WFWI explained

WFWI
Above:Simulcasting WOWO Fort Wayne
City:Fort Wayne, Indiana
Area:Fort Wayne, Indiana
Branding:News/Talk WOWO 92.3 FM 1190 AM
Airdate:March 1993
Format:Talk radio
Erp:2,200 watts
Haat:166m (545feet)
Class:A
Facility Id:18662
Licensing Authority:FCC
Coordinates:41.1108°N -85.1956°W
Callsign Meaning:Fort Wayne, Indiana
Owner:Federated Media
Licensee:Pathfinder Communications Corporation
Sister Stations:WBYR, WKJG, WMEE, WQHK-FM, WOWO (AM)
Website:wowo.com

WFWI (92.3 FM) is a radio station located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with a talk radio format, simulcasting WOWO (1190 AM). The station is owned by Federated Media.

History

WFWI began broadcasting in March 1993 with an adult contemporary format under the ownership of Russ Oasis and Steve Avellone, with Tony Coles as the first program director.

In early 1994, Oasis and Coles then changed the format to 1970s hits; shortly after, Coles left Fort Wayne for New York's WLTW and production director Keith Harris took over as WFWI's program director. Under Harris's tenure, the format was shifted to classic hits. On January 6, 1995, the Bob & Tom Show became the station's morning show.

In 1997, Federated Media purchased WFWI from Edgewater Radio. Following the sale, Federated Media shifted WFWI from a classic hits format to a classic rock format under the name "92.3 The Fort".

On March 15, 2012, Federated Media announced that 92.3 would begin simulcasting WOWO on April 1. The change was then moved up a few days to the 28th, and at Noon on that day, following a goodbye show for The Fort from the DJs of the station (who had previously announced that they and the format would move to an online webstream at TheFortRocks.com; the show ended with "Happy Trails" by Van Halen), 92.3 began simulcasting WOWO as "News/Talk WOWO, AM 1190 and FM 92.3". The same day, the callsign was changed to WOWO-FM.[1] [2] [3]

On November 4, 2015, WOWO-FM changed their call letters back to WFWI. On December 14, WOWO began simulcasting on 107.5 W298BJ Fort Wayne; the simulcast would move to the frequency on January 1, 2016, as 92.3 began stunting with 2-minute clips of classic rock songs, with liners promoting to go to WePromiseSomethingBig.com, which had a timer counting down to Monday at 6AM, at which time 92.3 flipped to a classic hits/adult hits hybrid as "Big 92.3, Fort Wayne's Greatest Hits", playing hits from four decades (focusing on the late 1970s and early 1980s) and emphasizing that their stopsets would not last more than 2 minutes long.[4]

On May 1, 2023, WFWI dropped the classic hits format and returned to simulcasting WOWO.[5]

Notes and References

  1. News: Penhollow. Steve. FM simulcast of WOWO to replace ‘The Fort’. March 15, 2012. The Journal Gazette. March 15, 2012.
  2. https://radioinsight.com/headlines/56087/wowo-adds-fm-simulcast/ WOWO Adds FM Simulcast
  3. https://formatchange.com/the-fort-becomes-wowo-fm/ The Fort Becomes WOWO-FM
  4. https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/95514/wowo-moves-fm-simulcast-to-107-5/ WOWO Moves FM Simulcast To 107.5
  5. https://radioinsight.com/headlines/251626/wowo-returns-to-92-3-in-fort-wayne/ WOWO Returns to 92.3 in Fort Wayne