WSMW-FM 98.7 History

On January 9th, 1958, WMDE signed on at 98.5 FM, having been founded by Hall Electronics, whose owner used the ham radio call sign W4MDE. The station's original studios and transmitter were located on Spring Garden Road, and, early on, the signal was aired from a telephone pole on the property befre moving to a taller twer off present-day Martin Luther King Drive. WMDE, which moved to 98.7 by the early 1960s (98.7 was first occupied by WCTP which signed on in 1948 but had ceased broadcasting by 1950), originally aired classical and later middle of the road with some jazz. Some sources say the station even aired some rhythm and blues tunes during this period. By 1966, WMDE was a country station and also aired news from the Tobacco Network. The station was now owned by Suburban Broadcasting, which sold WMDE to Mido Broadcasting in 1973. Beatty owned Greensboro AM station WPET, 950 AM. For a very short while in 1973, WMDE became WPET-FM with a Southern gospel format. On November 1st, 1973, WPET-FM became Top 40 WRQK "K-99," a format that would remain for nearly 20 years. While the format remained the same, WRQK dropped the "K-99" handle in 1983. The next year, the A.H. Robins Company bought WRQK and WPET. WRQK reimaged entirely as WKSI "98.7 Kiss FM" on June 23rd, 1985. In 1987, Charlotte-based Bahakel Communications bought the stations. In 1994, WKSI resurrected a part of its WMDE heritage by swapping the contemporary hits for contemporary country as "98-7 Kiss Country". WKSI opted for a hot adult contemporary format under the handle "98-7 The Point" in 1995. On March 4th, 2002, the station began a slightly more modern-leaning hot adult contemporary format as "98.7 The Zone" with new call letters, WOZN, following shortly thereafter. Entercom bought WOZN and WPET in 2002. In late March of 2005, 98.7 FM dropped the "Zone" from their handle and began playing a broader range of adult contemporary music from the '70s, '80s and '90s, soliciting listeners to vote via their website whether to go with this new approach or stick to the modern music. The new approach won the day, and a contest was then started to rename the station, which became known as "98-7 Simon" the following Monday. On Monday, May 9th, 2005, "98-7 Simon" officially switched its call letters from WOZN to WSMW to reflect their new name.

WSMW-FM 98.7 Gallery