2011 dawned with what seemed like a higher-than-usual number of interesting format and call changes, and we kick off the new year by sharing a few of them with you.
From Syracuse, it’s a batch of IDs from what has turned out to be a three-way shuffle: just before Christmas, WHEN 620 dropped its longtime sports format to become “Power 620,” picking up the urban format from (and temporarily simulcasting with) WPHR-FM 106.9. On Sunday night, January 2, 106.9 became “FM Newsradio 106.9 WSYR,” simulcasting WSYR 570.
The WSYR-FM calls are in the process of migrating up from 94.7 in Gifford, Florida (in the Fort Pierce market), where they’re being swapped with WPHR-FM. As we type this on Wednesday night, both 94.7 in Gifford/Fort Pierce and 106.9 in Solvay/Syracuse are IDing as “WPHR”; that’s sure to be rectified soon.
(The Syracuse swap also includes an HD2 flip: 106.9-HD2 had been a simulcast of WSYR 570; it became a simulcast of “Power 620” when 106.9 analog/HD1 began simulcasting 570.)
But Syracuse isn’t the most recent Clear Channel FM talk flip. That honor goes to Grand Rapids, Michigan. In this flip, the calls changed a while back – first AC “Star” WOOD-FM 105.7 Grand Rapids became WSRW-FM, then country WMUS 106.9 Muskegon became WOOD-FM, then AC “Star” WSRZ 107.9 Muskegon began simulcasting the country format from WMUS. That was all back in December, and it set the stage for what happened today: the new WOOD-FM 106.9 is now simulcasting news-talk WOOD 1300 Grand Rapids, while 107.9 is now WMUS country.
And on Monday, there was some excitement in Cleveland as WMVX 106.5, which had flipped from hot AC “Mix” to Christmas music, emerged from a fun post-Christmas stunt in which it played some of the widest variety of music heard anywhere outside the confines of WFMU. Ironically, it’s WMVX’s new adult-hits format (“106.5 the Lake”) that claims to “play anything,” even though it’s now a much more constrained playlist than the stunt. Today’s update comes from both ends of Monday morning’s 7:30 AM format change – the last legal from the stunt and the first from “The Lake.”
What’s new in your market?
I hope someone tells Clear Channel to return those WSRW-FM calls along with
our 50K 106.7 signal to us here in Hillsboro, OH where those calls still
reside on the AM which is now a simulcast of WCHO-FM in Washington Court
House. The SRW in that call is the initials of the wife of the founder of
WSRW-AM and FM, Hillsboro.
Best wishes,
Dennis Egbert
Is that comedian Patton Oswalt voicing 106.5 the Lake?
My head hurts after reading all of that. On a different note, I hate all of this giving radio stations “names” that have nothing to do with their call letters or dial position. “The Lake.” “The River.” “The Wolf.” Very annoying. A lake is a body of water. They have a mighty big one next to Cleveland and a different one next to Milwaukee. A lake has nothing to do with radio for either city. It’s stupid.