Grayson Headley, trading as the Northern Neck and Tidewater Broadcasting Company, received a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission to build a new 250-watt daytime-only AM station, broadcasting on 690 kHz AM, at Warsaw on July 6, 1948.[3] Construction had begun by early 1949 on a site near the Cobham Park Baptist Church; the station would be an independent outlet concentrating on local interest programs.[4] WNNT launched July 3,[5] bringing the first radio station to the Northern Neck.[6] Charles E. Stuart, a partner in the project, became part-owner of WNNT in 1950 and then died in 1951, at which time Headley became sole owner again.[3]
In 1961, Grayson Headley, who also owned a loan company and a construction firm in the region and sat on the board of directors of the Virginia Association of Broadcasters,[7] died at the age of 46;[8] his widow, Patricia, became the owner,[3] one of only a handful of single women to own broadcast stations.[6] Under her ownership, WNNT doubled its service to the Northern Neck on March 1, 1967, when WNNT-FM, originally at 100.9 MHz, signed on, simulcasting the AM frequency during the day and continuing its programming after dark.[9] In 1973, the stations began to broadcast a country music format.[10] After Patricia married Pat Dewey, the Northern Neck and Tidewater Broadcasting group expanded in 1975 with the launch of a station on the lower Northern Neck, WKWI at Kilmarnock; the Kilmarnock station was built as a partnership with Dean Loudy, former WNNT general manager and morning personality.[6]
The WNNT stations were sold for $400,000 to Linwood "Lynn" Wadsworth in 1993.[11] In 1999, Wadsworth and the then-owner of WWTL (700 AM) in Walkersville, Maryland, reached an interference reduction agreement in 2001, whereby WNNT would surrender its AM license to allow a facility upgrade for WWTL.[12]
In 2006, Lynn Wadsworth sold WNNT-FM to Real Media, Inc.; at the same time, his brother Danny sold WRAR-FM at Tappahannock to Real Media, which was owned by four employees of the Tappahannock FM outlet.[13] Wadsworth quit his duties as morning personality on WNNT-FM as part of the sale.[13] Two years later, WNNT-FM moved from 100.9 to 107.5 MHz as part of a modification proceeding that allowed Richmond-area outlet WDYL (then at 101.1 FM) to move to 100.9 and increase its power.[14] The frequency change also brought a power increase for WNNT-FM, which increased its effective radiated power to 6,000 watts.[15]
