WBYB
| City | Eldred, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Northern Pennsylvania |
| Branding | Bob 103.9 |
| Slogan | Hometown Country for McKean and Potter Counties |
| Frequency | 103.9 MHz |
| First air date | December 22, 1981 (as WRXZ) |
| Format | New Country |
| ERP | 840 watts |
| HAAT | 223.4 meters |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 4586 |
| Callsign meaning | Approximation of "Bob" |
| Former callsigns | WRXZ (1981-1985) WIFI (1985-1988) WLMI (1988-2010) WUMT (2010-2011) WVTT (2/2011-10/2011) |
| Affiliations | Nash FM |
| Owner | Colonial Media and Entertainment |
| Sister stations | WVTT, WXMT |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | Bob1039.com |
WBYB (103.9 FM) is a commercial radio station, licensed to Eldred, Pennsylvania. WBYB operates at an effective radiated power of 840 watts. The station is owned by Colonial Media and Entertainment and is operated from Colonial's headquarters at One Blue Bird Square in Olean, New York. The station runs a country music network, affiliated with Nash FM and operating under the Bob FM branding.
103.9 began at a time when Kane, Pennsylvania (the station's original city of license) was experiencing a sharp decline in its local economy. Originally assigned the call letters WRXZ and going on the air December 22, 1981, 103.9 came on the air at a time of extensive expansion of the FM radio band; the FCC's Docket 80-90 resulted in a boom of new FM stations in suburban and rural locations through the 1980s.
WRXZ was founded by Huber-Dixon Broadcasting, with T.R. Dixon serving as president, and Clarence V. Huber, Jr. as general manager.
WRXZ would be competing for advertising revenue with a well-established AM competitor, WKZA, that had been on the air since 1954, and had been controlled for many years by a New York-based company (the Bilbat Broadcast Bunch dba locally as Raise Kane Radio, Inc.) that had other stations in its portfolio in addition to its own.
The call letters were changed to WIFI about two years after going on the air, and it didn't take long for WIFI to make an impact on its competitor, though not enough to effectively put it out of business until years later. WIFI was the very first FM station to come on the air in McKean County, with WBRR in Bradford coming on the air three years later.
WHKS in Port Allegany and WQRM in Smethport would not come on the air until 6 and 7 years later, respectively. Though only 3,000 watts at the time of its debut, Kane was located at the top of a mountain, which allowed WIFI a huge coverage area from a relatively short antenna, thus enabling it to serve all of McKean County and parts of New York's Twin Tiers area, as well as a portion of Elk and Warren Counties.
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