "EZ Rock" in 1986, the call letters were changed to WEQZ to match.[8] WEQZ also became the local carrier for Ole Miss athletics, an upgrade over their former station in Jackson, WZRX (1590 AM).[9] In late 1988, WEQZ flipped to classic rock as "Q-102".[10]

In February 1989, WLIN, an easy listening outlet at 95.5 FM, flipped to contemporary hit radio as WOHT, leaving a group of highly vocal listeners upset. As a result, after a strong response to a set of "Do you miss WLIN?"[11] ads the station placed in local newspapers—receiving nearly 5,000 replies—WEQZ dropped its classic rock sound and flipped to the format, complete with the WLIN call letters, in March.[12] As the Jackson radio market consolidated, by 1992, it was the last station not involved in a local marketing agreement with another,[13] though this did not last; New South Radio, which had begun programming WLIN under LMA, bought it and the associated AM outright in 1994.[14] As the 1990s progressed, WLIN segued into a soft adult contemporary format.[15]

In August 1996, New South Radio flipped WLIN to its current contemporary hit radio format,[16] adopting the call letters WYOY.[17]

References
  1. "WDGM(FM)" (PDF). 1982. p. C-131 (425). Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  2. FCC History Cards for WYOY
  3. Nichols, Bill (April 19, 1983). "Local bands get spot on revamped rock station". The Clarion-Ledger. p. 1D. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  4. "Fire damages trailer used by radio station". The Clarion-Ledger. September 11, 1982. p. 1B. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  5. Ourlian, Robert (January 6, 1983). "Feds to probe rock radio fire". The Clarion-Ledger. pp. 1B, 8B. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  6. "Public Notice". The Clarion-Ledger. December 27, 1982. p. 8D. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  7. "Transactions" (PDF). Radio & Records. December 6, 1985. p. 8. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  8. "Love That EZ Rock!". The Northside Sun. February 13, 1986. p. 12A. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  9. "Rebel basketball back on the air". The Clarion-Ledger. December 1, 1987. p. 3D. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  10. "Jackson Radio's Newest and Most Pleasing Choice". The Clarion-Ledger. September 29, 1988. p. 10A. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  11. "Do you miss WLIN?". The Clarion-Ledger. February 17, 1989. p. 4B. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  12. Edwards, Jeff (March 9, 1989). "Easy listening makes return (quietly) to Jackson radio". The Clarion-Ledger. pp. 1D, 3D. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  13. "Street Talk" (PDF). Radio & Records. March 27, 1992. p. 22. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  14. "Transactions" (PDF). Radio & Records. September 9, 1994. p. 8. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  15. Kinosian, Mike (May 28, 1993). "Mississippi's Mainstream 'Mix'" (PDF). Radio & Records. p. 35. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  16. "Street Talk" (PDF). Radio & Records. September 13, 1996. p. 28. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  17. Pettus, Gary (April 9, 1997). "Radio, TV stations do some shuffling of formats, people". The Clarion-Ledger. p. 1D. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
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