WFAW signed on the air on November 24, 1963. For several decades, it was a daytimer, required to go off the air at night.[5] In its early years, WFAW was a middle of the road (MOR) station, playing popular adult music with news and sports. In the 1970s, it aired a Top 40 format and was an affiliate of the ABC Contemporary Network.
In the 1980s and 1990s, WFAW played country music. As music listening moved from AM stations to the FM dial, the station added more talk shows and by the early 2000s had shifted to a talk radio format.
On October 5, 2020, WFAW changed from talk to oldies. It played hits of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, branded as "Oldies 940".[6] In December 2021, WFAW added an FM translator licensed to Janesville on 101.1 FM broadcasting from a tower near Edgerton which also provides rimshot coverage to the Madison area.
On August 22, 2022, WFAW changed its format to classic rock, dropping the remainder of local sports and the majority of local news programing. The new format was branded as "Rock 96.1/101.1". The Janesville translator at 101.1 FM was supplemented by a second translator, W241BQ 96.1 FM in Watertown, giving WFAW FM coverage in most of the southern and eastern portions of the Madison market as well as the Janesville-Beloit area.[7]
WFAW now competes with fellow rock outlet WWHG in the Janesville/Beloit area as well as Madison and Milwaukee based rock outlets. WFAW also compliments identically branded Portage based rock station WAUN which similarly is paired with two FM translators. WAUN with its AM and two FM frequencies cover the northern side of the Madison market as well as the Wisconsin Dells sub-market effectively giving Magnum's rock format coverage of the entire Madison area.
