WFUN-FM

WFUN-FM (95.5 FM, "Old School 95.5") is a radio station with an urban oldies format. The station is licensed to Bethalto, Illinois, and serves the St. Louis, Missouri, area. The station is owned by Radio One. Its transmitter is located in St. Louis, Missouri, just outside Forest Park, and operates from studios in Olivette (with a St. Louis address).

History

WFUN, which debuted in 1987 as WXJO, was originally an Adult Standards outlet broadcasting with 6,000 watts. In 1989, Bob Cox negotiated a package to take over operation of the station, changing the format to a children's station called the Imagination Station - Radio Just for Kids. Inadequate advertisement revenues combined with a pending lawsuit from the original trademark holder of the name The Imagination Station forced Cox into a position where he could not maintain the lease on the transmitter. In the summer of 1991, the station moniker was changed to Kids Radio. Thinking the transmitter could be sold, the lease was terminated in late 1991. The station went dark for a couple of months, during which time the potential sale fell through. The owner, looking for revenues that would allow him to keep the transmitter out of foreclosure, worked with a former employee of the Imagination Station.

In 1992 it was bought back on the air by a non-profit group who would later refund the contributors after a decision was made to make the station a commercial outlet by signing up with Radio Aahs, a children's radio network (and the predecessor to Radio Disney, who would later run Radio Ahhs out of business). After a several year run, the owner (who was mostly joked by many in the St. Louis radio market as being unseen and a mystery) decided to sell the station to Radio One in 1999. The station went dark again for several months.

On June 2, 2000, WFUN completed their upgrade to 24,500 watts and officially flipped to R&B/Hip-Hop as Q95-5, despite the fact they never changed the call letters to match the Q handle. At first, Q95-5 was a close competitor, but over time fell further and further behind to KATZ-FM in the ratings. They also had other problems in attracting African-Americans listeners, mostly due to its signal coverage.

On December 13, 2004, Radio One flipped WFUN to urban adult contemporary, branded as "Foxy 95.5". The move was made after Radio One purchased the syndicated rights to the Tom Joyner Morning Show. The format switch was made to match that of stations that air Tom Joyner's show. Tom Joyner previously aired on rival KMJM-FM, whom they now compete with. Eventually, WFUN added the Love, Lust and Lies with Michael Baisden afternoon show as well.

On October 1, 2005, Radio One added a sister station in the form of WHHL (Hot 104.1), which started out as Rhythmic, but is now Urban.

On November 7, 2012, at 7 PM, WFUN flipped to urban oldies, branded as "Old School 95.5". The final song on "Foxy" was "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" by Boyz II Men, while the first song on "Old School" was "Fantastic Voyage" by Lakeside. The switch mirrors similar flips in Dallas (at KSOC), Charlotte (at WOSF), Philadelphia (at WRNB), and currently in Cincinnati (at WOSL).

Shortly after longtime rival KMJM-FM flipped to classic hip-hop in November 2014, WFUN dropped the "Old School" moniker in favor of simply branding themselves as "95.5", added more current music, and adopted the slogan "Old School & Today's R&B." By early 2015, the "Old School" branding had returned.

External links

• Old School 95.5 official website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WFUN
• Radio-Locator information on WFUN
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WFUN

Coordinates: 38°39′08″N 90°17′03″W / 38.6523°N 90.2843°W / 38.6523; -90.2843