WWHT - History

History

The station signed on the air as WONO in 1956, with a classical music format. That format and call letter assignment remained in place until 1979, when new owner Roy H. Park broadcasting changed the station's format and call letters. Since that time, 107.9 FM has had several different formats and call signs ranging from Adult Contemporary, rock, country as WRRB, easy listening/classical as WRHP, and lastly Hit Country 108 WHEN-FM.

In 1996, 107.9 FM was sold again, this time to Cox Communications the owners of country format competitor WBBS (B104.7). It was then that it switched to its current format and the WWHT call letters. Although its music and direction is heavily focused on Rhythmic and Dance hits, it does plays a few mainstream Pop/Rock acts, which they primarily target towards young adults.

In 2010 WWHT increased the Rhythmic content while reducing the non-Rhythmic product, a trend that several Top 40/CHRs have been adopting, and by January 2011 made the shift to Rhythmic Top 40 altogether. The move to Rhythmic resulted in WWHT being moved from both BDS and Mediabase's Top 40/CHR panels to their Rhythmic panels in November 2011. As of October 2012, WWHT returned to mainstream top 40, dropping almost all rhythmic-only content, but because most of their programming is voice-tracked, Nielsen BDS will not include the station's playlist in their Top 40/CHR panel. Hot 1079's main competition is WNTQ, the market's other mainstream top 40/CHR outlet and for whom WWHT had battled since its 1996 debut. As part of the Clear Channel family, Hot is part of the "powerhouse family" in Central New York.