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WOLX-FM
Broadcast areaMadison metropolitan area
Frequency94.9 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding94.9 WOLX
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatClassic hits
SubchannelsHD2: Channel Q
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
1947 (1947)
Former call signs
  • WWCF (1947–70)
  • WLVE (1970–84)
  • WNLT (1984–85)
  • WILV (1985–89)
Call sign meaning
"Oldies" (former branding and format)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID60236
ClassB
ERP37,000 watts
HAAT396 meters (1,299 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
43°25′40″N 89°39′14″W / 43.42778°N 89.65389°W / 43.42778; -89.65389
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live (via Audacy)
Websitewww.audacy.com/wolx

WOLX-FM (94.9 MHz) is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Baraboo, Wisconsin and serves the Madison metropolitan area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs a classic hits format. The studios and offices are on Ganser Way in Madison. WOLX broadcasts from a transmitter in Devil's Lake State Park near Baraboo in Sauk County, Wisconsin.[2]

WOLX-FM broadcasts in HD Radio.

History

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The station first started experimental broadcasts in 1945 and was licensed as WWCF in 1947.[3] It was the sister station to WIBU in Poynette, Wisconsin, which went on the air in 1925. At first, WWCF mostly simulcast WIBU. By the 1970s it separated its programming from WIBU, airing a beautiful music format, using the call sign WLVE meaning "Love". In 1984, it moved to soft adult contemporary as WNLT[4] with the LT standing for "Lite Music". In May 1985, the call letters changed to WILV.[5]

Logo for WOLX-FM as Oldies 94.9

In early 1989, WILV flipped to an oldies format, initially concentrating on 1950s and 1960s music. Branded "Oldies 94.9", the station changed its call letters to WOLX-FM in April 1989.[6][7] The new format proved immediately successful; in the Spring 1989 Arbitron report, WOLX-FM jumped to second place among adults 25–54 in the Madison market from eleventh in the same period the previous year.[8] In May 1996, long-time owner Shockley Communications, headed by Terry K. Shockley, sold WOLX-FM to Dubuque, Iowa-based Woodward Communications for $10.5 million.[9]

In May 2000, Woodward sold all of its Madison stations — WOLX-FM, WMMM-FM, and WYZM — to Entercom for $14.6 million.[10] As the 2000s progressed, WOLX-FM adjusted its format to classic hits, dropping the "Oldies 94.9" moniker in favor of "94.9 WOLX" and featuring primarily music from the 1970s thru the 1990s.

Syndicated programming on WOLX-FM includes Dick Bartley's Classic Hits, America's Greatest Hits hosted by Scott Shannon, and M. G. Kelly's Classic Hit List.

Superpower status

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As one of the oldest FM stations in Wisconsin, WOLX-FM operates at a higher effective radiated power (ERP) than would be granted today. It is a grandfathered "superpower" Class B FM station, operating at 37,000 watts from a height above average terrain (HAAT) of 396 meters (1,299 ft). Under Federal Communications Commission rules, a Class B FM station at the same HAAT would be allowed a maximum ERP of 6,700 watts.[11] The station once used the slogan "High atop the Baraboo Bluffs in Greenfield Township". WOLX-FM's signal can reach 33 of Wisconsin's 72 counties, including those along the Lake Michigan shoreline on clear days, though reception is usually blocked by the Kettle Moraine hills northeast of Madison. The station can also be heard in the western suburbs of Milwaukee, in Sheboygan County, and in portions of Illinois and Iowa.

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WOLX-FM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "WOLX-FM Radio Station Coverage Map".
  3. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-231
  4. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. Broadcasting Publications Inc. February 27, 1984. p. 72. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  5. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. Broadcasting Publications Inc. May 13, 1985. p. 110. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  6. ^ "And The Winner Is ..." (PDF). Radio & Records. July 21, 1989. p. 70. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  7. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. Broadcasting Publications Inc. April 24, 1989. p. 128. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  8. ^ "Gold Spring Sweep" (PDF). Radio & Records. September 8, 1989. p. 78. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  9. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. Reed Elsevier Inc. April 24, 1989. p. 49. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  10. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. Reed Elsevier Inc. May 22, 2000. p. 71. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  11. ^ "FMpower - Find ERP for an FM Station Class". Archived from the original on January 6, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
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