WHOF

WHOF (101.7 FM) – branded Sunny 101.7 – is a commercial adult contemporary radio station licensed to North Canton, Ohio, serving both the Canton and Akron metro areas. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., the station serves as the local affiliate for syndicated personalities Ron Wilson and Jim Brickman. The WHOF studios are located in North Canton, while the station transmitter resides in Canton. In addition to standard analog transmission, WHOF broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online via iHeartRadio. The HD2 digital subchannel airs a Country format under the brand 99.7 Canton's New Country, and is simulcast over Canton translator W259BW (99.7 FM).

For the Canton radio station which carried the WHOF callsign from 1961 to 1967, see WILB (AM)
WHOF
CityNorth Canton, Ohio
Broadcast areaCanton metro area
Akron metro area
BrandingSunny 101.7
SloganCanton's Variety from the 80's, 90's and Today!
Frequency101.7 MHz (HD Radio)
Translator(s)HD2: 99.7 W259BW (Canton)
First air dateJuly 25, 1968 (1968-07-25)
FormatAdult Contemporary
HD2: Country
ERP6,000 watts
HAAT81 meters
ClassA
Facility ID73135
Transmitter coordinates40°49′22″N 81°25′41″W
Call sign meaningHall Of Fame City
Former call signsWJER-FM (1968–2006)
AffiliationsCumulus Media Networks
iHeartRadio
OwneriHeartMedia
(iHM Licenses, LLC)
Sister stationsWHLO, WKDD, WRQK-FM
WebcastListen Live
Listen Live (HD2)
Websitesunny1017.iheart.com
cantonsnewcountry.iheart.com (HD2)

History

WHOF began as WJER-FM, under license to Dover, Ohio, on July 25, 1968, the FM sister to WJER (1450 AM). On April 14, 2006, the Federal Communications Commission approved a request from the station's owners, iHeartMedia (then known as Clear Channel Communications) to move the WJER-FM city of license to North Canton, Ohio. On December 27, 2006, the station adopted a new callsign, WHOF, and signed off. On January 16, 2007, WHOF signed back on as My 101.7 with an adult contemporary format; Billy Joel's "My Life" was the first song to air.[1][2][3]

On September 4, 2015, WHOF dismissed all on-air staff and began stunting with 80s music, teasing a change to come the following Tuesday at 8 am. At that time, rumors abounded that WHOF would adopt the country format of its HD2 channel.[4] The "Something Different" turned out to be a 1980s-oriented variety hits format, as WHOF removed all current/recurrent music.[5] The first song under the variety hits format was "My Town" by the Michael Stanley Band.

On November 19, 2018, My 101.7 flipped to its seasonal Christmas music format and on their website, it said to tune in on December 26, at 9 a.m. to hear a new format. This is pretty odd since the Variety Hits format that My 101.7 was ranked number 3 in the market with a 5.0 share.[6] On December 26, 2018 at 9 am, WHOF launched an adult contemporary format, branded as "Sunny 101.7".[7]

WHOF-HD2

Country music accounts for all regular programming on the HD2 digital subchannel. Branded 99.7 Canton's New Country, WHOF-HD2 also simulcasts over Canton translator W255BW (99.7 FM), owned and operated by iHeartMedia. The transmitter for W259BW is located in Canton on a tower also utilized by WHOF and full-power sister station WRQK.

WHOF-HD2/W259BW serves as the regional affiliate for The Bobby Bones Show; all other regular content, including station imaging, voice-over audio, music and on-air talent, either comes from the iHeartMedia mainstream urban national format via the Premium Choice "iHeartRadio Country" network, or is voice-tracked out-of-market specifically for the subchannel/translator.

Broadcast translator for WHOF-HD2
Callsign Frequency City of license Facility ID ERP HAAT Class Transmitter coordinates
W259BW 99.7 MHz Canton 144998 250 watts 67 meters D 40°49′22″N 81°25′41″W

Previous logos

References
  1. http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB-IDX/60s-OCR-YB/1969-YB/1969-BC-YB-for-OCR-Page-0295.pdf
  2. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-845A1.pdf
  3. Clear Channel Launches 'My 101.7' | AllAccess.com
  4. My 101.7 Canton Teasing Something Different
  5. "My 101.7 Shifts To Variety Hits". Format Change Archive. 2015-09-16. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  6. "WHOF Prepping New Format After Christmas". RadioInsight. 2018-11-19. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  7. Sunny 101.7 Rises in Canton Radioinsight - December 26, 2018
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