WDAF-FM
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| WDAF-FM | |
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| Broadcast area | Kansas City metropolitan area COL: Liberty, Missouri |
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| Branding | 106.5 The Wolf |
| Frequency | 106.5 MHz |
| First air date | 2002 |
| Format | Country Music |
| ERP | 100,000 Watts |
| Class | C 1 website = 1065TheWolf.com |
| Callsign meaning | Why Dial Any Further. Assigned in 1922 to WDAF-AM |
| Owner | Entercom |
WDAF is a country music radio station based in Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States. Its current assignment to Entercom's 100,000 Watt facility licensed to Liberty, Missouri, combines the history of both the frequency (106.5 MHz) and the WDAF call letters.
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[edit] The Early Days
WDAF was one of the first four radio stations in Kansas City, alongside WOQ, WPE (now sister station KMBZ) and WHB. The Kansas City Star received authorization to broadcast on May 16, 1922, days after WHB. The two shared the 730 kHz frequency until 1928, when they settled at 610 AM. WDAF-AM was in the network of stations that carried the first presidential broadcast address. WDAF came under the ownership of Taft Broadcasting in 1963 with Taft's purchase of Transcontinent Broadcasting.
In 1971, WDAF added an FM station at 102.1 MHz, which changed its call letters to KYYS in 1974, while WDAF-AM continued at 610 kHz. The Star gained authorization to begin operating a television station, WDAF-TV (an NBC-turned-Fox affiliate, but was forced to give up all three stations when ordered by the Federal Communications Commission.
[edit] The switch to country
When radio stations began developing specific radio formats, WDAF-AM became a middle of the road station. In 1977, amid the decline of music on AM, WDAF adopted a country format under operations mgr. Randy Michaels and program & music director Ted Cramer. With its huge signal range covering nearly half of Missouri and Kansas, plus portions of Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, WDAF (known to its listeners as "61 Country" and also referred to on-air as "The Flatland Godzilla" due to its powerful signal) quickly replaced KCKN as the top-rated country station, eventually becoming the top rated station overall in Kansas City Arbitron ratings.
[edit] The move to FM
WDAF remained a respected country station until 2002, when owner Entercom sought to develop a rival sports station to WHB, who dropped country in 1999. Entercom originally eyed the fledgling "alternative" station at 96.5 (KRBZ), but a "Save the Buzz" campaign waged by fans prompted WDAF to instead move to 106.5, replacing a jazz station. WDAF was simulcast on both AM and FM until 2003, when KCSP debuted on 610.
[edit] 106.5 FM
[[Strauss-Abernathy Broadcasting, owners of Liberty's AM station KCXL, first broadcast on 106.5 FM in 1978 with a Top-40 station, KFIX. The relative infancy of the high-end frequency, plus the format instability on their AM counterpart, resulted in a new format every 2-3 years, ranging from album rock to soft adult contemporary.
In 1992, rhythmic station X-106 swapped frequencies with a country station broadcasting from Lexington, Missouri at 107.3 FM. Like its predecessors, "Country Junction" only lasted three years before a smooth jazz station, "The City", debuted. Despite its apparent popularity in the workplace over soft rock stations KUDL, KLTH and KSRC and Kansas City's place in jazz history, the format was yanked in 2003 to make way for WDAF. In 2006, Entercom announced that a smooth jazz format will debut on a high definition subchannel of WDAF. The Smooth Jazz format also airs Saturday nights on KUDL.
On January 1, 2007, months after moving to its new Mission, Kansas studios, WDAF-FM changed branding to 106.5 The Wolf.
The WOLF took only six months to unseat KBEQ as Kansas City's Favorite Country Station.
[edit] External links
- The Wolf Web site
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WDAF
- Radio Locator information on WDAF
- Early U.S History - Missouri Radio in 1922
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