WAXB


WAXB is a radio station licensed to Ridgefield, Connecticut, United States, one of three area stations owned by The Berkshire Broadcasting Corporation. The others are News/Talk 800 AM WLAD and Hot Adult Contemporary 98Q/98.3 FM WDAQ. WAXB airs a classic rock radio format for the Danbury region of Connecticut. The station uses the identification "94.5 The Hawk", which is the dial position of its FM translator 94.5 W233CF.
Because 850 AM is a clear channel frequency, WAXB must sign-off at night to avoid interfering with higher-class stations on that frequency. Programming continues via the FM translator throughout the overnight.

History

The Federal Communications Commission assigned the call letters WREF to the frequency on January 18, 1984. WREF began broadcasting on March 15, 1985, nearly a decade after getting the original construction permit, programming an adult standards format from sign-on through its sale to Berkshire in 1996, when the new owners switched the format to oldies.
In late March 2004, WREF became the first station to air Scott Shannon's "True Oldies Channel." After a period of tweaking on WREF, Shannon put the format into nationwide radio syndication in July 2004.
On February 1, 2011, WREF rebranded as "B107.3," adopted the call letters WAXB and began a simulcast of the 850 AM signal on FM translator W297AN. The WAXB calls had previously been in the market at 105.5 FM before Cumulus Media abandoned the oldies format on that frequency in 2002. B107.3 switched to a locally programmed Classic Hits format, featuring pop and rock hits of the 1970s and 1980s on January 31, 2013.
On July 1, 2016 WAXB rebranded as "B94.5", switching translators to W233CF 94.5 FM Danbury.
On February 26, 2020 at 3pm WAXB changed their format from classic hits to classic rock, branded as "94.5 The Hawk".

Translators