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WFRO-FM

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WFRO-FM
Eagle 99 WFRO.png
Fremont, Ohio
Broadcast areaSandusky/Port Clinton
Lake Erie Islands
Frequency99.1 MHz
BrandingEagle 99
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatAdult contemporary
Ownership
OwnerBAS Broadcasting
History
First air date
1946 (1946)
Call sign meaning
FRemOnt
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID73388
ClassB1
ERP11,500 watts
HAAT111 meters (364 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
41°21′58″N 83°05′20″W / 41.366°N 83.089°W / 41.366; -83.089
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.wfroradio.com

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 MHz, 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 a portion 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 AM broadcast a full-service MOR format heavy on local news and information; WFRO-FM played beautiful music during non-simulcast dayparts. 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. By the 1990s, WFRO and WFRO-FM were simulcasting each other for most of the broadcast day, and WFRO's music format had evolved into a more contemporary mix of AC and adult-appeal CHR hits, but the full-service emphasis remained.

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

BAS Broadcasting purchased WFRO-FM, while ABC/Disney purchased the license to WFRO/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/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/900 was officially silenced forever in June 2004 when ABC surrendered the license to the FCC.

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Beautiful music

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Detroit

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Ontario

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WFDF (AM)

WFDF (AM)

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ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The network is based at the ESPN campus in Bristol, Connecticut, with multiple studio facilities nationwide, along with home studios. The network airs a regular schedule of daily and weekly programming as well as live radio play-by-play of sporting events.

WFRO Today

WFRO-FM continues as a full-service station serving Sandusky, Port Clinton, and the Lake Erie Islands (collectively known as Ohio's Vacationland region),[1] 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 (460 m2) broadcast facility in Fremont. WFRO also now operates from a new 400-foot (120 m) 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 Essex County, Ontario while continuing to provide a strong signal to serve Fremont and the surrounding cities of Tiffin, Port Clinton, Norwalk, Sandusky, Clyde and Bellevue. In March 2009, WFRO-FM switched affiliations from ABC's (now Citadel Media) "Hits and Favorites" format over to Waitt Radio Networks' AC Pure service, but has kept ABC News Radio newscasts for both morning and afternoon drive. In 2019, local hosts returned to WFRO with Kyle Knight in middays and Russ Rutherford in afternoons.

BAS Broadcasting, owned by Jim Lorenzen and Tom Klein, also owns WMVO and WQIO in Mount Vernon, Ohio, as well as WCPZ, WMJK, WLEC, and WOHF in Sandusky. The Mount Vernon and Sandusky stations were all purchased from Clear Channel Communications.

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The Vacationland region of Ohio—billed as such for being known primarily as a major summertime tourist destination—is the area that is generally considered to be in the north central part of the state, and along the western half of the Lake Erie shoreline, specifically the counties of Erie, Huron, Ottawa, and Sandusky.

Satellite Music Network

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Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered network to provide complete live 24-hour-a-day music programming to local stations, under several different formats.

Monroe County, Michigan

Monroe County, Michigan

Monroe County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 154,809. The largest city and county seat is Monroe. The county was established as the second county in the Michigan Territory in 1817 and was named for then-President James Monroe.

Essex County, Ontario

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Tiffin, Ohio

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Port Clinton, Ohio

Port Clinton, Ohio

Port Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Ottawa County, located at the mouth of the Portage River on Lake Erie, about 44 miles east of Toledo. The population was 6,025 at the 2020 census.

Norwalk, Ohio

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Sandusky, Ohio

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Sandusky is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo and Cleveland. According to 2020 census, the city had a population of 25,095, and the Sandusky micropolitan area had 75,622 residents.

Clyde, Ohio

Clyde, Ohio

Clyde is a city in Sandusky County, Ohio, located eight miles southeast of Fremont. The population was 6,325 at the time of the 2010 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Clyde as a Tree City USA.

Bellevue, Ohio

Bellevue, Ohio

Bellevue is a city in Erie, Huron, Seneca, and Sandusky counties in the U.S. state of Ohio, located 61 miles southwest of Cleveland and 45 miles southeast of Toledo. The population was 8,202 at the 2010 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Bellevue as a Tree City USA.

AC Pure

AC Pure

AC Pure was a 24-hour music format produced by Waitt Radio Networks and then by Dial Global under its Dial Global Local banner. Its playlist was composed of adult contemporary music released from the 1970s to this day from artists such as Phil Collins, Celine Dion, Rod Stewart, Gloria Estefan, Michael Bolton, etc. that mainly targeted listeners ages 25-54.

ABC News Radio

ABC News Radio

ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-past the hour, to its network affiliates. ABC News Radio is the largest commercial radio news organization in the US.

Source: "WFRO-FM", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, July 9th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WFRO-FM.

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