Original Call Letters: WNFQ

Originally Licensed: Feb 1990

Original City of License: Newberry

Original Frequency: 100.5

Origin of Call Letters: 

Original Power: 44,000 watts

Original Location:

Original Format: Urban Contemporary

Network Affiliation(s):

VirtualNWS-2014

Owner(s):

History Of Call Letters and Formats:

History of WHHZ-FM 
Thanks to Marc Tyll for this history of WHHZ.
WHHZ-FM began regular broadcast service on February 1, 1990 with a blend of Urban Adult Contemporary music. The station was known as "Mix 100.5". Originally the 100.5 frequency was an FCC Class “A” drop in as a result of the 1983 Docket 80-90,   providing a first service to Newberry, a small rural town located in Western Alachua County situated approximately 20 miles  west of Gainesville. A local Gainesville attorney was awarded the construction permit who immediately applied for and  received approval to upgrade the frequency from a Class “A” to a Class “C3”. The original call letters were WNFQ which had  previously been associated with an FM station in Lake City . WNFQ signed on the air with 11,500 watts from a 492 Foot tower  located just North of High Springs. Its main studio was located in the city of Alachua . WNFQ was leased to Willie Martin who  operated the station under a time brokerage agreement. Martin had previously served as General Manager for competitor  gospel formatted WWLO-AM 1430 Gainesville and Urban Adult Contemporary WFEZ-FM 101.3. "Mix 100.5" competed against  urban hip/hop WFEZ (now WTMG-FM 101.3) for nearly nine years before WNFQ was sold to Asterisk Communications  which owned Country formatted WYGC-FM 100.9 “Gator Country 101”, Gainesville and Classic Rock WRKG-FM 104.9 “Real  Rock 104.9” High Springs.  Asterisk dropped the urban format in favor of Hot Adult Contemporary with a call letter changed to  WBXY-FM. The new moniker became "Star 100.5" and was known for playing “Star Clusters” in reference to the long commercial free music sweeps heard on the new "Star 100.5". Shortly, “Star 100.5” was flipped to Classic Rock with a call letter change to WRKG (Real Rock Gainesville) when the format was  moved from Asterisk’s WRKG-FM 99.5. The “Star” format and the WBXY call letters were subsequently moved to the 99.5 frequency becoming “Star 99.5”. Unfortunately the new “Real Rock 100.5” WRKG was short lived when the station temporarily went off the air in the Summer of  2000 as a result of a tower collapse sustained from a tornado. Asterisk elected not to rebuild the tower and instead would sell  the license to Albany , New York based Pamal Broadcasting, Ltd. Pamal rebuilt the tower and made it a part of Pamal’s nine  station Central Florida radio group which included four additional Gainesville radio stations. The call letters were changed to  WHHZ with a format flip to Contemporary Hit known as “My Z 100”. Bruce Cherry, formerly of WFKS-FM 99.9 “Kiss 99.9 FM”  Daytona,  became the new Z 100’s program director and afternoon drive on air personality. The new Z 100 was attempting to take market  share from heritage WYKS-FM 105.3 “Kiss 105.3”, but was unable to make very much headway in the process. Another format change was decided, and in 2001 WHHZ became “The Buzz 100.5” becoming “ Gainesville ’s Rock Alternative”.  In 2004 WHHZ underwent another technical upgrade when its tower was moved to the WKZY-FM 106.9 and WDVH-FM 101.7  tower site with a power increase to 44,000 watts, becoming a Class “C2”. With the power and classification upgrade, the WHHZ signal better saturated Gainesville and North Central Florida. Today (2008) WHHZ continues to “Buzz” Gainesville and the surrounding area as Gainesville ’s Rock Alternative”  

WHHZ Personalities