WHOF

For the Canton radio station which carried the WHOF callsign from 1961 to 1967, see WILB (AM)

WHOF

North Canton, Ohio
Broadcast area	Canton metro area Akron metro area
Frequency	101.7 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	Sunny 101.7
Programming
Format	Adult Contemporary HD2: Country
Affiliations	Cumulus Media Networks iHeartRadio
Ownership
Owner	iHeartMedia (iHM Licenses, LLC)
Sister stations	WHLO, WKDD, WRQK-FM
History
First air date	July 25, 1968 (1968-07-25)
Former call signs	WJER-FM (1968–2006)
Call sign meaning	Hall Of Fame City
Technical information
Facility ID	73135
Class	A
ERP	6,000 watts
HAAT	81 meters
Transmitter coordinates	40°49′22″N 81°25′41″W
Translator(s)	HD2: 99.7 W259BW (Canton)
Links
Webcast	Listen Live Listen Live (HD2)
Website	sunny1017.iheart.com cantonsnewcountry.iheart.com (HD2)

WHOF (101.7 FM) – branded Sunny 101.7 – is a commercial adult contemporary radio station licensed to North Canton, Ohio, serving both the Canton and Akron metro areas. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., the station serves as the local affiliate for syndicated personalities Ron Wilson and Jim Brickman. The WHOF studios are located in North Canton, while the station transmitter resides in Canton. In addition to standard analog transmission, WHOF broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online via iHeartRadio. The HD2 digital subchannel airs a Country format under the brand 99.7 Canton's New Country, and is simulcast over Canton translator W259BW (99.7 FM).

History

WHOF began as WJER-FM, under license to Dover, Ohio, on July 25, 1968, the FM sister to WJER (1450 AM). On April 14, 2006, the Federal Communications Commission approved a request from the station's owners, iHeartMedia (then known as Clear Channel Communications) to move the WJER-FM city of license to North Canton, Ohio. On December 27, 2006, the station adopted a new callsign, WHOF, and signed off. On January 16, 2007, WHOF signed back on as My 101.7 with an adult contemporary format; Billy Joel's "My Life" was the first song to air.

On September 4, 2015, WHOF dismissed all on-air staff and began stunting with 80s music, teasing a change to come the following Tuesday at 8 am. At that time, rumors abounded that WHOF would adopt the country format of its HD2 channel. The "Something Different" turned out to be a 1980s-oriented variety hits format, as WHOF removed all current/recurrent music. The first song under the variety hits format was "My Town" by the Michael Stanley Band.

On November 19, 2018, My 101.7 flipped to its seasonal Christmas music format and on their website, it said to tune in on December 26, at 9 a.m. to hear a new format. This is pretty odd since the Variety Hits format that My 101.7 was ranked number 3 in the market with a 5.0 share. On December 26, 2018 at 9 am, WHOF launched an adult contemporary format, branded as "Sunny 101.7".

WHOF-HD2

Country music accounts for all regular programming on the HD2 digital subchannel. Branded 99.7 Canton's New Country, WHOF-HD2 also simulcasts over Canton translator W255BW (99.7 FM), owned and operated by iHeartMedia. The transmitter for W259BW is located in Canton on a tower also utilized by WHOF and full-power sister station WRQK.

WHOF-HD2/W259BW serves as the regional affiliate for The Bobby Bones Show; all other regular content, including station imaging, voice-over audio, music and on-air talent, either comes from the iHeartMedia mainstream urban national format via the Premium Choice "iHeartRadio Country" network, or is voice-tracked out-of-market specifically for the subchannel/translator.

Broadcast translator for WHOF-HD2

Callsign	Frequency	City of license	Facility ID	ERP	HAAT	Class	Transmitter coordinates
W259BW	99.7 MHz	Canton	144998	250 watts	67 meters	D	40°49′22″N 81°25′41″W

Previous logos

External links

• Official website
• https://cantonsnewcountry.iheart.com/ (WHOF-HD2)
• WHOF in the FCC FM station database
• WHOF in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
• W259BW in the FCC FM station database
• W259BW at FCCdata.org