WWTN

{{short description|Talk radio station in Hendersonville–Nashville, Tennessee}}

{{Infobox radio station

| name = WWTN

| logo = WWTN logo.jpg

| city = Hendersonville, Tennessee

| area = Nashville metropolitan area

| branding = SuperTalk 99.7 WTN

| frequency = 99.7 MHz

| format = News/Talk

| erp = 100,000 watts

| haat = {{convert|395|m|sp=us}}

| former_callsigns = WMSR-FM (1962–1990)
WQLZ (1990–1991)

| class = C0

| facility_id = 31476

| owner = Cumulus Media

| licensee = Cumulus Licensing LLC

| airdate = {{Start date and age|June 20, 1962}}

| affiliations = Westwood One

| network = ABC News Radio

| sister_stations = WKDF, WGFX, WSM-FM, WQQK

| webcast = {{listen live|https://player.listenlive.co/25071}}

| website = [https://www.997wtn.com/ 997wtn.com]

}}

WWTN (99.7 FM) is a commercial radio station serving the Nashville media market. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and is marketed as SuperTalk 99.7 WTN (the first W is eliminated for simplicity). WWTN operates at 100,000 watts, the maximum for most FM stations and is a Class C0 station.{{cite web|url=http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=wwtn&nav=&x=0&y=0|title=WWTN-FM 99.7 MHz - Hendersonville, TN|website=radio-locator.com}}

WWTN is licensed to the city of Hendersonville, Tennessee, which is approximately 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Nashville. Its antenna (395 meters/1296 feet in height above average terrain) is located approximately 25 miles (40 km) SSE of Nashville in Rutherford County, Tennessee, between the cities of Murfreesboro and Franklin. The station's studios are in the Music Row district of Nashville.

History

The station first signed on the air on June 20, 1962. The original call sign was WMSR-FM, licensed to the city of Manchester, Tennessee.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1968/1968-BC-YB.pdf|access-date=August 10, 2020|date=1968|work=Broadcasting Yearbook|title=WMSR-FM|page=B-153 (301)}} It began focusing on the Nashville market in the early 1990s. Manchester is nearly halfway between Nashville and Chattanooga, but the Cumberland Plateau prevents a Manchester FM signal from penetrating Chattanooga, and vice versa. Its current signal range covers most of Middle Tennessee, even venturing into parts of Northern Alabama and Southern Kentucky. The city of license changed to Hendersonville in 2008, as part of a larger project that saw four of Cumulus' five Nashville stations change cities of license in the process of allowing sister station WNFN to move its transmitter and increase power.

The station was mired in mediocrity and bankruptcy in the early 1990s until being purchased by Gaylord Entertainment Company in 1995. Gaylord also owned 650 WSM (AM) and 95.5 WSM-FM, as well as the Grand Ole Opry concert hall and Opryland USA amusement park. During this period, WWTN broadcast a mixture of locally originated general interest talk programming, sports talk, and the Business Talk Radio Network. Within three years subsequent to the Gaylord purchase, WWTN was Nashville's highest-billing radio station. In 2003, WWTN and WSM-FM were sold to Cumulus Media for $65 million [http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=CMLS&script=410&layout=-6&item_id=393952] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050524213927/http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=CMLS&script=410&layout=-6&item_id=393952 |date=2005-05-24 }}.

Programming

=Current schedule=

Weekdays on WWTN features local and nationally syndicated conservative talk shows.[https://www.insideradio.com/free/nashville-s-supertalk-99-7-wtn-resets-lineup-for-2025/article_18359216-b26b-11ef-9d8f-ff07ddc28c5d.html InsideRadio.com "Nashville Supertalk 99.7 Resets Line-up for 2025" Dec. 4, 2025. Retrieved May 30, 2025.] Local hosts are heard all morning and in afternoon drive time. In middays, Texas-based Chad Benson deals with national and Tennessee issues. The weekday evening schedule from the co-owned Westwood One network includes The Mark Levin Show and Red Eye Radio.

Weekends features programs on special interests, including syndicated programs The Kim Komando Show and Sunday Night with Bill Cunningham. Some weekend hours are paid brokered programming. Most hours begin with an update from ABC News Radio.

=Ramsey and Valentine=

In 1992, WWTN began airing The Money Game, a local financial advice show with Dave Ramsey, Hal Wilson, and Roy Matlock. Wilson and Matlock left the show at different points in its early history. With Ramsey hosting alone, his company assumed ownership of the program, which was renamed The Dave Ramsey Show in 1996. It was eventually independently syndicated to over 500 stations nationwide. WWTN served as the flagship station until 2012, when Ramsey moved the show to 102.5 WPRT-FM in 2013, and then to WLAC 1510 AM in 2014.

WWTN served as the flagship station for a nationally syndicated weekday afternoon talk show hosted by Phil Valentine until July 2021, when his health deteriorated from COVID-19 and its after-effects. Valentine died on August 21, 2021.

Market competition

WWTN's primary competition is WLAC 1510 AM, a talk radio station owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. Talk and information programs are also heard on non-commercial NPR member station 90.3 WPLN-FM owned by Nashville Public Radio.