WBON (FM)
| Broadcast area | Fort Walton Beach - Emerald Coast |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 92.1 MHz |
| Branding | 92.1 The Bone |
| Programming | |
| Format | Mainstream rock |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WHWY, WWAV, WZLB | |
| History | |
First air date | 1981 (as WMMK) |
Former call signs | WMMK (1981–2004) WWRK (2004–2005) WFFY (2005–2012) WECQ (2012-2024) |
Call sign meaning | The Bone |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 19475 |
| Class | C3 |
| ERP | 19,000 watts |
| HAAT | 115 meters (377 ft) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | 921thebone.com |
WBON (92.1 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Destin, Florida, and serving Fort Walton Beach and the Emerald Coast. Owned and operated by JVC Broadcasting, it features a mainstream rock radio format.
WBON has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 19,000 watts. The transmitter is off Hollywood Boulevard NW in Fort Walton Beach.[2]
History
[edit]The station signed on the air in 1981 as WMMK. In 2004, the call sign changed to WWRK, and changed again the following year to WFFY. The station has served the area as a Rhythmic Top 40 station since then, at first branded as Fly 92.1. On December 21, 2011, station owner Quantum Broadcasting sold its stations in the Ft. Walton Beach market, including WFFY, to Apex Broadcasting. On February 17, 2012, at 5 PM CST after playing "Stay Fly" by Three 6 Mafia, Apex dropped the Fly 92.1 branding and relaunched WFFY as CHR Q92, with Kelly Clarkson's Stronger the first song played. The call sign was later changed to WECQ to reflect the change in branding.
Apex Broadcasting sold WECQ — along with sister stations WHWY, WWAV, and WZLB — to Community Broadcasters effective December 1, 2016, at a purchase price of $5.9 million.
On December 22, 2020, Community Broadcasters sold the entire Fort Walton Beach cluster to JVC Broadcasting for almost $2.3 million, which later closed on February 1, 2021.[3]
On August 24, 2021, WECQ went jockless and began promoting that "changes" would be coming to the station on September 1 at noon. At that time, after again playing Stronger by Kelly Clarkson (as a near-bookend to the format's launch), followed by "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by Green Day, the station changed their format to active rock, branded as "Rock 92.1"; the format had been revealed by JVC on the 30th of the month, and carries a typical active rock playlist, along with a decent amount of guitar-based alternative rock crossover songs, with Foo Fighters (whose song "Monkey Wrench" was the first under the new format), Van Halen, Mammoth WVH, Shinedown, The Offspring, Led Zeppelin and Incubus listed as artists to be heard.[4][5]
During December 2024, the station teased an impending relaunch of the rock format, with cryptic liners running focused around the word "bone". On December 19, JVC announced the station would relaunch as "92.1 The Bone" under new WBON call letters the following day at 10 a.m.; at 7 p.m. on the 19th, after playing "Californication" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, WECQ began stunting with a loop of "Givin' the Dog a Bone" by AC/DC, "New Age Girl" by Deadeye Dick (a likely reference to the 30th anniversary of the release of Dumb and Dumber, where the song was featured, as well as the prominent lyric of "Don't eat meat, but she sure like the bone" in the song), "Them Bones" by Alice in Chains, and "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers. At the promised time, after playing the Jimi Hendrix guitar cover of The Star-Spangled Banner, "The Bone" officially launched with 9,000 songs in a row, beginning with "Ladies and Gentlemen" by Saliva. JVC brands the relaunched format as featuring a broader mix of rock music than the previous iteration, promising a "six decade" range of music to be played on the station.[6]
Staff
[edit]The station’s inaugural lineup as "Rock 92.1" will include OM/PD Woofy Ramone in middays and JT in afternoons from 2-7pm. Outside those shifts, the station will launch with a jockless “More Music Mornings” presentation.
References
[edit]- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WBON". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ Radio-Locator.com/WECQ
- ^ JVC Media Acquires Fort Walton Beach Cluster
- ^ Q92 Destin To Flip To Rock 92.1 Radioinsight - August 30, 2021
- ^ Final Broadcast Of Q 92 WECQ / First Hour Of Rock 92.1 FM
- ^ Rock 92.1 Fort Walton Beach Gets Boned Radioinsight - December 19, 2024
External links
[edit]- WBON official website
- Facility details for Facility ID 19475 (WECQ) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- WECQ in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
30°24′38″N 86°37′22″W / 30.41056°N 86.62278°W
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