City | Forest Acres, South Carolina |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Columbia, South Carolina |
Branding | 94.3 The Dude |
Slogan | "Undivided Country" |
Frequency | 94.3 MHz |
First air date | 2004 |
Format | Country |
ERP | 2,550 watts |
HAAT | 135.9 meters |
Class | A |
Facility ID | 83396 |
Owner | Midlands Media Group LLC |
Webcast | http://943thedude.com/listen-live/ |
Website | 943thedude.com |
WWNQ is a radio station licensed to Forest Acres, South Carolina, serving the Columbia, South Carolina market. Owned by Midlands Media Group LLC, the station broadcasts a country music format branded as 94.3 The Dude.
The frequency for 94.3 was allocated to Forest Acres by the FCC in the fall of 1996. In order to make way for the new station, WPUB, located in nearby Camden, South Carolina, changed its frequency from 94.3 to 102.7 in 1998.
After several years of planning and delays, WWNQ finally signed on under test authority in the fall of 2004 with a mixture of various songs from different genes of music in order to not tip off other stations in the market the true format for the new station. After testing was completed, the station signed on in November with the Classic Country format.
The station was Classic Country until late November 2008, when it was abruptly dropped for an all-Christmas format, a style that has not been done since former AC WLTY flipped its format to Adult Hits.
On December 30, 2008, after stunting with full-length movies, the station flipped to Classic Hits as "Flashback 94.3." The first song was "Let the Good Times Roll" by The Cars. Artists included Billy Joel, Queen, The Beatles, Tom Petty, and Electric Light Orchestra.
On July 30, 2010 WWNQ rebranded as "94.3 The River", taking the station off the satellite and programmed locally, playing the top 40 hits of the rock era. Local on-air personalities were Mike Lockaby mornings, Lona Steele middays and Marty Hall afternoons. WWNQ promoted "Columbia's Most-Music Mornings" weekday mornings with 94 minutes of commercial-free Classic Hits. WWNQ also featured a locally produced Beatles specialty program, "The Beatles Radio Magazine," hosted by Marty Hall Sunday mornings at 10 A.M.