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WWDG
Broadcast areaCentral New York
Frequency105.1 MHZ
Branding"Nova 105-1"
Programming
FormatHot AC
Ownership
OwnerFoxfur Communications
History
First air date
June 6, 1948
Call sign meaning
The DG was used for its for former slogan "The Dog" when it was a Rock station
Technical information
ClassB
ERP42,000 watts
Links
WebsiteNova 105-1 website

WWDG (Nova 105-1) is a Hot AC station serving the Syracuse area. The Clear Channel Communications outlet broadcasts at 105.1 MHz with an ERP of 42 kW and is licensed to De Ruyter, New York. WWDG is programmed by Clear Channel's Syracuse cluster.

History

WWDG began operating June 6, 1948 at 105.1 MHz as WVCN, the Central New York outlet of the farm-oriented Rural Radio Network, a six-station group based in Ithaca. This pioneer FM network was the first to employ a direct off-air relay system instead of wire lines, with WVCN serving as the link between Ithaca flagship station WVFC and sister stations WVBN, Turin (which would cease operation in 1951) and WVCV, Cherry Valley. Its original General Electric 250 watt transmitter and four-section RCA FM Pylon antenna provided an ERP of 1.3 kW, horizontally-polarized. A 1 kW amplifier was added in April, 1951, increasing ERP to 5.3 kW, however this proved insufficient to cover the entire city of Syracuse with a predicted 1 mV/m (60 dBμ) signal.

On January 1, 1954, the DeRuyter station's callsign was changed to WRRD. After affiliating with New York City's WQXR, the group's programming began to shift toward classical music and a new identity as the "Northeast Radio Network" was introduced. In January 1961, ownership of the DeRuyter facility and its four sister stations was transferred to the Ivy Broadcasting Company, Inc., prompting a callsign change to WOIV. Five years later, the network changed hands again, this time to the Chenango & Unadilla (C&U) Telephone Company, which added a second 1 kW transmitter and a Collins/ERI model 300-5 dipole antenna to provide 4.9 kW in the vertical polarization. A 1968 merger with Continental Telephone forced divestiture of C&U's broadcast properties, and the entire group of five FM stations, then valued at $600,000, was donated to the Christian Broadcasting Network, headed by Pat Robertson.

CBN raised funds to replace aging transmitter equipment and eliminated the off-air relay system in favor of a stereo 950 MHz link from the main studio in Ithaca. In September, 1972, an RCA BTF-10E1 transmitter and BFC-10 circularly-polarized antenna were installed, increasing the ERP to its present level of 42 kW and greatly improving coverage in Syracuse. In October, 1981, CBN sold WOIV to Forus Communications for $242,500 and the call sign was changed again to WVOA. Cram Communications, headed by Syracuse broadcast entrepreneur Craig Fox, operated the station under a Religious format from 1994 to 2001, then sold it for $5 million to Clear Channel, which converted it to a satellite of WBBS with the calls WXBB. After one year it flipped to Active rock as WWDG "The Dog" in 2002, but after four years of struggling ratings it flipped to its current format in July 2006.

It should be noted that despite the station's moniker name, it is in no way related to the Australian Top 40 radio network of the same name.

On March 6, 2009, Craig Fox purchased the station back from Aloha, for only $1.25 million.

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