WYCT
| City | Pensacola, Florida |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Pensacola, Florida Mobile, Alabama |
| Branding | Cat Country 98.7 |
| Frequency | 98.7 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
| Translator(s) | 94.5 W233CM (Milton, relays HD2) |
| First air date | November 2003 |
| Format |
FM/HD1: Country HD2: Sports "ESPN Pensacola 94.5" HD3/HD4: News/Talk (WNRP simulcast) |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 299 meters |
| Class | C1 |
| Facility ID | 539 |
| Callsign meaning | W Y CaT |
| Owner | ADX Communications |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website |
catcountry987.com espnpensacola.com (HD2) |
WYCT (98.7 FM) is a radio station known as "Cat Country 98.7". The main studio is located on Plantation Road in Pensacola, Florida, and station caters to the Pensacola, Gulf Breeze, Pace and Milton markets as well as Baldwin County, Alabama.
Owner Dave Hoxeng applied to the FCC in 1987 for a new Pensacola station at 98.7. After long delays in winning a license in Washington, he moved to Pensacola in 2002 to construct the new 100,000-watt FM radio station from the ground up. The station was started on 40 acres (160,000 m2) of raw timberland where a new 942-foot (287 m) tower in Baldwin County with associated "hurricane proof" blockhouse was built. Dave and wife Mary debuted the radio station as Christmas Radio 98.7 in November 2003, and switched to CatCountry 98.7 on 12/26/03.
WYCT is a licensed to broadcast in HD Radio. WYCT's first broadcast in HD Radio was on December 11, 2003. To generate its first HD Radio signal, WYCT used an Armstrong X-1 tube transmitter with BE Fsi10 exciter feeding a Shively IAD antenna. CatCountry 98.7 will be installing an ultra-modern Rohde & Schwarz THR9 liquid-cooled transmitter with Ibiquity Gen4 HD Radio technology. Rohde THR9 Info This new transmitter will allow the station to broadcast with HD1, HD2, HD3 and HD4 digital channels.
According to Solutions Broadcast Research and The Radio Index, WYCT is the Pensacola radio station that delivers the largest Pensacola audience of adults aged 25 to 54. WYCT won "Station of the Year" from the Academy of Country Music (ACM) in 2007, 2009 and 2011. Its popular live morning show (M–F, 5–10 am) "The CatPack" won "ACM Personalities of the Year" in 2009. These awards were in the ACM Small Market division and were presented during the ACM Awards Show in Las Vegas. The station won the "NAB Service to America" in 2009. NAB recognized WYCT's service to its community with "Crystal Awards" in 2013 and 2017. The CMA nominated the station for awards in two mid-market categories in 2017: "Station of the Year" and "Personalities of the Year".
HD radio
WYCT's HD Radio signal is multiplexed. The main signal is a simulcast of WYCT's country programming. In August 2018, ADX launched ESPN Pensacola 94.5, a sports radio station, on its HD2 subchannel and translator W233CM 94.5 FM. The HD3 and HD4 channels simulcast the news/talk programming of sister station WNRP.