WHBY was initially licensed to St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin. It signed on the air on April 5, 1925. WHBY featured two test programs: a morning sermon, and evening musical entertainment, on 1200 kHz. Regular weekly programming began on April 8. WHBY's license allowed it to broadcast at all hours.[5]
Following the establishment of the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), stations were initially issued a series of temporary authorizations starting on May 3, 1927.[6] In addition, they were informed that if they wanted to continue operating, they needed to file a formal license application by January 15, 1928, as the first step in determining whether they met the new "public interest, convenience, or necessity" standard.[7] On May 25, 1928, the FRC issued General Order 32, which notified 164 stations, including WHBY, that "From an examination of your application for future license it does not find that public interest, convenience, or necessity would be served by granting it."[8] However, the station successfully convinced the commission that it should remain licensed.
WHBY stayed at 1200 kHz after the implementation of General Order 40 in 1928, designated as a local station, with 100 watts of power. In the 1930s, WHBY was authorized to broadcast at 250 watts by day, 100 watts at night. Its studios were in the Berlin Building in Green Bay.[9] It moved to 1230 kHz with the implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) on March 29, 1941.
In 1975, Woodward Communications acquired WHBY.[10] The station added more talk, sports and news programming, while reducing music shows.
Move to 1150 kHz
On September 16, 1991, the staff of both WHBY and WYNE (AM 1150) were informed that Woodward Communications, parent of WHBY, would be purchasing WYNE from Fox Valley Broadcasting, Inc. for a price of $965,000. The purchase would allow WHBY to move from 1230 kHz, and to increase its broadcast power from 1,000 to 5,000 watts, using WYNE's existing transmission equipment. The sale allowed WHBY to join WNAM as the only other Fox Valley AM station broadcasting with 5,000 watts of power at that time.[11]
The purchase was approved by the FCC as part of a larger initiative to reduce the number of AM radio stations competing for signal strength. The cutover (which moved WHBY to 1150 kHz and ended the existence of WYNE) occurred at 7:45 a.m. on December 19, 1991.[12]
In 2004, WHBY applied to build a new six-tower site on what was then U.S. Route 45 (and today is Wisconsin Highway 76) in the Town of Vinland. The new antenna array allowed the station to increase its power further, to 20,000 watts (daytime) and 25,000 watts (nighttime).[4]
In November 2016, WHBY added its first FM translator, W278AU, serving Appleton on 103.5 MHz. In November 2017, two more translators were added, both at 106.3 MHz: W292FA serving Oshkosh and W292DR serving Wrightstown and southern sections of Brown County.
