This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page. It may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since May 2009. It may require general cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since May 2009.

WWLS-FM
City of license	The Village, Oklahoma
Broadcast area	Oklahoma City
Branding	The Sports Animal
Frequency	98.1 MHz
First air date	1962 as KWHP
Format	Sports radio
ERP	31,000 watts
HAAT	470.0 meters
'Class	C1
Facility ID	37435
Transmitter coordinates	35°33′37.00″N 97°29′7.00″W / 35.56028°N 97.48528°W / 35.56028; -97.48528Coordinates: 35°33′37.00″N 97°29′7.00″W / 35.56028°N 97.48528°W / 35.56028; -97.48528
Callsign meaning	WWLarry'Steckline (owner when station obtained this callsign in 1981)[1]
Former callsigns	KKLR (1979-1988) KTNT-FM (1988-1999) KCYI (1999-2000) KKWD (2000-2006)
Affiliations	CBS Radio, ESPN Radio, Westwood One, Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA
Owner	Citadel Broadcasting
Webcast	[{{{url}}} Listen Live]
Website	Official website

WWLS-FM (98.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Sports radio format.^[2] Licensed to The Village, Oklahoma, USA, the station serves the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, area . The station is currently owned by Citadel Broadcasting and features programing from CBS Radio, ESPN Radio and Westwood One.^[3]

[edit] History

The station was put on the air in a small house on 1305 South Boulevard Street in Edmond, Oklahoma, (radio station in his home, transmitter in the bedroom, studio in the garage) his wife threaten to leave unless the radio station was moved out of the house. In 1964 the station moved to Kelly street at a frequency of 97.7 mHz, with call letters KWHP (from the initials of William "Bill" Haydon Payne, its owner). It was top 40, one of the first AOR station in the nation/underground rock, country, oldies and a variety of other formats throughout its earlier existence. (Bill Payne moved on to Tulsa to buy KTFX 103.3 in 1978, and still owns stations in Eastern Oklahoma. In 1978 call leters changes to KCFX (representing the change to country and the station mascot "the Fox") 1979 Payne sold the station.*PAYNE website It later became KTNT. Porter Davis (whose family owned Davis Foods distributors) brought Jazz into the market as a Smooth Jazz outlet in the early 1990s as KTNT "97.7 The Trend". In the late 1990s the station changed. In February 1999, the station changed its call letters to KCYI and became "The City 97.9" retaining the Smooth Jazz format, but in January 2000 it changed to Wild 97.9 with a Rhythmic Top 40 format. On October 23, 2006, WWLS (then at 104.9) switched signals with sister station KKWD and moved to the 97.9 frequency. On July 9, 2008 WWLS upgraded its signal to 31,000 watts ERP and moved from 97.9 to 98.1 FM.

In addition, WWLS is the hub for the "Sports Animal Network" that simulcasts selected programming on stations throughout Oklahoma including: AM 1550 KYAL in Sapulpa and Tulsa, 97.1 FM KYAL-FM in Muskogee and Tulsa, AM 1490 KBIX in Muskogee and Tulsa, AM 1240 KADS in Elk City, AM 1450 KSIW in Woodward.

WWLS is also the radio home of Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA. ^[4] It is also an ESPN Radio affiliate despite not carrying either Mike and Mike in the Morning or The Herd with Colin Cowherd.

[edit] Office Location

WWLS is located at 4045 NW 64th St in OKC. There request line is 405-460-9957.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WWLS
• Radio Locator information on WWLS
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WWLS

This article about a radio station in Oklahoma is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e