Thursday, April 17, 2014

WNRR

This sticker from "Winner 98 FM" is proving to be a tough one to definitively identify.  Someone wrote "WNRR WI" on the back.  This 1973 Wisconsin Blue Book lists a WNRR in Neenah, WI.  This guy's LinkedIn page says that he was a weekend jock on WNRR in Appleton, WI in the late 1960s.  Both the 1968 and 1969 Broadcasting Yearbooks don't show a WNRR in their alphabetical list of all call letters.  A current check for stations licensed to these two cities don't show any that are close to the 98 FM frequency.  Anybody know what frequency, format and city of license this sticker is from? 

UPDATE:  See comments.

9 comments:

Dan Sys said...

Amazng that you unearthed this one Greg. WINNER 98 was a fictitious radio station that was the brainchild of I.R.C.A. member John Rieger from Milwaukee back in the 1970's. John produced professional looking weekly charts for the station, but I wasn't aware that he made a sticker. Not really sure if he actually got the station on the air as a pirate though.

Greg said...

Thanks for the info Dan!

Anonymous said...

There was a WNRR in Neenah Menasha back in the late 60's early 70's. I believe it was licensed to Neenah but was actually in an old mobile home (8ft by 30 ft or so) on South Kernan (sp) Rd. I actually visited it... in the middle of a field outside of Appleton Wi. Jox at that time...Terry Thompson, John Rammer, Neil Lorge. It wasn't there for long. I think it was sold. I had left for the military and when I came back it was gone. I want to say the frequency was actually 99. something but it was so long ago... But it was there and I was inside on my visit. Primitive facilities but sounded good, especially for the time.

Unknown said...

In the Fall of 1972 I applied for and was granted the calls WNRR for an fm station at Bellevue, Ohio which I built and operated until sold in 2001. The calls are now WOHF. I had intended to use WNIR and call it "The WINNER" but WNIR was taken months earlier. Bob Ladd

Unknown said...

In the Fall of 1972 I applied for and was granted the calls WNRR for an fm station at Bellevue, Ohio which I built and operated until sold in 2001. The calls are now WOHF. I had intended to use WNIR and call it "The WINNER" but WNIR was taken months earlier. Bob Ladd

Anonymous said...

WNRR in Neenah was on 99.3. One of dj's was Jim Rammer, not John, he was their technician, also. It was a mobile near Payne's Point, just south of Neenah. When the station shut down, most of the equipment and all their records were sold to WKAU in Kaukauna -- along with Jim Rammer. Eventually, a new radio station took over 99.3, then changed the frequency to 94.3 and became -- WROE.

Kim Grehn said...

I worked at WNRR, Neenah, Menasha in the Summer/Fall of 1970 and the Winter/Spring of 1971. It was, indeed, in a trailer in a field in Appleton. I think the frequency was 99.3. I remember Neil, Jim and Terry. I used the airname, Kim Anderson.

Unknown said...

I recall WNRR of Neenah, I was in high school. It was a terrific radio station. I recall that each night they played the Rolling Stones "You Can't Always Get What You Want." I never know what happened to it. Of course later I would catch onto WKAU in Kaukauna. After reading several posts, I now know that the two stations were eventually joined in History.

Anonymous said...

John Rieger here. Found this by accident.
Had "Winner" jingles, charts and yes, the bumper stickers were made. Had 500 made the the time.

Have the 99.3 WNRR jingles (1970) and I believe they were Pams.
Anyway, that sticker would be from me.

Too, aside, one might remember 99.3 WNRR Appleton and the new 1150 WYNE Appleton, owned by Carl Come (Tutera) of WOKY, at the time. In mIlwaukee, George Wilson was at W-RIT fighting WOKY. Most of the jocks left WOKY for 'RIT.