Classic Hits
106.9 KFRC Simulcast News 740 KCBS
Previous Format: Classic Hits New Format: News Date & Time Of Change: 10/27/2008 7:40am More Info: RadioInsight, Wikipedia
97.3 KBSG Begins Simulcasting 710 KIRO
Previous Format: Classic Hits “B97.3” KBSG New Format: News/Talk “97.3 KIRO” KIRO-FM Date & Time Of Change: August 12, 2008 at 4:23am More Info: Wikipedia Aircheck Contributed by Bob Cavanaugh
California 103.1 Calgary Becomes Classic Hits XL103
On March 3, 2008 at 3pm, NewCap Broadcasting’s Smooth Jazz “California 103.1” CIQX Calgary changed formats to Classic Hits as “XL103”. In accordance with Canada’s more strict licensing regulations, Newcap needed the CRTC to remove the clause in the station’s license requiring a specialty format in order to change the format.
“O-Rock” 105.9 WOCL Orlando Becomes “Sunny 105.9”
Following the departure of Howard Stern to Sirius in December 2005, WOCL’s Modern Rock format fell on hard times. Drew Garabo and Savannah were brought in following their departures from crosstown FM Talker WTKS to host mornings, but the format floundered behind 101.1 WJRR for the young male audience it desired. Finally on Friday, January 4, 2008 at 10:00am the station dropped Modern Rock and began stunting with Bill Drake’s “History of Rock and Roll” until the following Thursday, January 10. That day at 12:40pm, the station began a year-by-year montage similar to the one used by sister WCBS-FM New York the previous summer, which led up to the launch at 1:05pm and 9 seconds of “Sunny 105.9 – Orlando’s Greatest Hits”.
101.1 WCBS-FM Returns
When Dan Mason returned as President of CBS Radio in the Spring of 2007, the first thing he did was make it clear that many of the blunders of the past few years needed to be fixed. The “Free-FM” brand was slowly dissolved, leading to the return of K-Rock. San Francisco’s KFRC was relaunched on a new frequency just a few months after that station had dropped its heritage format. All that remained was dealing with that pesky Jack in New York. On July 12, 2007 at appropriately 1:01pm, Jack shifted over to 101.1’s HD-2 signal and made way for the return of a slightly modified WCBS-FM. Dan Taylor and Bob Shannon were brought back, but were joined by newcomers Broadway Bill Lee, Joe Causi and more 80’s music. Note: This is quite long, running at almost 27 minutes, ...
103.3 KLOU becomes “My 103.3”
With the “Oldies” branding becoming taboo due to the aging of the target audience, broadcasters have looked for new ways to position the format. In St. Louis, when Clear Channel brought on market legend Smash for mornings at KLOU they used the opportunity to reposition the market’s longtime oldies station as programmed by the listeners. The station brought on Bob Costas as the imaging voice as well.
Big 100.3 WBIG Evolves From Oldies To Classic Hits
Previous Format: Oldies New Format: Classic Hits Date & Time Of Change: April 3, 2006 at 5:00pm More Info: Wikipedia, Washington Post
WOFM Flips To Classic Hits
Previous Format: CHR “Wild 94.7” New Format: Classic Hits “94.7 The Peak” (Quickly rebranded as “94.7 The Valley“) Date & Time Of Change: March 6, 2006 More Info: Wikipedia Aircheck Contributed by Jeremy Andrews
Oldies 92.9 WFOG becomes The Wave WVBW
In Early 2005, Barnstable Broadcasting sold its Norfolk cluster to Max Media, who years prior had operated AC powerhouse 101.3 WWDE “2WD” in the market. Dick Lamb, one of the principles in Max Media and founder of 2WD had stayed on as morning host at 2WD until the acquisition of Barnstable’s cluster ended his 26 year run in mornings there. In order to create a spot in their new cluster for Lamb, the Oldies format of WFOG was dropped in favor of a Gold-based AC format. The Wave’s success has since led to 2WD shifting from Mainstream AC to a softer variation of the format. Aircheck Contributed By Bob Corbin of VARTV.com
