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| Broadcast area | Tampa Bay area |
| Frequency | 94.9MHz (HD Radio) |
| RDS | MAGIC949 |
| Branding | Magic 94.9 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Hot adult contemporary |
| Subchannels | HD2:Alternative rock "97X"[1] |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | September 1, 1970 (1970-09-01) |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | "Warm" (prior branding) |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 74200 |
| Class | C |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 470 meters (1,540 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 27°49′12″N82°15′39.6″W / 27.82000°N 82.261000°W /27.82000; -82.261000 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast |
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| Website | |
WWRM (94.9FM) is acommercial radio station licensed toTampa, Florida, and serving theTampa Bay area. Owned byCox Media Group, it airs ahot adult contemporary format. The station's studios and offices are located on 4th Street North inSt. Petersburg.
WWRM has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts.[3] Itstransmitter site is shared withWTSP, Tampa'sCBS TVnetwork affiliate, off Rhodine Road inRiverview.
On September 1, 1970, the stationsigned on as WLCY-FM, and was licensed to St. Petersburg.[4] It was put on the air by Rahall Communications, and was co-owned withWLCY andWLCY-TV. The studios were in the "Rahall Color Communications Center" onGandy Boulevard. During the early 1970s, WLCY-FM was anautomated station, airingDrake-Chenault's "Hit Parade" and TM's "Stereo Rock" formats.
Hoping to follow the sudden rise in popularity of local Top 40 stationWRBQ-FM ("Q105") in the mid-1970s, WLCY-FM switched to live disc jockeys in 1976, using the moniker "Y95", using the whole-number frequency closest to 94.9. It soon adopted a new call sign, WYNF, a convenient shorthand for "Y-Ninety-Five", following Rahall's sale of WLCY AM to Southern Broadcasting, the owners of competitor WRBQ.
In 1980,Taft Broadcasting bought the station and rebranded it "95FM--Florida's Best Rock". The music changed from Top 40 toAOR, to compete with the dominant local AOR station,WQXM. WYNF's studios moved from St. Petersburg to Tampa, at 504 Reo Street (nearTampa International Airport), home of Taft'sWDAE. Two years later, the station was re-branded "95ynf". WYNF began calling itself "The New 95".
In the early 1980s, WYNF again became asister station to Channel 10 (now WTSP) after Taft acquired Gulf Broadcasting. (Around that time, WDAE was sold toGannett, while Taft acquiredWSUN fromPlough, Inc.) In 1985, Taft sold WYNF toCBS Radio. The studios were relocated to 4th Street North in St. Petersburg at the Koger Executive Center. 95ynf dominated the Tampa Bay area for AOR music.
After trying out several morning teams including Nick van Cleve and Jack Strapp, and later replacing van Cleve withRon Diaz, program director Carey Curelop paired Diaz with local comicRon Bennington, creating the popularRon and Ron morning show at WYNF in the late-1980s. The show was successful in theArbitron ratings and Ron & Ron became known as "Radio's Bad Boys." Their agent Ross Reback helped them form The Ron & Ron Radio Network to own andsyndicate the show to other FM stations.
The show's final broadcast on WYNF was on March 12, 1993. Reback became president and CEO of the newly formed network and negotiated deals to broadcast the show in Miami,Orlando andJacksonville, with another dozen markets soon following (including a new more lucrative deal withWSUN).
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In 1993,Cox Broadcasting, owners ofWWRM (107.3 FM), bought WYNF, as part of a trade with CBS Radio, also involving stations inDallas. The studios were relocated back to St. Petersburg at The Koger Center. By that point, rival rock stationWXTB had surpassed WYNF in the Arbitron ratings, eventually forcing WYNF to make a format change.
On August 16, 1993, at 10 am, WYNF stopped playing rock music and begansimulcasting WSUN'stalk radio programming.[5] Seven days later, Cox relocated thesoft adult contemporary format of "Warm 107" and its WWRMcall sign to 94.9, becoming "Warm 94.9".[6]
On January 5, 2001, the station had a minor overhaul, becoming "The New Magic 94.9", though keeping the format and WWRM call sign. WWRM evolved to more of a mainstream AC format by2001, while its newsister stationWDUV concentrated on the softer AC hits. In May 2011, after ten years of being called "The New Magic 94.9", the station dropped "The New" in its name, becoming simply "Magic 94.9".