This displaced WROK and WZOK after a 25-year span where one or the other had been #1 overall in Rockford. A year and a half after the debut, WXRX rose to #1 in the market according to the Arbitron report. The debut of WXRX at midnight on January 1, 1990, was supported by an intensive TV advertising campaign. Over the next four months, the Company undertook a total upgrade of the station's audio chain. RadioWorks, Inc acquired WYBR-FM (and WRRR-AM) in August 1989. The station changed to Top 40 in 1983, then to Classic rock in October, 1986. Future WLUP jock Jonathon 'Johnny B.' Brandmeier was the morning DJ from 1978 to 1980. The format gradually migrated to an Adult Contemporary/ MOR format in the late 70s. Actress Susan Saint James was a frequent visitor and contributor to station programming elements. The initial format was termed 'Theatre of the Mind', and the first airstaff included many people with theatrical background. It returned to the air in 1976 with the call letters WYBR (for 'We're the Yellow Brick Road'), transmitting from a 300' tower in the Cherryvale parking lot, with studios inside the mall in suite E-114. The license was acquired in December, 1974, and the station was rebuilt at the Cherryvale Mall. A fire in the basement where the transmitter was located burned the entire building to the ground. The 300 foot tower was co-located with the studios on N. The station went on the air as WKWL on February 27, 1971, playing a 'Good Music' format and affiliated with the ABC news network. In the 1992 motion picture Batman Returns, WXRX is a fictional television station in Gotham City. Meadows, Sky Drysdale, Alan Cox, Jamie Markley, Mark Zander Jim Stone, as Mark Edwards, Lori Hastings, and Pete McMurray. Popular disc jockeys that have worked for WXRX include Jonathon Brandmeier, Tim Crull, Cheryl Jackson as K.C. WXRX broadcasts two channels in the HD format. Originally created by a company called 'Radio Works' run by David McAley and Robert Rhea Jr., it is now owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting.

Licensed to Belvidere, Illinois, the station serves the Rockford, Illinois area. WXRX (commonly known as 'The X') is an FM radio station, broadcasting at 104.9 FM.

104.9 the x listen live