WDEF-FM

WDEF-FM
City of license	Chattanooga, Tennessee
Broadcast area	SE Tenn., NW Ga., NE Ala.
Branding	Sunny 92.3
Slogan	The Best Variety Of Today's Music
Frequency	92.3 MHz
First air date	c. 1940
Format	Adult contemporary
ERP	97,000 watts
HAAT	360 m (1,181 ft)
Class	C0
Facility ID	57827
Owner	Bahakel Communications (Jackson Telecasters, Inc.)
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	sunny923.com

WDEF-FM is a radio station serving the Chattanooga area, broadcasting on 92.3 FM. The station operates an adult contemporary (AC) format and is branded as "Sunny 92.3 FM". From Thanksgiving to Christmas Day, it broadcasts an all-Christmas music format. The station can be heard throughout southern east Tennessee, northwest Georgia (often down to northwest metro Atlanta, despite co-channel W222AF there), and most of northeast Alabama.

The FM is the sister station of WDEF AM 1370, and was the sister station of WDEF-TV 12. The radio stations were spun off from the CBS affiliate in the 1990s, and are now owned by Bahakel Communications.

History

Once a beautiful music outlet during the 1970s, WDEF has done successfully with its "Sunny AC" format since they made the transition in the early 1990s. Luther Masingill was the WDEF morning host from December 31, 1940 until his death in 2014;^[1] he was on the air longer than any other host in radio history. He began working at WDEF and moved to WDEF-FM when the AM switched to a sports format. In 2012, Massingill was one of the first inductees into the new Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame. On November 12, 2012, Massingill was one of several radio personalities inducted into the national Radio Hall of Fame at a ceremony at the Chicago Museum of Broadcast Communications.

When Danny Howard (Skyler McKenzie on the air) joined WDEF-FM as program director in 1993, only Masingill was getting good ratings. Howard made changes that resulted in the station being "mainstream AC" and "not ... too soft or too hard." Hot adult contemporary included music from the '80s and '90s, while Bright AC included some 70s music but relied more on the on-air presentation—not "laid back" like so many soft adult contemporary stations. Howard said the 25 to 49 female listeners were not boring—the image AC programmers needed to avoid was "hair up in a bun ... white house with a picket fence ... no life."

The main competition was gold-based WLMX, where Howard had previously worked. WDEF-FM did more promotion than the CHR stations WZST and WKXJ. Howard also intended to go after country WUSY, since country music was in a decline at the time.^[2]

References

↑ "News 12's Luther Masingill Passes Away At Age 92". WDEF-TV. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
↑ "Danny Howard Lights Fire Under WDEF's 'Bright' AC," Billboard, Vol. 107, July 15, 1995, p. 84.

External links

Sunny 92.3's website

Query the FCC's FM station database for WDEF

Radio-Locator information on WDEF

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WDEF

Chattanooga, Tennessee radio stations

By FM frequency	88.1 88.9 89.7 90.5 91.5 92.3 93.1 93.5 93.9 94.3 94.7 95.3 96.5 97.3 98.1 98.9 99.3 100.7 101.9 102.3 102.7 103.7 105.1 105.5 106.5 107.9

By AM frequency	980 1070 1110 1150 1260 1280 1370 1420 1450 1490 1590

By callsign	WAAK-LP WALV-FM WBDX WDEF WDEF-FM WDNT WDOD-FM WDYN WFLI WGOW WGOW-FM WJBP WJOC WJTT WKWN WKXJ WLMR WLND WMBW WMPZ WNGH-FM WNOO WOCE WOGT WPLZ WQCH WQMT WRXR-FM WSAA WSKZ WSMC-FM WUAT WUSY WUTC WUUQ WYBK

Defunct stations	WDOD (AM 1310)

Tennessee radio markets Chattanooga Jackson Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol Knoxville Memphis Nashville Other Tennessee radio regions Clarksville Cookeville See also List of radio stations in Tennessee

Adult Contemporary radio stations in the state of Tennessee

Stations	WBNT-FM – Oneida WCLE-FM – Calhoun WCMT-FM – South Fulton WDEF-FM – Chattanooga WDUC – Lynchburg WHHM-FM – Henderson WJXA – Nashville WJXB-FM – Knoxville WKBQ – Covington WKRM – Columbia WLQK – Livingston WLZK – Paris WMRO – Gallatin WMXV – Saint Joseph WOCV – Oneida WRJB – Camden WRVR – Memphis WSEV-FM – Gatlinburg WSLV – Ardmore WTFM – Kingsport WTRZ – Spencer

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Tennessee

Bahakel Communications

Radio stations	KILO KRXP WDEF WDEF-FM WDOD-FM WUUQ

Television stations	WAKA (CBS) WBBJ-TV (ABC; CBS on DT3) WBMM (The CW) WCCB (The CW) WFXB (Fox) WNCF (ABC) ¹ WOLO-TV (ABC)

¹ Owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting; operated by Bahakel through shared services agreement (SSA).

Coordinates: 35°08′06″N 85°19′26″W / 35.135°N 85.324°W / 35.135; -85.324

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