WVFV The station began broadcasting on June 8, 1967, as WVFV. The
call sign stood for the "Voice of the Fox Valley". The station was founded by Jim French, who operated out of a space above Cardinal Savings and Loans in
West Dundee. Prior to the launch of WVFV, an earlier station on 103.9 FM, WELG in
Elgin, operated from 1960 until June 1963; the license for WELG, along with sister station WELF in
Glen Ellyn, was revoked on March 11, 1964. WVFV was sold in early 1970 to Richard Willrett, for $45,000. In February 1972, WVFV switched to a
progressive rock format. In 1976, the station was sold to Ralph J. Faucher for $160,000, and its format was changed to
adult contemporary. On May 27, 1980, its call sign was changed to WCRM, The station's slogan was "Today's Christian Music". On April 10, 1989, its call sign was changed to WABT, Among the staff at the station was
Cara Carriveau (who went by her maiden name Cara Stern and on air name Cara Simms at the time), who began as overnight DJ in 1989, later moving to nights and middays. In 1992, Carriveau became program director, replacing Randy McCarthy. In 1995, the station was sold to M & M Broadcasting, owned by former
Hammond, Indiana mayor Thomas McDermott Sr., for $975,000. The station began to be simulcast on 103.9
WWJY in
Crown Point, Indiana.
Spanish language formats In 1996, the station was sold to Z-Spanish Network, along with WWJY, for $3.6 million, and it adopted a Spanish language format, airing
regional Mexican music. On June 7, 1996, its call sign was changed to WZCH. On December 29, 2000, WZCH began airing a Spanish CHR format branded "Super Estrella", as part of a simulcast with 99.9
WRZA in
Park Forest, Illinois. In May 2004,
NextMedia Group purchased the station from Entravision Communications for $5 million. By the end of the month, WZCH was stunting with television theme songs.
Y 103.9 On Tuesday June 1, 2004, the station adopted a
rhythmic oldies format branded as "Y1039, The Beat of the Burbs", with the new call sign WWYW. The following year, the station gradually reformatted as an
oldies station branded as "Y103.9, The Greatest Hits of All Time". This worked to fill the void left by the format flip of
WJMK from oldies to Jack-FM. Y103.9 featured local hosts such as Jim Shea, Jeff James, Jeff Davis, Shawn Powers, Marci Beeks, Carla Coulter, and Ken Cocker. Weekend programing included a Saturday night all 1970s music show with Jeff James. By 2011, airtime of live and local hosts was greatly reduced, leaving only Marci Beeks at middays, and Jeff James and Carla Coulter's weekend shows as live and local. The remainder of the schedule was filled with
Tom Kent's syndicated programming. The last song as Y103.9 was
Mercy Mercy Me by
Marvin Gaye, while the first song on 103.9 The Fox was
Foxy Lady by
Jimi Hendrix. The station's call sign was changed to WFXF on March 4, 2013. On-air staff included Alex Quigley, formerly of
Q101, Pat Capone, formerly of
The Loop, and JoBo, formerly of
B96. In 2014, the station was sold to Matrix Broadcasting LLC. In February 2019, it was announced that
Alpha Media would purchase WFXF and 105.5 WZSR for $4,669,011, with WFXF to be immediately resold to
Educational Media Foundation for $900,000. In preparation for the sale, the airstaff announced their final day on The Fox would be on April 5. The Fox's final promotion, an "Adult Easter Egg Hunt" at McHenry County College, was rescheduled from April 19 to April 6.
Air1 The station was set to flip to Educational Media Foundation's contemporary worship music network,
Air1, on April 8, 2019, with new call sign WAWY already reserved. However, after the final song played on The Fox, the station was taken
silent. The station returned to the air the following week as an affiliate of Air1, airing Contemporary Worship Music from the network. ==References==