It’s not very often that I personally endorse a radio station on this website. But I’ll make an exception for Gainesville’s 104.9 WOW FM. This is one of those rare projects that put all the elements together and got it right.
To the FCC, this station is known as WYGC-FM 104.9 in High Springs, Florida. Although only spoken at the top of the hour, the call letters themselves have a long and interesting history. The WYGC calls were originally attached to the 100.9 frequency in Gainesville. The format was country and the calls stood for “We’re Your Gator Country.” Gainesville is home to the University of Florida Gators. 104.9 was originally issued the confusingly similar WYOC calls. Those stood for “We’re Your Oldies Channel.” Format at the time was satellite oldies. Asterisk Communications formerly owned both stations. They moved the WYGC calls to 104.9 when it became a simulcast of WTRS, their country station in neighboring Ocala. Now, back to the present day:
Under current owner JVC Broadcasting, this station has become 104.9 WOW FM, positioned as “Gainesville’s Classic Hits.” I consider it Classic Top 40, due to the station’s broad playlist and personality-intensive approach. Believe it or not, WOW FM features real live air talents behind real microphones! Longtime North Florida air personality “Leroy the Love Toy” handles mornings. Program Director Chris Chaos (another well known talent in the region) does middays. Legendary Top 40 jock JoJo Cookin’ Kincaid is the afternoon host. Yes, THAT JoJo Kincaid. The one whom I used to steal bits from when he was at KKLQ in San Diego! Their night guy is Doug Clifford, formerly across town at WSKY-FM 97.3. WOW FM’s airstaff complements the format quite nicely. Listen for just a few minutes and it become obvious these guys love what they do. They’re good at it, too!
Many stations have experimented with the Classic Hits/Greatest Hits format. Most have failed because the playlist was too narrow and leaned towards a Classic Rock wannabe sound. Or because the station was voicetracked, lacking live personalities who could interact with listeners in real time. WOW FM “gets it” with this format. The result is an upbeat, energetic station that’s FUN to listen to. Very reminiscent of Top 40 radio during the 1970s and 80s. The music is dead on. All your favorites are there along with plenty of “oh, WOW songs” to keep things interesting. They even play disco! I haven’t heard Debbie Boone yet, but I’m sure she’s in there somewhere.
I believe JVC has created a winner here. Give WOW FM a listen when you have a chance and let me know what you think.