WNOR

On July 19, 1962, WNOR-FM first signed on the air, owned by the Norfolk Broadcasting Company. It was the sister station to WNOR (1230 AM) and presented a mix of easy listening "semiclassical music" and show tunes.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/ledger-star-sixth-fm-station-to-go-on-ai/132307358/|date=July 18, 1962|page=20|title=Sixth FM Station To Go on Air|newspaper=Ledger-Star|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023|archive-date=September 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923232511/https://www.newspapers.com/article/ledger-star-sixth-fm-station-to-go-on-ai/132307358/|url-status=live}} WNOR-AM-FM was sold for $1.23 million in 1967 to Arnold and Audrey Malkan and Stanley Wilson.{{Cite news|pages=58–59|title=Station sales total $10.7 million|work=Broadcasting|date=May 1, 1967|id={{ProQuest|1014524080}} }} The new owners then sued the sellers, claiming among other things that WNOR-FM used equipment that did not meet Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements.{{Cite news|page=50|date=April 15, 1968|work=Broadcasting|title=Hearing set in WNOR lawsuit|id={{ProQuest|1014529946}} }}

The station maintained an all-female air staff until 1974, when the general manager felt the concept had run its course; citing high turnover, he released two female DJs and reassigned others, telling Broadcasting, "Females and males alike would rather hear a male voice on the radio."{{Cite news|page=36|title=No time for Lorelei|work=Broadcasting|date=September 16, 1974|id={{ProQuest|1016878491}} }}

In 1969, WNOR-FM began airing a progressive rock format at night.{{Cite news|first=Cyndee|last=Maxwell|work=Radio & Records|date=August 1, 1997|page=80|title=Targeting Norfolk's Active Rock Audience|id={{ProQuest|1017298377}}}} Eventually, the rock music proved more popular than easy listening, with WNOR-FM abandoning the "split-format" approach in 1974. The station's Arbitron ratings quickly took off, culminating in the station's rise to number one in the rock radio ratings beginning in the early 1980s{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-wnor-vs-wafx-the-wars-on/132291280/|date=April 5, 1989|pages=C1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-radio/132291354/ C4]|title=WNOR vs. WAFX: The war's on for classic-rock radio listeners|newspaper=Daily Press|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023|archive-date=September 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923232516/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-wnor-vs-wafx-the-wars-on/132291280/|url-status=live}} and the total-market ratings from 1986 to 1988 as well as being the market's highest-billing station from 1986 to 1993.{{Cite book|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Duncan-American-Radio/Duncan-1975-1992/Norfolk.pdf|chapter=Norfolk|first=James H. Jr.|last=Duncan|title=An American Radio Trilogy, 1975 to 2004|year=2004|access-date=2023-09-23|archive-date=2023-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923232508/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Duncan-American-Radio/Duncan-1975-1992/Norfolk.pdf|url-status=live}}

By the 1980s, the station had moved to an album-oriented rock format, based more on album sales than the previous progressive rock format. In 1980, Marvin Josephson Associates acquired the WNOR stations;{{cite news|page=15|work=The Hollywood Reporter|title=MJA to purchase WNOR-AM & FM for $2.6 million|date=December 3, 1980|id={{ProQuest|2598221963}} }} company president Edward K. Christian led a leveraged buyout of the Josephson radio stations in 1986, forming Saga Communications.{{cite news|work=Crain's Detroit Business|page=3|first=Steve|last=Raphael|title=Radio Chain's Buyer Seeks Acquisitions|date=May 19, 1986|id={{ProQuest|212264215}} }} Saga decided to simulcast the FM station's rock format on the AM station. WNOR gained notoriety in 1992 when, as an April Fool's Day prank, it claimed that the Mount Trashmore landfill in Virginia Beach was about to explode; callers jammed the 9-1-1 telephone system in the area, and the station apologized at the behest of local police.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-wnor-prank-explodes-in-stati/132291659/|date=April 2, 1992|page=A1|first=Kris|last=Worrell|title=WNOR prank explodes in station's face|newspaper=Daily Press|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023|archive-date=September 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923232525/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-wnor-prank-explodes-in-stati/132291659/|url-status=live}} Saga then suspended the morning show hosts for two weeks in an effort to show, per CEO Ed Christian, that the station was "taking very seriously its obligation to refrain from deliberate distortion or falsification of programming";{{cite news|title=WNOR's morning team is suspended: April Fool's Day prank draws blast|work=The Virginian-Pilot|page=A1|first=Steve|last=Stone|date=April 4, 1992}} later that year, the FCC admonished the station.{{Cite news|title=WNOR admonished by federal agency over April Fools' Day hoax|date=December 5, 1992|first=Larry|last=Bonko|work=The Virginian-Pilot|page=D3}}

In 1994, Saga Communications acquired another FM station in the market, WAFX in Suffolk. WAFX had flipped to classic rock in 1989, with the two stations feuding over the use of the term in the market,{{r|Dail890405}} and the new station made a dent in WNOR's ratings.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-veteran-wnor-returns-to-top/132291492/|date=October 14, 1989|pages=F1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-news/132291524/ F4]|first=Joseph|last=Pryweller|title=Veteran WNOR returns to top|newspaper=Daily Press|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023}} While WAFX shifted to classic hits,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-fox-shifts-to-a-softer-roc/132292907/|date=February 5, 1994|page=D7|first=David|last=Nicholson|title='Fox' shifts to a softer rock format|newspaper=Daily Press|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023}} WNOR-FM evolved into a current-based, harder-edged direction, bringing it into the active rock format; the changeover in music mix was completed in February 1996.{{r|RR970801}} In 1999, the AM station went to an adult standards format and changed its call sign to WJOI.{{Cite news|title=Local actors have role in new CBS miniseries|page=E2|date=October 31, 1999|first=Larry|last=Bonko|work=The Virginian-Pilot}}{{Cite news|title="The Sopranos" surprises Norfolk with high honor|date=December 12, 1999|page=E2|first=Larry|last=Bonko|work=The Virginian-Pilot}}

In 2019, Saga demolished the tower used to transmit WNOR and WJOI for 48 years; the new {{convert|545|ft|m|adj=on}} mast was completed in January 2020.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-wvec-welcomes-new-meteorolog/132293146/|date=January 30, 2020|page=B10|first=Larry|last=Bonko|title=WVEC welcomes new meteorologist|newspaper=Daily Press|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 23, 2023}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.fm99.com/ FM99 WNOR Online]
• {{FM station data|67080|WNOR}}

{{Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News Radio}}

{{Active Rock Radio Stations in Virginia}}

{{Saga Communications}}

Category:Active rock radio stations in the United States

NOR

Category:Radio stations established in 1961

Category:1961 establishments in Virginia