maine branding 97.1 the bear slogan maine s new country leader frequency 97.1 mhz first air date march 15 1961 format country erp 6 500 watts haat 375 meters class b facility id 3671 transmitter coordinates 44 42 12 n 69 4 47 w 44.70333 n 69.07972 w 44.70333 ; 69.07972 wbfb callsign meaning belfast bear format originally started on 104.7 fm licensed to belfast former callsigns wabi fm 1961 1973 wbgw 1973 1986 wyou fm 1986 1995 wwbx 1995 2008 waei 2008 2009 waei fm 2009 2011 affiliations motor racing network owner blueberry broadcasting blueberry broadcasting llc sister stations wabk wbak wbfe wksq wvom fm website www.971thebear.com wbfb 97.1 fm ; 97 1 the bear is a radio station licensed to and operating from studios in bangor maine . the station is owned by blueberry broadcasting and is a country formatted radio station simulcasting on co owned wmcm and wbfe . contents 1 history 1.1 97.1 license 1.2 wbfb intellectual property 2 references 3 external links history edit 97.1 license edit the 97.1 frequency has a long history in bangor signing on march 15 1961 1 as wabi fm owned by the community broadcasting service along with wabi now wabk and wabi tv . 2 initially a simulcast of wabi 2 on march 1 1973 the station became wbgw a country music station . 3 4 community broadcasting service merged with journal publications in 1971 to form diversified communications ; 5 the company s broadcasting division retained the community broadcasting service name until 1982 when wbgw was transferred to diversified directly . 6 the call letters were changed to wyou fm in 1986 . 7 diversified announced in 1993 that it would put most of its broadcasting properties including wyou and wabi up for sale ; 8 while it would retain wabi tv following the collapse of a deal to sell it to vision communications 9 the radio stations were sold to bangor radio corporation . 8 10 two years later the station adopted a modern rock format under the wwbx calls . the station eventually changed to a hot adult contemporary format . wwbx and wabi were sold to gopher hill broadcasting in 1997 . 11 wwbx was instrumental in storm coverage during the north american ice storm of 1998 . it was michael w. hale who made the decision to suspend the music format and allow open phones and dialogue to help those with no power and to provide home based entertainment . the station allowed listeners from all over central and eastern maine to call in and share stories of prior storms survival tips and even just to let people know they were still waiting for power . michael w. hale the morning host at the time was so inundated with calls the station effectively became a talk station for a time . the announcers les newsome cindy michaels who later worked at wvii tv ted wallace dave glidden and rob on the radio rosewall kept people all over eastern and central maine informed . inbound calls for help and assistance were so many volunteers came to the station to take calls and nearby states . the station than returned to its regular format after the power was restored . in september 1998 the format was again changed to top 40 with an on air slogan of b97 . the station was an overnight success giving cross town rival wbzn the competition needed to spice the small market . although the ratings were often close jocks from both stations demonstrated the skills to provide bangor with large market sounds . clear channel communications signed a local marketing agreement with gopher hill in early 2001 ; 12 a few weeks later it bought wwbx and wabi . 13 the company announced on november 16 2006 that it would sell its bangor stations after being bought by private equity firms 14 resulting in a sale to blueberry broadcasting to 2008 . 15 on september 1 2008 wwbx dropped the top 40 format in favor of sports talk provided by boston s weei in a simulcast with wabi ; the call letters were changed to waei . 16 the call letters were modified to waei fm in february 2009 7 in order to install the waei call letters on wabi . 17 though waei carried weei s talk shows most game broadcasts were not aired on the station . however it was the flagship of the maine black bears from 2008 until 2011 when it was replaced by sister station wksq waei s am frequency remained a co flagship . 18 blueberry broadcasting ended waei s affiliation with weei on january 11 2010 19 20 replacing it with fox sports radio imus in the morning and the jim rome show ; 20 21 blueberry cited a breach of contract . 20 the station swapped formats and call letters with 104.7 fm on september 1 2011 and became country music station wbfb in effect returning the format to the frequency after a sixteen year absence 104.7 became classic hits station wbak the following february leaving the sports format exclusively on waei s 910 am frequency . 22 wbfb intellectual property edit the bear country format originated on the 104.7 fm frequency now wbak on september 20 1996 replacing top 40 station wwfx fox 104.7 ; 23 24 the first song was gone country by alan jackson . the change which gave rival wqcb its first competition since wyou fm became wwbx a year earlier 23 came soon after wwfx was sold by group h radio to star broadcasting a company owned by mark osborne and natalie knox current owners of wnsx that already owned wksq and wlke ; 25 the format change was intended to minimize overlap with wksq s playlist . 26 the wwfx call letters were replaced with wbfb on april 25 1997 after the station attempted to obtain the webr call sign . 27 osborne and knox sold wbfb wksq and wlke to communications capital managers in february 2000 ; 28 that july ccm announced that it would sell the group which through other purchases also included wbya wguy and wvom to clear channel . 29 blueberry broadcasting bought the station along with the other clear channel stations in maine in 2008 ; 15 on september 28 2009 wbfb began simulcasting on wlke and wmcm replacing their separate country formats . wlke would change its call letters to wbfe in 2013 . wbfb moved to 97.1 fm swapping with waei fm on september 1 2011 . 22 references edit broadcasting yearbook 1981 pdf . 1981 . p. c 103 . retrieved march 13 2010 . a b broadcasting yearbook 1963 pdf . 1963 . p. b 81 . retrieved march 13 2010 . broadcasting yearbook 1974 pdf . 1974 . p. b 93 . retrieved march 13 2010 . country western fm to start march 1 . bangor daily news . january 29 1973 . retrieved june 7 2010 . publication firm tv unit merge . bangor daily news . january 21 1971 . retrieved june 3 2010 . application search details 1 . cdbs public access . federal communications commission . retrieved june 7 2010 . a b waei fm call sign history . cdbs public access . federal communications commission . retrieved february 24 2009 . a b kekacs andrew december 15 1993 . upheaval in bangor radio tv . bangor daily news . retrieved june 3 2010 . hildreth heirs to keep wabi tv . bangor daily news . may 28 1994 . retrieved june 3 2010 . application search details 2 . cdbs public access . federal communications commission . retrieved march 13 2010 . fybush scott july 10 1997 . on and off the air . north east radiowatch . retrieved june 4 2010 . fybush scott april 4 2001 . take me out to the ban game . new england radiowatch . retrieved june 4 2010 . fybush scott april 16 2001 . clear channel buys two in maine . north east radiowatch . retrieved march 13 2010 . fybush scott november 20 2006 . dark days all around . northeast radio watch . retrieved june 3 2010 . a b fybush scott may 5 2008 . the sales market heats up . northeast radio watch . retrieved march 13 2010 . weei sports radio network expands to portland bangor & keene pdf press release . entercom communications . august 20 2008 . retrieved august 20 2008 . waei call sign history . cdbs public access . federal communications commission . retrieved february 24 2009 . mahoney larry june 14 2011 . kiss 94.5 fm to join waei in broadcasting maine games . bangor daily news . retrieved february 6 2012 . heslam jessica january 14 2010 . lawrence pastor proud of conan o brien . boston herald . retrieved january 14 2010 . unfortunately our affiliate in bangor chose to end its contract with us tuesday said weei program director jason wolfe . a b c neff andrew january 16 2010 . bangor stations drop weei . bangor daily news . retrieved january 17 2010 . bangor affiliates drop weei programming . all access . january 14 2010 . retrieved january 14 2010 . a b venta lance august 18 2011 . bangor me bear moves . radioinsight . retrieved february 6 2012 . a b fybush scott october 9 1996 . meet the new fnx ... . new england radiowatch . retrieved february 6 2012 . fybush scott october 18 1996 . kidstar d buts . new england radiowatch . retrieved february 6 2012 . fybush scott october 18 1996 . waaf back on the tube . new england radiowatch . retrieved february 6 2012 . nessell doug september 19 1996 . kiss 94.5 a winner in fox hunt . bangor daily news . p. a4 . retrieved february 6 2012 . fybush scott may 15 1997 . changes in the morning . north east radiowatch . retrieved february 6 2012 . fybush scott february 18 2000 . consolidating in bangor . north east radiowatch . retrieved february 6 2012 . fybush scott july 21 2000 . an end to jukebox s legal troubles . north east radiowatch . retrieved february 6 2012 . external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for wbfb radio locator information on wbfb query nielsen audio s fm station database for wbfb v t e radio stations in the bangor maine market by am frequency 620 910 1230 1340 1400 by fm frequency 88.5 89.3 89.9 90.3 90.9 91.9 92.9 94.1 94.5 95.7 97.1 99.5 100.3 101.7 102.1 103.1 103.9 104.7 105.5 105.7 106.5 107.3 107.7 by call sign w227be w231ch wabk wbak wban wbfb wbqi wbya wbzn wcyr weru fm wezq wguy whcf whmx whsn wjcx wkit fm wksq wkvv wkvz wmeb fm wmeh wqcb wvom fm wwmj wxbp wzlo wzon defunct stations whra maine radio markets augusta waterville bangor portland other maine radio regions northern & downeast maine lewiston auburn see also list of radio stations in maine v t e country radio stations in the state of maine by frequency 1160 1280 1400 1450 94.7 95.3 96.9 97.1 98.5 99.1 99.3 99.9 100.7 101.9 103.3 106.5 by callsign wbcq fm wbfb wbfe wbpw wbqq wcyr webb wjye wmcm woxo woxo fm wpor wqcb wskw wtbu wtht by community of license auburn bangor bar harbor brewer gardiner kennebunkport mexico monticello portland presque isle rockland skowhegan south paris veazie waterville york center see also adult contemporary classic hits college country news talk npr oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in maine v t e blueberry broadcasting am radio stations wabk wvom fm radio stations wabk fm wbak wbfb wbfe wbka wksq wmcm wqsk wqss wtos fm wtqx wtux wvom fm wvqm retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wbfb & oldid 743327119 categories country