The station signed on the air as WONO in 1956, with a
classical music format. In 1979, the station's new owner,
Roy H. Park Broadcasting, changed its
call sign to WRRB and installed a
country music format. Over the next decade and a half, 107.9 FM has changed formats and call letters several times; these formats included
adult contemporary,
album-oriented rock,
easy listening/classical (as WRHP), and country (as WHEN-FM, "Hit Country 108"). In 1996, WHEN-FM was sold to
Cox Communications, owners of country format competitor
WBBS (B104.7). On June 10 of that year, the station flipped to
contemporary hit radio (CHR) with new call letters WWHT. WWHT was one of a group of five stations included in a trade between Cox and
Jacor Communications in 1999 when Cox exited the Syracuse market. Clear Channel Communications (now
iHeartMedia) subsequently acquired Jacor in April 1999. While classified as a mainstream CHR and playing mainstream
pop and
rock, WWHT focused heavily on
rhythmic and dance hits. In 2010, WWHT added more rhythmic songs and reduced non-rhythmic content, a trend that several Top 40 stations were adopting at the time, and by January 2011 had shifted completely to Rhythmic Top 40. This resulted in WWHT being moved from the Mainstream Top 40 reporting panels of both
Nielsen BDS and
Mediabase panels to their respective rhythmic panels in November 2011. In October 2012, WWHT returned to Mainstream
Top 40, dropping almost all rhythmic-only content, but because most of the station's programming was
voice-tracked, Nielsen BDS did not include its playlist in its
Top 40/CHR panel. The station airs
Elvis Duran and the Morning Show originating from
Z100 In New York City every weekday morning,
On Air with Ryan Seacrest,
On the Move with Enrique Santos,
Most Requested Live with Romeo, and
AT40 from iHeartMedia's
Premiere Networks. ==HD Radio==