WAIO
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| City | Honeoye Falls, New York |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Honeoye Falls/Rochester |
| Branding | Radio 95.1 |
| Slogan | Brother Wease all morning, Kimberly and Beck in the afternoon |
| Frequency | 95.1 MHz (also on HD Radio) 95.1-2 FM: "Deep Tracks" |
| First air date | June 6, 1948 (as WVBT at 101.9) |
| Format | Classic rock |
| ERP | 50,000 watts |
| HAAT | 146 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 24958 |
| Callsign meaning | W RAdIO |
| Former callsigns | WVBT (101.9 Bristol Center, 1948–early 1950s) WRRE (early 1950s–1960) WMIV (1960–3/4/1982) WYLF (3/4/1982–1986) WZSH (1986–1991) WRQI (1991–1995) WNVE (1995–2004) WFXF (2004–2012) WQBW (2012–2014) |
| Former frequencies | 101.9 MHz (1948-1950s) |
| Owner |
iHeartMedia, Inc. (Citicasters Licenses, Inc.) |
| Sister stations | WHTK, WDVI, WHAM, WKGS, WNBL, WVOR |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | radio951.com |
WAIO, also known as "Radio 95.1", is a classic rock FM radio station in the Rochester region of upstate New York. Under ownership of iHeartMedia, Inc.. Its studios are located at the Five Star Bank Plaza building in downtown Rochester, and its transmitter site is in Victor, New York.
The station now known as WAIO signed on June 6, 1948 as WVBT, licensed to Bristol Center, New York and transmitting from Bristol Mountain on 101.9 MHz. It was the next-to-last link in the Rural Radio Network chain of FM stations broadcasting to farmers across upstate New York. WVBT changed call letters to WRRE and changed frequency to 95.1 in the early 1950s. When the Rural Radio Network became the Ivy Network under new owners in 1960, WRRE became WMIV. It would retain those calls under the network's next identity, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), broadcasting religious programming from studios in Ithaca between 1968 and 1981.
With the breakup of the CBN radio operation, each of the former Rural Radio Network stations was sold to separate owners. WMIV was sold to Empire Broadcasting. In early 1982, it changed format to adult standards, becoming one of the first FM affiliates of Al Ham's Music of Your Life syndicated format. On March 4, 1982, WMIV changed calls to WYLF ("Life 95.1"), operating from studios in a converted house on Route 332 in Farmington, New York and later adding a sales office at 213 E. Commercial Street in East Rochester.
In 1985, Empire sold WYLF to Boston broadcasters Ron Frizzell and Arnold Lerner, operating as the "Finger Lakes Wireless Talking Machine Company." On July 28, 1986, WYLF became WZSH ("Wish 95"), moving from adult standards to soft adult contemporary with a format that mimicked Lerner's successful WSSH in the Boston market. WZSH moved its studios from Farmington to the Piano Works office complex in East Rochester and placed a translator, W288AR at 105.5 MHz, on the air from the East Rochester water tower.
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