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WERC-FM
WERC-FM (105.5 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Hoover, Alabama, and serving Greater Birmingham. It is owned by iHeartMedia and simulcasts a talk radio format with sister station WERC 960 AM. The station's studios and offices are in Beacon Ridge Tower on First Avenue South in Birmingham, off Interstate 65.
WERC-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 29,500 watts. Its transmitter is atop Red Mountain, off Valley Avenue in Birmingham. WERC-FM broadcasts using HD Radio technology. Its digital subchannels carry urban gospel and urban adult contemporary formats, which in turn feed two FM translators.
Today's WERC-FM is the successor of two Birmingham-area FM stations, WWIV and WENN-FM.
WERC-FM debuted in September 1993. The call sign was WWIV, and it broadcast on 105.9 MHz with 1,400 watts, a fraction of its current power. The original city of license was Trussville. For a brief time, WWIV served as a simulcast of then-co-owned WYDE (850 AM, now WXJC), which at the time was a news-talk station. That October, WWIV changed its call sign to WWBR and became album rock station "105.9 the Bear". Though the station filled a niche in the market, signal limitations and a less than desirable tower location prevented it from making a significant dent in the local ratings.
On January 22, 1996, the music focus was shifted to modern rock and alternative music. The station changed its on-air name to 106X and took on the new call sign WRAX. The station remained with this format until it swapped frequencies with WENN in December 1997.
WENN-FM signed on the air at 107.7 FM on September 6, 1969. It was the sister station of WAGG 1320 AM (now WENN). WENN-FM originally simulcast the AM's urban contemporary format, primarily playing R&B, soul, and on Sundays, urban gospel. By the end of the 1970s, 1320 AM had broken away from the simulcast, airing an urban gospel sound while the FM station stuck with urban contemporary.
Both WENN-FM and AM were purchased in 1976 by Dr. A.G. Gaston, one of the leaders of the black business community in Birmingham. Throughout its time as an urban station, WENN-FM created local ties to the community through on-air personalities such as Tall Paul, Shelly Stewart, Jimmy Lawson, Stan Granger, Michael Starr, Roe Bonner, Chris Talley, Dave Donnell and James Gavin. The station used the slogan "WENN's gonna make me a WENNER!" It shot to number 1 in the Arbitron ratings and became one of the most popular stations of any format in Birmingham.
By the late 1980s, WENN-FM began to shift from an R&B/soul-based sound to a more Mainstream Urban playlist, with the introduction of hip-hop and rap music. The slower R&B and soul songs were moved to the Quiet Storm program at night. It also adopted the slogan 107.7 WENN, The People's Station. WENN-FM maintained a strong position in the Birmingham radio market, usually in Arbitron's top five stations.
WERC-FM
WERC-FM (105.5 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Hoover, Alabama, and serving Greater Birmingham. It is owned by iHeartMedia and simulcasts a talk radio format with sister station WERC 960 AM. The station's studios and offices are in Beacon Ridge Tower on First Avenue South in Birmingham, off Interstate 65.
WERC-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 29,500 watts. Its transmitter is atop Red Mountain, off Valley Avenue in Birmingham. WERC-FM broadcasts using HD Radio technology. Its digital subchannels carry urban gospel and urban adult contemporary formats, which in turn feed two FM translators.
Today's WERC-FM is the successor of two Birmingham-area FM stations, WWIV and WENN-FM.
WERC-FM debuted in September 1993. The call sign was WWIV, and it broadcast on 105.9 MHz with 1,400 watts, a fraction of its current power. The original city of license was Trussville. For a brief time, WWIV served as a simulcast of then-co-owned WYDE (850 AM, now WXJC), which at the time was a news-talk station. That October, WWIV changed its call sign to WWBR and became album rock station "105.9 the Bear". Though the station filled a niche in the market, signal limitations and a less than desirable tower location prevented it from making a significant dent in the local ratings.
On January 22, 1996, the music focus was shifted to modern rock and alternative music. The station changed its on-air name to 106X and took on the new call sign WRAX. The station remained with this format until it swapped frequencies with WENN in December 1997.
WENN-FM signed on the air at 107.7 FM on September 6, 1969. It was the sister station of WAGG 1320 AM (now WENN). WENN-FM originally simulcast the AM's urban contemporary format, primarily playing R&B, soul, and on Sundays, urban gospel. By the end of the 1970s, 1320 AM had broken away from the simulcast, airing an urban gospel sound while the FM station stuck with urban contemporary.
Both WENN-FM and AM were purchased in 1976 by Dr. A.G. Gaston, one of the leaders of the black business community in Birmingham. Throughout its time as an urban station, WENN-FM created local ties to the community through on-air personalities such as Tall Paul, Shelly Stewart, Jimmy Lawson, Stan Granger, Michael Starr, Roe Bonner, Chris Talley, Dave Donnell and James Gavin. The station used the slogan "WENN's gonna make me a WENNER!" It shot to number 1 in the Arbitron ratings and became one of the most popular stations of any format in Birmingham.
By the late 1980s, WENN-FM began to shift from an R&B/soul-based sound to a more Mainstream Urban playlist, with the introduction of hip-hop and rap music. The slower R&B and soul songs were moved to the Quiet Storm program at night. It also adopted the slogan 107.7 WENN, The People's Station. WENN-FM maintained a strong position in the Birmingham radio market, usually in Arbitron's top five stations.