WFNX

WFNX was an alternative rock radio station in Boston, Massachusetts, that operated as a commercial broadcast radio station from 1983 until July 24, 2012, and as an internet-only stream from October 30, 2012 to March 19, 2013. WFNX was owned by the Phoenix Media/Communications Group and was promoted as the broadcast cousin of the Boston Phoenix, the Boston area's former alternative media newspaper. The station ceased broadcast following the shutting down of the Boston Phoenix the previous week.

WFNX broadcast on 101.7 MHz from atop One Financial Center in downtown Boston, and simulcast on WFEX in Peterborough, New Hampshire at 92.1 MHz. Phoenix Media sold the rights to the 101.7 frequency to Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), which turned it into an "Adult Hits" format under the call letters WHBA; the frequency is now occupied by country music station WBWL. Phoenix Media also sold the 92.1 frequency in Peterborough to Blount Communications Group, which uses it to simulcast WDER, a Christian music radio station. The WFNX call letters are now used by a radio station in Athol.

WFNX (FM)

WFNX (99.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting an adult hits music format. Licensed to Athol, Massachusetts, USA, it serves the North County and Pioneer Valley areas. The signal for WFNX can be heard in north central Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire, and southern Vermont. It first began broadcasting in 1989 under the call sign WCAT-FM. The station is owned by Northeast Broadcasting Company.

History

The station first signed on December 4, 1989 as WCAT-FM, a contemporary hit radio station owned by P&S Broadcasting along with WCAT (700 AM, now WFAT). By 1992, the station had shifted to an adult contemporary format, then to hot adult contemporary a year later.

In 1998, P&S sold WCAT-FM and WCAT to CAT Communications Corporation (a company controlled by Jeff Shapiro), who in turn sold the stations to Citadel Broadcasting in 2000. Citadel operated the WCAT stations as part of its Worcester group of stations, even though Arbitron considered the stations to be within the Boston market. That September, WCAT-FM changed to an oldies format; from 2001 until 2002, this was simulcast on the AM sister station. On April 19, 2002, the call letters were changed to WAHL, after Citadel moved the WCAT-FM call sign to a Cat Country-branded station on 106.7 FM in Hershey, Pennsylvania (WCAT-FM is now assigned to 102.3 FM in Carlisle, Pennsylvania).