WFXM-FM

WFXM-FM (94.3 FM) is a commercial radio station in Macon, Georgia and is owned by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audacy,_Inc. Audacy Inc.]. Its transmitter is located at SR 87/US 23/US 129 ALT (Golden Isles Highway) along the Bibb–Twiggs county line and studios located in The Shoppes at River Crossing mall in Macon. The station broadcasts a Hot-AC format with the station's HD2 subchannel carries a classic hip-hop/Urban AC format as "95.5 The Heart" (simulcast on translator W238AA at 95.5 FM) and a HD3 subchannel carrying a simulcast of WBGJ-AM.

During the Christmas season, WFXM-FM broadcasts Christmas music from November 19 until December 26.

WNEX-FM and WNFM
On January 10, 1963, WFXM-FM launched as WNEX-FM, a companion station of WNEX-AM (1400 AM), both were owned by WNEX Inc at the time. Like most FM stations in the early to mid 60s, the FM sister station would simulcast the AM station. In the case of WNEX-AM and FM, both stations carried a top 40 format and also carried the ABC Radio Network. The format was extremely popular with teenagers in Macon.

By 1970, WNEX-AM became the market's leading station for teens and young adults. Seeing the success of that station by 1971, WNEX-FM switched to an oldies format which aimed at the 45+ demographic, the station also renamed to "WNFM". This gave WNEX, Inc. a monopoly in the teen, young adult, and adult demographics.

Despite this success by 1975, ratings dropped. This was mainly because the oldies format didn't have a big enough library that it has today. And so on December 1, 1976, WNFM left the air permanently.

Relaunch as a contemporary christian station
In 1977, 1 year after WNFM went off air. WNEX, Inc. sold the license assets of WNFM to Macon Community Church for an estimated $1.3 million. On April 6, 1980 (Easter Sunday), WNFM was relaunched as WMCC-FM airing a contemporary christian format. This made it the first of its kind in Macon, under the branding "WMCC 94: God's Favorite Music", the format made it a success among Christians in the Macon market.

On April 27, 1980, WMCC-FM would launch the afternoon radio show, "The Afternoon Drive". Initially hosted by Rich Pancher, he would leave the station by late 1983 to join WBGJ-FM, creating the popular morning show "Rich in the Morning" there. The show has since been hosted by Michael A. Davis and his family, and continues to run on the station even though the station had changed its format several times.

On July 16, 1985, WMCC-FM would gain a television sister station, WMCC-TV (now WFXM-TV). This in-turn made the Macon Community Church the only company in Macon to control both a TV station and radio station at the exact same time. On October 8, 1986, the station changed its name to the current WFXM-FM, branding itself as "WFXM 94.3: Macon's Christian Station".

Morgan Napoletano was a morning drive host on weekends from 1984 until 1990, before he was fired (a few years before it flipped from Christian programming to secular adult contemporary music). He later became an atheist and founded The Atheist's Guide to the South. He is currently serving time at for attempted murder, embezzlement and money laundering.

Nationwide ownership, and switch to adult contemporary
On February 13th, 1989, after declining ratings for WFXM-FM and troubles of running WFXM-TV, Macon Community Church sold both stations to Nationwide Communications, Inc for $20.6 million. Under Nationwide ownership, the station would still carry its Christian format up until 1992. After 12 years of being Macon's only Christian station, the station would stop broadcasting Christian music on March 13, 1992 which was Friday the 13th. On that day, the station had a stunt in which the station would broadcast a looping morse code text which translates to "If you can decode this, you're in the know that WFXM 94.3 is ready for a change". The next day on March 14, 1992, the station flipped to an adult contemporary station as "The Fox 94.3". The first song played on "The Fox 94.3" was "The Spirit of Radio" by Rush. In 1993, Nationwide sold WFXM-TV to Clear Channel Communications as part of Nationwide's exit of TV broadcasting.

Jacor and Clear Channel ownership, switch to Hot AC, and sale to CBS Radio/Entercom
In 1997, Nationwide announced to sell its radio division to Jacor Communications for $620 million, Nationwide Communications would merge with Jacor the following year. In May 1999, Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia) completed its $6.5 billion purchase of Jacor and its stations, this in-turn reunited WFXM-FM with WFXM-TV. After seeing the success of KHMX and its Hot AC format, Clear Channel would switch several of its stations to a Hot AC format under the Mix branding, WFXM-FM was one of those stations and would adopt the format on September 18th, 2001 as "Mix 94.3". The first song played on "Mix 94.3" was "Joyride" by Roxette, which was preceded by a introduction from that duo's Per Gessle. The hot AC format is still WFXM-FM's format to this day. In 2002, Clear Channel would sell WFXM-TV to GOCOM, this deal separated WFXM-TV and WFXM-FM again.

On December 15, 2008, Clear Channel and CBS Radio announced a multi-station swap: WFXM-FM, WWAL-FM, WCGA, and WBGJ-AM-FM in Macon (WWAL-FM and WBGJ-FM were part of the at the time) along with sister stations KHMX and KLOL in Houston would go to CBS Radio, while CBS Radio-owned stations WQSR in Baltimore, KBKS in Seattle, KLTH and KXJM in Portland, Oregon and KQJK in Sacramento would go to Clear Channel. The sale was approved on March 31, 2009, and was consummated on April 1. Much like sister station KHMX, CBS would tweak the station's library to include more recent songs reminiscent of that of the CHR format of which sister station WBGJ-FM has.

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.

Christmas music
Since 1990 (back when it was a Christian station), WFXM-FM has broadcast Christmas music from November 19 until December 26.

For several years, 94.3 has occasionally jokingly stunted for up to three hours after ending the Christmas music, playing on radio fans on online industry message boards who would often predict a format flip on December 26, no matter WFXM-FM's ratings standing and listener loyalty. In 2003, WFXM-FM ran several liners alluding to a format change, including playing a few non-AC songs. In 2004, conservative talk "Patriot 94.3" was on for three hours, airing an episode of The Rush Limbaugh Show (before the announcer gave up mid-liner and gave away the joke). In 2006, WFXM-FM stunted for an hour as "Que Buena 94.3", playing a mix of Regional Mexican and Spanish Tropical music. In 2008, WFXM-FM stunted for three hours with country music, similar to WDEN-FM and WIHB-FM, as "94.3 The Bull". In 2021, WFXM-FM stunted for two hours with a sports betting talk format as "94.3 The Bet".

HD Radio
On May 2, 2014, after stunting for three days with a loop of Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf", WFXM-FM-HD2 flipped to country as "95.5 The Wolf" (simulcast on translator W238AA at 95.5 FM), launching with 10,095 songs played commercial-free. The first song played on "95.5 The Wolf" was "This Is How We Roll" by Florida Georgia Line.

On August 2, 2017, WWAL-FM-HD2/W297AE adopted WFXM-HD2/W238AA's old format as "107.3 The Wolf"), and the station began stunting with sounds of an urban street at night, along with voiceover Duke Rowell (as well as its website) redirecting "95.5 The Wolf" listeners to WWAL-FM-HD2/W297AE, and advising them to tune in the following Friday, August 11, at Noon. At that time, the station flipped to classic hip-hop as "95.5 The Heart", launching with "Hey Lover" by LL Cool J. Initially, "95.5 The Heart" used programming from 's network, but "95.5 The Heart" later shifted to in-house presentation, adding more 90s R&B, 80s funk and R&B, and 70s disco and funk into it's playlist and turning it into a classic hip-hop/urban adult contemporary hybrid.