 | |
| Broadcast area | Appleton,Black Wolf,Oshkosh, andGreen Bay, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 93.5MHz |
| Branding | 93.5 & 99.7 Duke FM |
| Programming | |
| Format | Classic Country |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WDKF,WIXX,WNCY-FM,WNFL,WTAQ (AM/FM),WYDR | |
| History | |
First air date | 1967 (as WLIH-FM) |
Former call signs | WLIH-FM (10/1957-7/1981) WNBK (7/1981-1/1989) WOZZ (1/1989-9/2010) WRQE (2010–2014) WGEE-FM (2014–2015) |
Call sign meaning | GrEEn Bay |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 42089 |
| Class | C2 |
| ERP | 50,000watts |
| HAAT | 150 meters |
| Translator(s) | 93.1 W226BD (Green Bay) |
| Repeater(s) | 99.7WDKF (Sturgeon Bay) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www |
WGEE (93.5FM, "93.5 Duke FM") is aclassic countryradio station owned and operated byMidwest Communications, licensed toNew London, Wisconsin, and serving the NortheastWisconsin area, includingAppleton,Oshkosh, andGreen Bay (the latter city aided by a repeater at 93.1 FM,W226BD), and is repeated on full-powered stationWDKF (99.7 FM), which is licensed toSturgeon Bay. WGEE's studios are located on Bellevue Street in Green Bay, while its maintransmitter is located inMaine Township inOutagamie County, Wisconsin.
The station was opened in 1967 as WLIH, with its studios and transmitter just southeast of New London. The call letters played off a Wisconsin tourism slogan at the time,We Like It Here. Those call letters are now used by a station in Whitneyville, Pennsylvania. In 1981, the station was bought by the owners of the New London National Bank (now part ofCitizens Bank, who changed the call letters to WNBK. Under both owners, the station carried music, local news and local high school sports. Those call letters are now used by a repeater station inWhitmire, South Carolina.
On August 28, 1989, the station increased its power to 50,000 watts, changed call letters to WOZZ (using branding and imaging that alluded toThe Wizard of Oz), and flipped fromcountry toadult contemporary.[2]
In February 1991, WOZZ flipped to aclassic rock format (branded as "93.5 WOZZ, The Classic Rock Station") that featured songs from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.[3] Midwest Communications bought the station in February 1993.[4] WOZZ previously had studios in the former Fidelity Bank building inAppleton until 2008, when Midwest Communications moved all its Green Bay and Appleton-area stations under one roof in new facilities inBellevue, a Green Bay suburb. However, to this day, the station maintains acontrol room and sales office in Appleton to meetFederal Communications Commission requirements.
Classic rock would continue on WOZZ until the week of September 3, 2010; during that week, WOZZ ran an onlinestunt onFacebook under the user name "What Does It All Mean?" The profile page included short videos featuring WOZZ personality David Burns and painted rocks counting down days ("5 days," "4 days," etc.).[5] Speculation was of a format flip to amainstream rock format, which is what occurred at 5 PM on September 3, afterREO Speedwagon's "Time for Me to Fly" concluded; at that time, a brief audio montage (including the playing of "For Those About to Rock" byAC/DC) introduced "93 Rock", which promised a mix ofclassic rock music from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s in a less-sedate on-air presentation.Sammy Hagar's "There's Only One Way to Rock" was the first song played on "93 Rock."[6] With the format flip, the station adopted the WRQEcall sign formerly found on its sister station at99.7 FM (which adopted aclassic hits format at the same time and day 93.5 FM adopted its new format).The Bob and Tom Show, a holdover from WOZZ, would continue to air during "93 Rock's" morning drive time (5-9 AM). The "93 Rock" format had recently been adopted on Midwest Communication-owned sister stations inDuluth (onKDAL-FM) andWausau (onWOZZ, the call sign was transferred from WRQE's previousclassic rock format to the Wausau station at the time of the flip).
By the summer of 2011, "93 Rock" tweaked to a full blownmainstream rock format playing a mix ofclassic rock and rock from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, to currentactive rock music.
On September 8, 2014, Midwest Communications announced that the “93 Rock” format on WRQE and W226BD would end on September 11, following a farewell event on that date. The last song on "93 Rock" was "You Never Met a Motherf***er Quite Like Me" byKid Rock. On September 12, at Midnight, both 93.5 and 93.1 flipped to aclassic country format, branded as "93.5 Duke FM," that complements Midwest's contemporary country-formattedWNCY-FM. ("Duke" is a reference to John Wayne, and was first applied by Midwest to aTerre Hautestation that converted to classic country earlier in 2014.) The first song on "93.5 Duke FM" was "Baby Likes to Rock It" byThe Tractors.[7] To coincide with the format change, thecall sign at 93.5 changed to WGEE-FM, resurrecting classic calls used twice before on Midwest-owned country stations in Green Bay, originally at 1360 AM (the currentWTAQ) and during the mid-1990s at 99.7 FM (the currentWDKF).[8] (The "-FM" suffix of the call sign was dropped on March 23, 2015.)
44°32′46″N88°32′56″W / 44.546°N 88.549°W /44.546; -88.549