WWRM

WWRM (94.9 FM) – branded Magic 94.9 – is a commercial hot adult contemporary radio station licensed to Tampa, Florida. Owned by Cox Media Group, the station serves the greater Tampa Bay area. The WWRM studios are located in St. Petersburg, while the station transmitter resides in the Tampa-St. Petersburg suburb of Riverview. Besides a standard analog transmission, WWRM broadcasts over one HD Radio channels, and is available online.

WWRM
CityTampa, Florida
Broadcast areaTampa Bay Area
Frequency94.9 MHz (HD Radio)
BrandingMagic 94-9
Slogan"Tampa Bay's Best Music"
Programming
FormatHot Adult Contemporary
Ownership
OwnerCox Media Group
(Cox Radio, LLC)
Sister stationsWDUV, WHPT, WPOI, WSUN, WXGL
History
First air date1970 (1970) (as WLCY-FM)
Former call signsWLCY-FM (1970–78)
WYNF (1978–81)
WYNF-FM (1981–93)
Call sign meaningformer WaRM branding
Technical information
Facility ID74200
ClassC
ERP100,000 watts
HAAT470 meters (1,540 ft)
Transmitter coordinates27.820°N 82.261°W / 27.820; -82.261
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websitemymagic949.com

History

Rahall Communications, owner of WLCY/1380 and WLCY-TV channel 10 in St. Petersburg, signed on 94.9 in 1970 as WLCY-FM from the "Rahall Color Communications Center" on Gandy Boulevard. During the early 1970s, WLCY-FM was an automated station, airing Drake-Chenault’s "Hit Parade" and TM’s "Stereo Rock" formats.

Hoping to follow the sudden rise in popularity of local Top 40 station WRBQ-FM ("Q105") in the mid-1970s, WLCY-FM switched to live disc jockeys in 1976 with the moniker "Y95", using the whole-number frequency closest to 94.9. It soon adopted a new call sign, WYNF, a convenient shorthand for "Y-Ninety-Five".

In 1980, Taft Broadcasting bought the station and rebranded it "95FM- Florida's Best Rock". The music changed from Top 40 to album-oriented rock, to compete with the dominant local AOR station, WQXM. WYNF's studios moved from St. Petersburg to Tampa, at 504 Reo Street (near Tampa International Airport), home of Taft's WDAE AM 1250. The change lasted less than two years, and the station was re-branded "95ynf". WYNF went from playing Top 40 to AOR and calling itself "The New 95". The station was later re-branded as "95ynf". Then later on, Taft became Great American Broadcasting.

In 1985, Great American Broadcasting sold WYNF to CBS Radio (Infinity Broadcasting) and relocated to 4th Street North in St. Petersburg at the Koger Executive Center. 95ynf dominated the Tampa bay area for AOR music. WYNF would again become a sister station to channel 10 (now WTSP) in the early 1980s, after Taft acquired Gulf Broadcasting. (Around that time, WDAE was sold to Gannett, while Taft acquired WSUN AM 620 from Plough, Inc.)

After trying out several morning teams including Nick van Cleve and Jack Strapp, and later replacing van Cleve with Ron Diaz, program director Carey Curelop paired Diaz with local comic Ron Bennington, creating the highly successful Ron and Ron morning show at WYNF in the late nineteen-eighties. The show had huge ratings success and Ron & Ron known as "Radio's Bad Boys" then partnered with their agent Ross Reback to form The Ron & Ron Radio Network to own and syndicate the programming. The show's final broadcast for WYNF was on March 12, 1993. Reback became President and CEO of the newly formed network and quickly negotiated a deal to broadcast the show in Miami, Orlando and Jacksonville, with another dozen markets soon following (including a new more lucrative deal with WSUN).

In 1993, Cox Broadcasting, owners of WWRM (then at 107.3, as "Warm 107"), bought WYNF, as part of a trade with CBS acquiring KLRX in Dallas, and relocated its studios back to St. Petersburg at The Koger Center. By that point, rival WXTB, the same station that was once WQXM, had surpassed WYNF in the Arbitron ratings, eventually forcing a format change.

Logo of the radio station between 2010 and February 2012

On August 16, 1993, at 10 a.m., WYNF dropped the rock format and began simulcasting WSUN's talk radio programming.[1] Seven days later, Cox relocated the soft AC format of "Warm 107" and its WWRM calls to 94.9, becoming "Warm 94.9".[2] In the late 1990s, the station had a minor overhaul, becoming "(The New) Magic 94.9", though keeping the format and WWRM call sign. (WWRM's old frequency at 107.3 has since become WXGL.) The station evolved to more of a mainstream AC sound by 2001, a year after joining its new sister station, WDUV in common ownership. The station used to play Christmas music from mid-November to December 26. (The Christmas music is now played by WDUV.) In May 2011, after ten years of being called "The New Magic 94.9", the station dropped "The New" in their name, becoming "Magic 94.9, soft and contemporary and voted #1 again for the most music while you work." On December 26, 2011, Magic 94.9 changed its slogan to "80's, 90's, & now."

Starting in November 2013, WWRM mixed Christmas songs with its regular format, while continuous Christmas music shifted to sister station WDUV.[3] The station stopped playing continuous holiday music on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day beginning in 2016. When WPBB flipped to Adult Contemporary, WWRM changed its format to Hot AC, while retaining the "Magic" branding. The station now focuses on music from the 1990s to now.[4][5]

Due to unknown reasons, both WWRM and its sister station WDUV still continues to be reported to Mediabase both as adult contemporary stations.

References
  1. "WYNF changes sound like a lot of talk", St. Petersburg Times (August 17, 1993)
  2. "Cold move: Double dose of Warm", St. Petersburg Times (August 20, 1993) (dead link)
  3. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153521504620442&set=a.10150240027185442.469958.228458480441&type=1&theater
  4. http://www.mymagic949.com/
  5. http://www.magic949.com/lsp/
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