WGFX

WGFX is a radio station broadcasting on the FM band at 104.5 MHz licensed to the city of Gallatin, Tennessee, but serving the Nashville market as a whole. It is currently branded as 104.5 The Zone, broadcasting a sports talk format. It is owned by Cumulus Media and operates out of studios in Nashville's Music Row district. Its transmitter is located just north of downtown Nashville.

History

The station signed on as WFMG-FM on December 1, 1960 in Gallatin, Tennessee, about 30 miles (47 km) northeast of Nashville, with a big band format. In 1971, Sumner Country Broadcasting Co., which owned WHIN in Gallatin, purchased WFMG and changed call letters to WHIN-FM. During the early years of WHIN-FM, the format was easy listening. In 1974, the station switched to an all oldies format. In July 1978, WHIN-FM switched formats to contemporary hit radio (CHR). Just over one month later, the call letters were changed to WWKX using the moniker "The New KX 104 FM".

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the station was very popular and featured morning DJ Coyote McCloud. Its 100,000 watt signal broadcasting from "Music Mountain", one of the highest points on the northern Highland Rim north of Gallatin and the site of several broadcasting facilities, boomed far into the rural areas of northern Tennessee and southern Kentucky. By the mid-1980s, KX 104 was faced with competition from two new area CHRs, "96 Kiss" (WZKS, now WCJK) and "Y107" (WYHY, now WRVW). Additionally, McCloud defected to WYHY in 1985 to host its morning show. To try to differentiate itself, WWKX segued into a rock-leaning Top 40 format calling itself "Rock Hits 104, Kicks FM". This move proved unfruitful, and the station returned to mainstream CHR a year later in 1986. Faced with the success of Y107, this would not last.