WFRO-FM

Infobox Radio Station
name = WFRO-FM


city = Fremont, Ohio
area = Fremont/Sandusky
branding = Eagle 99
slogan = Today's Hits and Yesterday's Favorites
airdate = 1946
frequency = 99.1 (MHz)
format = Adult Contemporary
power = 11,500 watts
class = B1
owner = BAS Broadcasting
website = | [http://www.hitsandfavorites.com/home.asp?callsign=WFRO-FM] callsign_meaning = W FRemOnt

WFRO-FM is a commercial FM radio station, licensed to the Sandusky county seat of Fremont, Ohio. The station operates at the federally-assigned frequency of 99.1 megahertz, and is owned by BAS Broadcasting.

History

WFRO had for much of its existence, been a combination AM and FM station, with the FM first going on the air in 1946, and the AM (at 900 kHz) coming on the air three years later. Both stations simulcast each other for about half of the broadcast day, breaking away for separate programming during the midday hours, with the AM concentrating more on information and talk, and the FM for music.

For many years, WFRO broadcast a full-service popular music format heavy on local news and information. AM 900's directional signal allowed WFRO programming to be heard clearly throughout much of southeastern Michigan (including the metropolitan Detroit area) and southwestern Ontario in addition to Ohio's North Coast region.

In addition to the normal Hot Adult Contemporary music format, WFRO's programming included some popular specialty shows. The station broadcast a longtime jazz show that aired daily at night, hosted by local DJ Dave Dugan. This show demonstrated how "real" jazz differed from the "schmaltz" depicted in the Ken Burns documentary "Jazz"fact|date=July 2008. Listeners recall that Dugan would often play "Feels So Good" by Chuck Mangione for an entire night, just to give Burns a good "ribbing"fact|date=July 2008. There was also a popular and request-driven Saturday morning (6 a.m.-noon) oldies show hosted by "Uncle Chuck" from 1997 to 1999, which proved very popular with local weekend-shift workers. An extensive letter writing campaign was mounted by local Fremontonialists to keep "Uncle Chuck" in town when word leaked that he was no longer under contract with WFRO, and was leaving for a more lucrative oil rig job in Tulsa, OK. Much to locals' chagrin, this matter was not resolved, and he left in 1999.

The station was founded by Wolfe Broadcasting Company, which controlled the station until 2001, when both stations were sold separately to two different owners.

BAS Broadcasting purchased WFRO-FM, while ABC/Disney purchased the license to WFRO-AM 900, but not to run it as a separate entity. ABC purchased the license as part of an initiative to move recently purchased AM 910 WFDF in Flint, Michigan to Farmington Hills (in the Detroit market). The move was made to allow AM 910 to broadcast at an increased daytime power of 50,000 watts, up substantially from 5,000 watts. WFRO-FM changed to the satellite adult contemporary format it currently airs, and WFRO-AM 900, after a brief period of silence, returned to the air using ABC's "Real Country" format and then ESPN Radio while preparations for WFDF's move into the Detroit area were made. WFRO-AM was officially silenced forever in June of 2004 when ABC surrendered the license to the FCC.

WFRO Today

WFRO-FM continues as a full-service station to Fremont and Sandusky county, but without many of the live and local DJs that had proliferated on the station for many years. BAS Broadcasting signed an agreement with ABC Radio/SMN's "Hits and Favorites" AC format (formerly known as Starstation), and rebranded the station as "Eagle 99", though the heritage WFRO call letters were retained.

In September 2006, WFRO and classic-rock sister station 92.1 WOHF "The Wolf" (the former WNRR "Hits 92.1"; the station has since switched to an oldies format) moved into a new 5,000-square-foot broadcast facility in Fremont. WFRO also now operates from a new 400-foot tower that is double the original tower's height, allowing the station to be heard clearly across Lake Erie in Monroe County, Michigan and in southwestern Ontario.

BAS Broadcasting, owned by Jim Lorenzen and Tom Klein, also owns WMVO-AM and WQIO-FM in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and have agreed to purchase WCPZ, WLEC and WMJK in Sandusky, along with WPFX and WTTF in the Tiffin region - all from Clear Channel Communications.

External links

*
*
*
* http://www.hitsandfavorites.com/home.asp?callsign=WFRO-FM