  We explore the propagation and transformation of electromagnetic waves
through spatially homogeneous yet smoothly time-dependent media within the
framework of classical electrodynamics. By modelling the smooth transition,
occurring during a finite period {\tau}, as a phenomenologically realistic and
sigmoidal change of the dielectric permittivity, an analytically exact solution
to Maxwell's equations is derived for the electric displacement in terms of
hypergeometric functions. Using this solution, we show the possibility of
amplification and attenuation of waves and associate this with the decrease and
increase of the time-dependent permittivity. We demonstrate, moreover, that
such an energy exchange between waves and non-stationary media leads to the
transformation (or conversion) of frequencies. Our results may pave the way
towards controllable light-matter interaction in time-varying structures.
