Prior to December 1996, 106.1 was light rock Mix 106 before switching to country and calling itself "South 106". In the spring of 1999, WSTE built a new tower because at the time they were still in competition with WNGC---just before the two stations would merge. The purpose of the deal was to try to reach a larger audience and give the two Atlanta country stations WKHX "Kicks" 101.5, and WYAY (Y106 at 106.7) some competition.The studios had moved from Toccoa to Gainesville and finally to Athens, but its signal was hard to pick up in the Atlanta area beyond Gwinnett.