On October 29, 1955, the station signed on as WHER, a pioneering station with an all-female air staff, including broadcaster Vida Jane Butler.[1][6] The radio station was the brainchild of Sam Phillips, who used a portion of the $35,000 he made from the sale of Elvis Presley's recording contract to RCA Records to finance the station.[1][7] A portion of the balance of the funding came from Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson, who also provided the station's first home, in a part of the third Holiday Inn ever built.[1][7] It aired light music and had the slogan "1,000 Beautiful Watts".[1] The licensee was Tri-State Broadcasting Service, initially owned by Phillips, Clarence A. Camp, and James E. Connolly.[8]
WWEE
In the early 1970s, WHER went to a mixed-gender air staff and became talk station WWEE. The station gave birth to the longest running sports talk show "SportsLine" (now called "SportsTime"). "SportsLine" went on the air in 1972.[citation needed]
Notable former staff members include Marge Thrasher, Bill Thomas, George Lapides, Dick Palmer, Jim Fields, and Jeff Weinberger.[citation needed]
In 1981, the Phillips family bought out the other owners of Tri-State Broadcasting Service, becoming known as the Big River Broadcasting Corporation. Big River liquidated in 1986, selling WWEE to the Ardman Broadcasting Corporation of Tennessee. In 1989, after seven months spent simulcasting co-owned WEZI (now WMLE) with the same call sign, Ardman relaunched the station as WNWZ. Flinn bought the station in 1993, changing the call sign to WOWW in 1997.
Format flips
On February 15, 1997, WOWW flipped from adult standards to Radio AAHS, a children's radio format. Due to Radio AAHS ceasing operations on January 30, 1998, the station switched to a talk radio format. After later shifting to an oldies and classical music format, WOWW returned to a children's format with Radio Disney on April 6, 2000.
On March 12, 2012, WOWW dropped Radio Disney after nearly 11 years in favor of a all-news radio format.
On April 10, 2013, WOWW changed its format to country, simulcasting WEBL 95.3 FM.[9]
On January 2, 2014, WOWW began stunting, directing listeners to WUMY 830 AM Memphis, Tennessee, which took over the "Guess FM" variety hits format.[11]
A few days later, WOWW changed its format to country, branded as "The Rebel", simulcasting WEBL 95.3 FM Coldwater, MS.
On August 6, 2018, WOWW changed its format to classic hits, branded as "97.7 Guess FM".[12]
On May 13, 2022, at noon, WOWW changed its format from classic hits to top 40/CHR, branded as "B97.7". This returned the station to playing current Top 40 music on this frequency for the first time since Radio Disney in 2012, which also carried a similar format.[13]
On July 4, 2023, WOWW changed its format from top 40/CHR to adult album alternative, branded as "Radio Pig".[14]
Translator
In addition to the main station, WOWW is relayed by an FM translator to widen its broadcast area. It also provides the listener with high fidelity/stereophonic sound.
