WUSY
| City of license | Cleveland, Tennessee |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Chattanooga, Tennessee |
| Branding | U.S. 101 |
| Slogan | "Chattanooga's Best Country & The Legends" |
| Frequency | 100.7 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
| Translator(s) | 96.1 W241AF (Rossville, GA, relays HD2) |
| First air date | 1961 |
| Format | Country HD2: Classic Country "US101 The Legend 96.1" |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 363 meters |
| Class | C0 |
| Facility ID | 12315 |
| Transmitter coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Callsign meaning | "US" as in the stations branding "U.S. 101" |
| Former callsigns | WLCY (1981-1982) WQLS (1982-1983) |
| Owner | iHeartMedia, Inc. (Capstar TX LLC) |
| Sister stations | WKXJ, WLND, WRXR-FM |
| Webcast | Listen Live Listen Live (HD2) |
| Website | us101country.com The Legend Online (HD2) |
WUSY (100.7 FM) "U.S. 101" is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Tennessee, USA, and broadcasting to the Chattanooga, Tennessee area. The station airs a country music format.
History
David Coppock was General Manager and instrumental in the early "out of the chute" success when Colonial Broadcasting signed WUSY/US-101 "Chattanooga's Hot Country Favorite" on the air in June of 1983, replacing short lived automated rock station WQLS. The original studio was located at the top of the Osborne building in the Eastgate area off of Brainerd Road. Sammy George was promoted to VP General Manager in 1986 and led the station through their most successful(Ratings, Revenue and Awards) years including 73 consecutive number 1 ratings books 12+. George left the station in 2008 after 22 years pursue a position as Vice President for Business Development at Northwest Georgia Bank. He has since retired. George led US-101 through three owners Colonial Broadcasting, Cumulus Broadcasting and Clear Channel/IHeart. George also arranged for Colonial to purchase and erect a new transmission tower on Signal Mountain, increasing the 100,000 watt coverage area even further while eliminating multi-path problems in downtown Chattanooga. He also negotiated buying the property at 7413 Old Lee Highway which expanded the stations office/studio space and eliminated direct transmissions problems from the studio to the new tower site on Signal Mtn. The Country Radio Broadcasters in Nashville Tn. recently announced George will join Bill (Dex) Poindexter as members of the Country Radio Hall of Fame. Jared Stehney is the current Market Manager for IHeart Radio. Stehney has won the Country Radio Broadcasters Market Manager of the Year twice (2013 & 2015)since taking control of US-101.
The current on-air lineup Morning Ken & Daniel 5:30am-10am, Mid-Day Madison 10am-3pm, Afternoon Dex & Mo 3pm-7pm, Night Gator, Styckman, Kile 7pm-12pm, After Midnight 12pm-5:30am
Among the many personalities no longer living that made major contributions to the success of US-101 include Big Jon Anthony (1946-1991), David Earl Hughes (1957-2004), Benjamin (Bearman) Martin (1953-2014. Jack Cole (1962-2003)
US-101 and its personalities have won 56 national awards for broadcast excellence making the station one of the highest achieving stations in the nation regardless of market size or format. Those honors include being selected as the Country Music Association (CMA) Radio Station of the Year 11 times more than any other country station in America. The CMA Award included an impressive 7 Station of the Year Awards in a row 1995-2001 an honor that can no longer be duplicated. The station also has 5 Academy of Country Music Station of the Year Awards. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) presented US-101's Bobby Bird with their highest achievement honor for public service The "NAB Marconi Award" in 1994, in addition WUSY was presented the NAB Crystal Achievement Award in 1998. US-101's top ranked air personalities have been selected by their peers for 14 Personality of The Year Awards from the CMA,the ACM and The Country Radio Broadcasters. Afternoon personality and Music Director Bill (Dex) Poindexter and former General Manager Sammy George are inductees into the Country Radio Hall of Fame.
US-101's award winning personalities include David Earl Hughes CMA Air Personality of the Year 1994, Bill (Dex) Poindexter CMA Personality of the Year 4 times, ACM Personality of the Year 2010, Melissa (Mo) Turner CMA Personality of the Year 2 times and ACM Personality of the Year 2010 Gator Styckman and Kile CMA Personality of the Year 2014. ACM Air Personality of the Year 2 times, Lynn Sharp CMA Personality of the Year 2000, Kim Carson CMA Personality of the Year 2005.
WUSY/US-101's charitable community contributions are legendary. US-101 was one of the first country stations in America to respond to Randy Owen (lead singer group Alabama) when he asked country radio to host radiothons across the country to help raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital. US-101 listeners have donated over six million dollars since starting Country Cares for St. Jude. Also US-101 was instrumental in getting the St. Jude Rodeo started as well as the St. Jude Dream Home and Heart Strings for Hope Concert. US-101 saw the need to help less fortunate children at Christmas and started its Christmas For Kids campaign. Over the years thousands of area children woke to presents under the tree due to the generosity of the US-101 listeners. After a tornado outbreak that hit Bonneau South Carolina in 1998 US-101 started its "Operation Good Neighbor" supply drive to gather and ship much needed supplies to tornado stricken areas all over the south. Bi-Lo Grocery supplied the trucks and drivers US-101 supplied the amplified voice and the US-101 listeners loaded truck after truck after truck with hope and supplies headed to the disaster areas. Operation Good Neighbor made good on its promise of "help is on the way" with supply trips to Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee.
WUSY staff who started their career in Chattanooga that have since moved upward in radio include. Clay Hunnicutt who served as an un-paid intern while a student at UTC later was promoted to Program Director by General Manager Sammy George. Hunnicutt has served in programing leadership positions in Cleveland, Nashville and Atlanta and is now one of the top executives with IHeart Media in their New York office. Greg Mozingo held his first Program Directors position at US-101 and went on to program top ranked country stations in Little Rock, Ark. Memphis, Tn and is now Program Director at WIL St. Louis, Mo. Chris Huff held his first Program Director position at US-101 and is now Assistant PD/Music Director at KILT in Houston, Tx. Rhonda Rollins a first time Sales Manager for WUSY is currently a General Sales Manager for Cumulus Broadcasting in Nashville which includes country WSM-FM and WKDF. Randy Ross a first time Sales Manager for US-101 is now a group Manager for South Central Media in Knoxville, Tn.
Other personalities who appeared on US-101 over the years include. Captain Bobby Bird, Chip Chapman, Jim Copeland, Gene Lovin, Capt. Bobby Bird, Al McClure, Gene Michaels, Erin Michaels, Joe Blair, Art Sanner, Don Hixson, Pete Porter.
Cumulus Broadcasting owned WUSY, WLOV, WLMX-AM, WKXJ, and WLMX-FM.[1][2] In 2000, Cumulus announced it would buy 11 radio stations in 4 markets from Clear Channel Communications in exchange for 25 radio stations in 5 markets plus cash. WUSY, WLOV, WIIS-AM, WKXJ, and WLMX-FM were included in this transaction.[3] Other Clear Channel stations were WLOV (urban contemporary by this time), sports talk WUUS, CHR WKXJ, active rock WRXR (the former WLMX-FM), and oldies WSGC.[4]
CMA Broadcast Award winners cannot win the same award in consecutive years. Winners from the previous year are ineligible unless competing in a different category.[5]
After this, WUSY won three more CMA awards in 2003, 2005, and 2012.
From 1983 till late 2009 the station used the slogan "Hot Country Favorites," they changed to their current slogan October 2009.
On-air personalities
The current disc jockeys for WUSY include Bearman & Ken on mornings, Madison on mid-days, Dex and Mo on afternoons, Gator and StyckMan on nights, and After Midnite with Blair Garner overnight. Weekend programming includes "The Crook and Chase countdown show", a Sunday morning gospel program called "The Gospel Road", Kristian Gates, and Angie Ward.
HD channels
WUSY is currently available in HD Radio. These channels are:
- HD1 - US 101 - Chattanooga's Best Country & The Legends
- HD2 - US101 The Legend 96.1 - Classic Country
W241AF in Rossville, Georgia rebroadcasts the HD channel. On April 2, 2012, this station debuted "The Beat", a mainstream urban format after stunting with "Beat It" by Michael Jackson. At the time, the translator planned to increase power from 10 to 250 watts.[6]
References
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- ↑ Retrieved on June 19, 2009[dead link]
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