View source for WNOR

{{Short description|Radio station in Norfolk, Virginia}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name             = WNOR
| logo             = WNOR FM99WNOR logo.jpg
| logo_size        = 150px
| city             = [[Norfolk, Virginia]]
| country          = US
| area             = [[Hampton Roads]]; [[Northeastern North Carolina]]
| branding         = ''FM99 WNOR''
| frequency        = 98.7 [[MHz]] {{HD Radio}}
| airdate          = {{Start date|1962|7|19}}
| format           = [[Mainstream rock]]<ref name="Arbitron">{{cite web|url=https://www1.arbitron.com/sip/displaySip.do?surveyID=FA23&band=fm&callLetter=WNOR|title=Arbitron Station Information Profiles|access-date=November 1, 2018|publisher=[[Nielsen Audio]]/[[Nielsen Holdings]]|archive-date=September 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923232510/https://www1.arbitron.com/sip/displaySip.do?surveyID=FA23&band=fm&callLetter=WNOR|url-status=live}}</ref>
| licensing_authority = [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
| erp              = 46,000 [[watt]]s
| haat             = 166 meters (545.00 ft)
| class            = B
| facility_id      = 67080
| coordinates      = {{coord|36|50|4.9|N|76|16|9.3|W|type:landmark}}
| callsign_meaning = Norfolk
| former_callsigns = WNOR-FM (1962–2002)
| affiliations     =
| owner            = Saga Communications
| licensee         = Tidewater Communications, LLC
| sister_stations  = [[WAFX]]
| webcast          = [https://player.amperwave.net/7905 Listen Live]
| website          = {{url|fm99.com}}
}}
'''WNOR''' (98.7 [[FM broadcasting|FM]] "FM99") is a [[radio station]] [[city of license|licensed]] to [[Norfolk, Virginia]], United States, serving the [[Hampton Roads]] (Norfolk-[[Virginia Beach, Virginia|Virginia Beach]]-[[Newport News, Virginia|Newport News]]) [[media market|radio market]]. WNOR is owned and operated by Saga Communications. It airs a [[mainstream rock]] [[radio format]].<ref name="Arbitron"/>
WNOR broadcasts in the [[HD Radio]] (hybrid) format. Studios and offices are on Greenbrier Circle in [[Chesapeake, Virginia|Chesapeake]]; the [[transmitter]] is next to Riverside Memorial Park in Norfolk.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=WNOR-FM |title=Radio-Locator.com/WNOR-FM |access-date=2018-02-24 |archive-date=2023-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923232511/https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=WNOR-FM |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[List of North American broadcast station classes|Class B]] signal covers Southeastern [[Virginia]] and [[Northeastern North Carolina]].
==History==
On July 19, 1962, WNOR-FM first [[sign-on|signed on]] the air, owned by the Norfolk Broadcasting Company. It was the [[sister station]] to [[WJYI (AM)|WNOR]] (1230 AM) and presented a mix of [[easy listening]] "semiclassical music" and show tunes.<ref name="Ledg620718">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/ledger-star-sixth-fm-station-to-go-on-ai/132307358/|date=July 18, 1962|page=20|title=Sixth FM Station To Go on Air|newspaper=Ledger-Star|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023|archive-date=September 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923232511/https://www.newspapers.com/article/ledger-star-sixth-fm-station-to-go-on-ai/132307358/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Wed --> WNOR-AM-FM was sold for $1.23 million in 1967 to Arnold and Audrey Malkan and Stanley Wilson.<ref>{{Cite news|pages=58–59|title=Station sales total $10.7 million|work=Broadcasting|date=May 1, 1967|id={{ProQuest|1014524080}} }}</ref> The new owners then sued the sellers, claiming among other things that WNOR-FM used equipment that did not meet [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) requirements.<ref>{{Cite news|page=50|date=April 15, 1968|work=Broadcasting|title=Hearing set in WNOR lawsuit|id={{ProQuest|1014529946}} }}</ref>
The station maintained an all-female air staff until 1974, when the general manager felt the concept had run its course; citing high turnover, he released two female DJs and reassigned others, telling ''[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]]'', "Females and males alike would rather hear a male voice on the radio."<ref>{{Cite news|page=36|title=No time for Lorelei|work=Broadcasting|date=September 16, 1974|id={{ProQuest|1016878491}} }}</ref>
In 1969, WNOR-FM began airing a [[progressive rock (radio format)|progressive rock format]] at night.<ref name="RR970801">{{Cite news|first=Cyndee|last=Maxwell|work=Radio & Records|date=August 1, 1997|page=80|title=Targeting Norfolk's Active Rock Audience|id={{ProQuest|1017298377}}}}</ref> Eventually, the rock music proved more popular than easy listening, with WNOR-FM abandoning the "split-format" approach in 1974. The station's [[Arbitron]] ratings quickly took off, culminating in the station's rise to number one in the rock radio ratings beginning in the early 1980s<ref name="Dail890405">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-wnor-vs-wafx-the-wars-on/132291280/|date=April 5, 1989|pages=C1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-radio/132291354/ C4]|title=WNOR vs. WAFX: The war's on for classic-rock radio listeners|newspaper=Daily Press|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023|archive-date=September 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923232516/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-wnor-vs-wafx-the-wars-on/132291280/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Wed --> and the total-market ratings from 1986 to 1988 as well as being the market's highest-billing station from 1986 to 1993.<ref name="duncan">{{Cite book|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Duncan-American-Radio/Duncan-1975-1992/Norfolk.pdf|chapter=Norfolk|first=James H. Jr.|last=Duncan|title=An American Radio Trilogy, 1975 to 2004|year=2004|access-date=2023-09-23|archive-date=2023-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923232508/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Duncan-American-Radio/Duncan-1975-1992/Norfolk.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
By the 1980s, the station had moved to an [[album-oriented rock]] format, based more on album sales than the previous progressive rock format. In 1980, Marvin Josephson Associates acquired the WNOR stations;<ref>{{cite news|page=15|work=The Hollywood Reporter|title=MJA to purchase WNOR-AM & FM for $2.6 million|date=December 3, 1980|id={{ProQuest|2598221963}} }}</ref> company president Edward K. Christian led a [[leveraged buyout]] of the Josephson radio stations in 1986, forming Saga Communications.<ref>{{cite news|work=Crain's Detroit Business|page=3|first=Steve|last=Raphael|title=Radio Chain's Buyer Seeks Acquisitions|date=May 19, 1986|id={{ProQuest|212264215}} }}</ref> Saga decided to [[simulcast]] the FM station's rock format on the AM station. WNOR gained notoriety in 1992 when, as an [[April Fool's Day]] prank, it claimed that the [[Mount Trashmore Park|Mount Trashmore]] landfill in [[Virginia Beach, Virginia|Virginia Beach]] was about to explode; callers jammed the [[9-1-1]] telephone system in the area, and the station apologized at the behest of local police.<ref name="Dail920402">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-wnor-prank-explodes-in-stati/132291659/|date=April 2, 1992|page=A1|first=Kris|last=Worrell|title=WNOR prank explodes in station's face|newspaper=Daily Press|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023|archive-date=September 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923232525/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-wnor-prank-explodes-in-stati/132291659/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> Saga then suspended the morning show hosts for two weeks in an effort to show, per CEO Ed Christian, that the station was "taking very seriously its obligation to refrain from deliberate distortion or falsification of programming";<ref>{{cite news|title=WNOR's morning team is suspended: April Fool's Day prank draws blast|work=[[The Virginian-Pilot]]|page=A1|first=Steve|last=Stone|date=April 4, 1992}}</ref> later that year, the FCC admonished the station.<ref>{{Cite news|title=WNOR admonished by federal agency over April Fools' Day hoax|date=December 5, 1992|first=Larry|last=Bonko|work=[[The Virginian-Pilot]]|page=D3}}</ref>
In 1994, Saga Communications acquired another FM station in the market, [[WAFX]] in [[Suffolk, Virginia|Suffolk]]. WAFX had flipped to [[classic rock]] in 1989, with the two stations feuding over the use of the term in the market,{{r|Dail890405}} and the new station made a dent in WNOR's ratings.<ref name="Dail891014">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-veteran-wnor-returns-to-top/132291492/|date=October 14, 1989|pages=F1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-news/132291524/ F4]|first=Joseph|last=Pryweller|title=Veteran WNOR returns to top|newspaper=Daily Press|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023}}</ref><!-- Sat --> While WAFX shifted to [[classic hits]],<ref name="Dail940205">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-fox-shifts-to-a-softer-roc/132292907/|date=February 5, 1994|page=D7|first=David|last=Nicholson|title='Fox' shifts to a softer rock format|newspaper=Daily Press|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023}}</ref><!-- Sat --> WNOR-FM evolved into a current-based, harder-edged direction, bringing it into the [[active rock]] format; the changeover in music mix was completed in February 1996.{{r|RR970801}} In 1999, the AM station went to an [[adult standards]] format and changed its call sign to WJOI.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Local actors have role in new CBS miniseries|page=E2|date=October 31, 1999|first=Larry|last=Bonko|work=[[The Virginian-Pilot]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title="The Sopranos" surprises Norfolk with high honor|date=December 12, 1999|page=E2|first=Larry|last=Bonko|work=[[The Virginian-Pilot]]}}</ref>
In 2019, Saga demolished the tower used to transmit WNOR and WJOI for 48 years; the new {{convert|545|ft|m|adj=on}} mast was completed in January 2020.<ref name="Dail200130">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-wvec-welcomes-new-meteorolog/132293146/|date=January 30, 2020|page=B10|first=Larry|last=Bonko|title=WVEC welcomes new meteorologist|newspaper=Daily Press|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023}}</ref><!-- Thu -->
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.fm99.com/ FM99 WNOR Online]
*{{FM station data|67080|WNOR}}
{{Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News Radio}}
{{Active Rock Radio Stations in Virginia}}
{{Saga Communications}}
[[Category:Active rock radio stations in the United States]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Norfolk, Virginia|NOR]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1961]]
[[Category:1961 establishments in Virginia]]