In 1939, three businessmen, William J. Cook, Phil Roll, and Ed DeWitt, founded the Panama City Broadcasting Company.

In June 1939, Cook put in an application for the construction of a 250-watt-day, 100-watt-night radio station on West Beach Drive, transmitting on 1200 kHz.

Shortly after an introduction by Coe, the Bay High School band (playing at the First Methodist Church) kicked off the entertainment with a rendition of Beer Barrel Polka.

Quickly afterward, Coe transferred to Tom Yancey, head of the Panama City Chamber of Commerce.

Starting at 10 PM a dance was held at the Armory hosted by Tony Bruno and his 10-piece orchestra that lasted until the early morning hours.

On October 17, 1947, at 7:15 PM local time, the station moved to 590 kHz, along with use of a new facility building and a power increase to 1,000 watts.

For a time, the two new transmitter towers (located in Springfield) were the tallest man-made objects in Panama City, measuring 306 ft (93 m) high, beating out the Dixie-Sherman Hotel on 5th Street by twenty feet (6 m).

However, during the night, programs on the AM station were duplicated on the FM band in order to reach areas which the reduced nighttime AM signal had difficulty covering, including Tyndall Field, Port St. Joe, Blountstown, and Fort Walton Beach.

On January 1, 1987, the station's call sign was changed to WGNE, and they began airing a beautiful music format.

WDIZ changed their format to variety hits, branded as "96.3 Real Fun Beach Radio" (simulcast on FM translator W242BF), at noon on June 5, 2015.

The AM signal was knocked off the air due to its tower being damaged by Hurricane Michael on October 10, 2018, leaving its FM translator W242BF on 96.3 MHz as the only broadcast outlet for the station.