Big 105
105.1 WBIX flips from AC to Rhythmic Oldies
Sensing the failure of Big 105, it soon became obvious it would be the 2nd format on the frequency to fail to last 12 months. AMFM had been developing the Jammin Oldies format across the country, and it was just a matter of time before the format found its way into New York. In early December, Big 105 adjusted to a new Modern AC sound to throw some speculators off guard. However, the new imaging did little to prevent the inevitable from happening and on December 10, 1998 “New York’s Jammin Oldies” took to the air. Following the results of a pre-planned name the station contest, 105.1 became WTJM “Jammin 105”.
105.1 WNSR becomes “Big 105”
In August of 1997, ten months into the life of WDBZ, Bonneville was planning on pulling the plug and returning the WNSR calls and “Soft Rock 105” format to battle head to head with WLTW. However, the change was put on hold as Bonneville finalized a deal to sell the station to Chancellor, the owner of WLTW. The WDBZ calls were replaced by WNSR, but the Modern AC format stayed until October when the station gradually adjusted back to Hot AC under the “FM 105.1” name. Once Chancellor took over, market speculation led to anything from Soft AC, to Country, to Urban. All they got was “Big 105” a Hot AC that for some reason sounded very close to WLTW. Big 105 failed to make a splash in the market after trying various forms of Hot AC and for the second time in t...
