Josh and Holly Peterson - owners of Thunder Radio WMSR / Coffee County Broadcasting, Inc. in Manchester, Tennessee - are excited to announce the company has expanded to include three additional radio stations in southern Middle Tennessee.
Coffee County Broadcasting on Dec. 31, 2024 closed a deal to purchase Rooster 101.5 (WFTZ), 93.9 The Duck (WDUC) and Whiskey Country 105.1 & 95.9 (WHMT) from Bowman Broadcasting’s Pete Bowman. The FCC approved the acquisition on November 25, 2024.
Coffee County Broadcasting Inc. will now become Peterson Media Group Inc. The Peterson’s have owned Thunder Radio since September of 2019, when they purchased it from Rob and Tiffany Clutter.
“When we stepped into ownership at Thunder Radio back in 2019 we were welcomed with open arms by the Coffee County community,” said Josh Peterson, vice president of Peterson Media Group Inc. “We found a community starving for a media organization to be involved in the day-to-day lives of their citizens, whether that is being at every ball game or promoting non-profit organizations with the same energy as paid advertisers or just keeping them informed in severe weather or serious breaking news matters. We have poured our heart into doing that for this community. It may be the most rewarding ‘work’ anyone can do.
“I want to thank Pete Bowman for trusting us enough to sell us his radio stations, allowing us to expand our efforts across a bigger area in southern Middle Tennessee,” added Peterson. “I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to work with Pete through this process and see the hard work and dedication he has put into those three stations. Now we want to take them and do what we have done at Thunder Radio - give communities in southern Middle Tennessee a media that is from here, understands them, believes in them and promotes them. Every business out there and every ball team and community organization out there - big or small - deserves someone fighting for them and working hard to help them succeed. And that is what we are going to do."
Thunder Radio WMSR will continue to operate from its Manchester location at 1030 Oakdale Street; while the Rooster, Duck and Whiskey radio stations will continue broadcasting from The Coker building at 401 Wilson Avenue in Tullahoma.
Josh Peterson will serve as the general manager of the group beginning January 1, 2025. Brian Marcrom has been hired to oversee the merger and production at WMSR. Other personnel and operational decisions will be announced in the coming days and months.
“What I like about this business is we have the opportunity to be servants,” said Holly Peterson, president of Peterson Media Group Inc. “We get to help advertisers connect with customers and grow their businesses, we get to broadcast ball games for kids and bring a sense of pride to a community, we get to help non profits grow and thrive and bring a little sense of joy, entertainment and information to everyone’s day. Now we have the opportunity to do that, not just in Manchester, but in Tullahoma, Shelbyville, Lynchburg, Winchester and other great communities in southern Middle Tennessee. We have a great team in place and I can’t wait to see what we can do.
“We will be working very hard over the next days and weeks to implement a plan for these stations, their formatting, websites and social medias that will make everyone feel like these are their stations,” Holly Peterson added.
ABOUT THE RADIO STATIONS
Thunder Radio WMSR has been broadcasting out of Manchester since 1957. Originally on the AM dial at 1320, the station added FM translator frequencies at 107.9 FM (Manchester and northern Coffee County) and 106.7 FM (Tullahoma) over the past two decades.
Thunder Radio is primarily a talk station, featuring live, local programming like The Morning Show with Josh and Holly (6:30-8:30 am) and Connecting Coffee County with Tiffany Clutter (3-6 pm). The station carries syndicated programming like Dan Bongino Show, The Rick Burgess Show and broadcasts nearly 90 local sports games every year, including Coffee County Red Raiders, Coffee Middle Raiders and Westwood Rockets. Thunder is an affiliate of The Atlanta Braves, Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators.
The news website thunder1320.com is one of the most visited news sites in Southern Middle Tennessee and the Thunder Radio Facebook's 25,000-plus followers is the most of any news organization or radio station in Southern Middle Tennessee.
ROOSTER 101.5
This station was launched in 1992, originally as Fantasy Radio under the ownership of the late Roger Dotson. Bowman purchased the station in 2016 and switched the format to hot adult contemporary.
Rooster occupies the 101.5 spot on the FM dial with a 5700 watt signal that encompasses Coffee, Bedford Cannon, Rutherford, Warren, Grundy, Franklin, Moore and Lincoln counties. Rooster currently broadcasts Coffee County Central sports, although that will change next school year.. Rooster is an affiliate of The University of Tennessee Volunteers and boasts and Eastlan Rating of number 1 in the market.
939 THE DUCK
The Duck first went on the air in 2011 and is Southern Middle Tennessee’s Home for Classic Hits.
WDUC occupies 93.9 on the FM dial with 4100 watts of power encompassing Bedford, Coffee, Rutherford, Lincoln, Franklin, Cannon, Moore, and Grundy counties, as well as northern Alabama.
The Duck is currently the home for Tullahoma athletics and boasts an Eastlan Rating of number 2 in the market.
WHISKEY COUNTRY
Is a country music format broadcasting on two FM frequencies: 105.1 FM and 95.9 FM. The station plays the best country from yesterday and today, with a signal that hits Moore County, Coffee County and Bedford County.
Whiskey Country currently is the home for Shelbyville Central athletics.
MEET THE OWNERS
Josh and Holly Peterson are both graduates of Coffee County Central High School. Both played sports at CHS and live in Manchester.
Josh has been broadcasting ball games for WMSR since 2005 and previously worked in print media, serving as the sports editor, news editor and then publisher at the Manchester Times until purchasing Thunder Radio in 2019.
Holly began her broadcasting career in 2019. Both Josh and Holly are founders and prominent board members for the non profit Dream for Weave Foundation, a 501c3 in Coffee County that has contributed over $85,000 in financial assistance to athletes since 2020. Holly served as the president-elect of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce in 2024 and will serve as the Chamber President in 2025.
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