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WBZZ

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For other uses, seeWBZZ (disambiguation).
WBZZ
Broadcast areaPittsburgh metro area
Frequency100.7MHz(HD Radio)
Branding100.7 Star
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatTop 40/CHR
SubchannelsHD2:LGBTQ-orientedtalk/EDM( "Channel Q")
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
1963(1963)
Former call signs
  • WYDD (1963–66)
  • WNUF (1966–84)
  • WWCL (1984–85)
  • WXXP (1985–88)
  • WMXP (1988–93)
  • WQKB (1993–98)
  • WZPT (1998–2011)
Call signmeaning
Call sign "parking"from the former WBZZ (93.7 FM); nowKDKA-FM
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID20351
ClassB
ERP14,500watts
HAAT280 meters (920 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
40°28′20″N79°59′40″W/ 40.4723°N 79.9945°W/40.4723; -79.9945
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live(viaAudacy)
Websitewww.audacy/starpittsburgh

WBZZ(100.7FM,"100.7 Star" ) is atop 40/CHRstationlicensed toNew Kensington, Pennsylvania,targetingPittsburgh, Pennsylvania,and owned byAudacy, Inc.Its transmitter is located in Pittsburgh'sSpring Hilldistrict and its studios are located west ofdowntown.

Due to the presence of co-channelWMMSin Cleveland, WBZZ only partially covers the northwestern Pittsburgh radio market.

History

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WBZZ'sHD RadioChannels on a SPARC Radio withPSDandEAS.

Beginnings as WYDD

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100.7 originally signed on the air in 1963 as WYDD with a power of 10,000 watts in New Kensington, operating as the FM sister station ofWKPA,also licensed to New Kensington. In 1967 another FM license, WPGH-FM, was dropped in Pittsburgh at104.7.The owner of WYDD, Gateway Broadcasting Enterprises, applied for 104.7 and the FCC granted the license. WYDD assumed 104.7, changed its city of license to Pittsburgh, and increased its power to 50,000 watts.

A condition of the grant was that Gateway would have to sell the 100.7 frequency to stay compliant with FCC rules and regulations at the time that forbade a licensee to own more than one FM and one AM in a single market.

As WNUF

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Because New Kensington was part of the Pittsburgh market, 100.7 was sold to Millvale-based publisher Milton Hammond, who used the channel for WNUF. The city of license remained New Kensington with a new transmitter site inRussellton.The owner tried to get the call-letters WFUN, but since it was already assigned to another station, the station settled for "fun" backwards, hence the WNUF call-letters. During the construction phrase of WNUF, an agreement was reached withWOMP-FM(100.5 FM) that allowed both stations to increase their power without subjecting one or the other to co-channel interference. WNUF received permission to increase its power from 10,000 to 20,000 watts.

WNUF's studios and offices were co-located with a weekly buy-sell-trade publication called The Green Sheet, both of which were owned by Hammond. Since the building for the publication was owned by Hammond, the station was located there during the period he owned it. The station became known for its Big Band music format. While WNUF broadcast in stereo, since much of the Big Band music it played was recorded before the advent of stereo, many of the recordings were actually a form of "simulated" stereo or electronically re-recorded to simulate stereo. Though licensed to a suburb almost 20 miles from Pittsburgh, WNUF identified itself as a "North Hills" station. DJs were instructed to identify the station as "WNUF (speak softly and mumble) licensed to New Kensington (say clearly and loudly) North Hills".

In 1979, WNUF was granted an increase from 20,000 to 50,000 watts effective radiated power. The station still operated at 20,000 watts but moved to a different tower just outside Millvale, which allowed its antenna to broadcast from a much greater height. However, reception still proved to be a problem in Pittsburgh's South Hills and parts of the city.

Tal Weimer, Bill Trushel, Darrel Deiter, Dino Orsatti, Rich Beno, Fred Moulton, Craig Perry, Ron Miskoff, Larry Kemp and Christian Muro were among the announcers during the days when Hammond owned the station.

As WWCL

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In March 1985, following the sale of WNUF by Hammond to Empire Media on Jan. 3 of that year, the station flipped tosoft rockas WWCL, taking the moniker "Classy 101", advertising itself heavily with a series of TV commercials inviting potential listeners to call or write with feedback to improve the station, "because you're building Classy 101!" The attempt failed to make any kind of ratings success, largely due to its signal that limited it to listenership in Pittsburgh's North Hills and eastern suburbs, with listeners south of the city of Pittsburgh unable to hear it. The station also faced heavy competition from established soft rocker3WSand from longtime easy-listening WPNT, which had operated for years as KDKA-FM. The latter station also switched to soft rock that same year and embarked on a heavy advertising campaign that proved to be highly successful.

As WXXP

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After a year as WWCL, the station flipped formats in 1986 toalternative rockas WXXP ( "Double X 100.7" ). The station also moved to 224 North Avenue in Millvale, a few blocks from the Hammond building. This was Pittsburgh's first commercial alternative station. While the station did improve somewhat, it did not prosper. However, after its 1988 sale and subsequent format switch, its success under alternative rock inspired an AM station, WXVX, to assume the format.

As WMXP

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On August 1, 1988, the station was acquired by Pittsburgh Partners (dba Signature Broadcasting). On August 22, the format flipped to hot adult contemporary, and assumed the call letters WMXP, with the slogan "Mix 100.7". Waylon Richards served as the station's new program director.

However, with the flip of crosstown competitorWSHHto soft adult contemporary also that year, "Mix 100.7" found it difficult to compete with three other adult contemporary stations, and was still plagued by signal limitations. After short-lived but successful Top 40 station WNRJ was sold and switched to an easy-listening format, WMXP took advantage of the opportunity and made the switch toRhythmic top 40,taking on the identity of "Mix Jamz" in late 1990. Rich Hawkins then assumed duties of program director.

The following year, WMXP moved its transmitting antenna from Millvale to a nearby television broadcast tower owned byWPGH-TV.This allowed listeners in Pittsburgh's South Hills suburbs to hear the station for the very first time, and allowed full signal penetration within Pittsburgh's city limits.

As WQKB

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While the format switch was successful, it would last until Midnight on January 1, 1993, when, after playing "End of the Road"byBoyz II Men,the station began stunting with all-Garth Brooksmusic as "K-Garth". On January 6, WMXP flipped tocountryas "K-Bear 100.7" (the WQKB calls were adopted on March 3, 1993). The switch came following the sale of the station toEZ Communications(owner of direct competitorB94) from Signature Broadcasting.[2]Announcers Bill Webster and Jay Silvers under the "Mix Jamz" banner were retained under the new format.

As WZPT

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On October 7, 1994, the station flipped to all-1970s’ hits as "The Point 100.7", along with a change to new WZPT call letters.[3][4][5][6]The station added ‘80s’ music to its playlist in March 1997 (with the new slogan of "The Hits of the ‘70s and ‘80s).[7]By October 1999, WZPT would drop the ‘70s’ music, and added ‘90s’ music to its playlist, with a shift toHot AC,while still being branded as "The Point".[8]At 6 p.m. on June 3, 2000, WZPT was rebranded as "Star 100.7".[9]

"Star 100.7" logo used from 2006 to 2011

During its tenure as a Hot AC, the station called itself "Pittsburgh's Best Variety of the ’80s, ’90s and Today." One of their more popular music features was "Flashback Friday," consisting of mostly ’80s and some ‘90s music.

Despite airing more of a mix of current music with ’80s and ’90s, WZPT's format was similar to that of sister station WBZZ ( "B94" ). In fact, after that station initially dropped the Top 40 format foractive rockin 2004, listeners who liked B94 but didn't care for the new rock format were encouraged on-air to listen to WZPT.

As WBZZ

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On January 19, 2010, B94 (93.7 FM) changed again, this time to sports talk asKDKA-FM( "93.7 The Fan" ).CBS Radioalso announced that they would merge Star with B94 to bring B94's music and some on-air personalities onto Star for listeners to continue to enjoy.[10]In doing so, WZPT eliminated the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s tracks in favor ofAdult Top 40music, playing current and recent current music only. Star added more rhythmic artists such asLady Gaga,Kesha,andTimbalandin addition to artists such asShinedown,Kelly ClarksonandJohn Mayer.

On January 5, 2011, CBS Radio reacquired the WBZZ calls from the formerWQSH-Albany, New York,with plans to use the calls to replace the WZPT calls. The call letter change was approved on January 19, 2011.[11]

In October 2011, the words in the branding were swapped to "100.7 Star." The station also introduced a new logo.

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge withEntercom.[12]The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.[13][14]

In 2022, WBZZ began to shift from Hot AC to Top 40.

HD Radio

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WBZZ-HD2 logo as "B94 Replay"

100.7 began HD Radio operations in 2006. 100.7 HD-1 carried the standard analog format, while 100.7 HD2 carried a 1980s/1990s hits format dubbed the "80s/90s Flashback Channel" (named after their popular "Flashback Friday" program at the time). When the station rebranded as "100.7 Star" in October 2011, the HD2 channel shifted its format to include 2000s hits, and was renamed "Replay Radio", which includes heavy references to former sister station B94. WBZZ added an HD3 channel in August 2012, carrying CBS Radio's alternative-talk format, branded as "The Sky." The Sky was also carried onSeattle'sKMPS-HD3 andBoston'sWBMX-HD4. In early 2014, the HD3 channel flipped toTop 40/CHR,branded as "AMP Radio". As of July 25, 2018, WBZZ-HD3 changed to a simulcast ofWAMO (AM),which aired arhythmic contemporaryformat. On June 25, 2019, WAMO (AM) flipped toUrban ACas "107.3 The Beat", with the rhythmic format remaining on WBZZ-HD3 and FM translator 100.1W261AXafter that translator was repurposed to simulcastKDKA (AM)in November 2020, the rhythmic format would move to translator 107.3 W297BU and WAMO (AM); the simulcast remained on WBZZ-HD3 until early 2022, when it assumed Audacy'sLGBTQ-centric talk and EDM formatChannel Q.[15]

References

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  1. ^"Facility Technical Data for WBZZ".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^"RR-1993-01-08"(PDF).
  3. ^"Post-Gazette".nl.newsbank.
  4. ^"BB-1994-10-22"(PDF).
  5. ^"RR-1994-10-14"(PDF).
  6. ^"100.7 FM The Point- Pittsburgh's 70s music station".Archivedfrom the original on 2021-12-21 – via youtube.
  7. ^"News Library Archives".newslibrary.Retrieved2024-01-25.
  8. ^"Post-Gazette".nl.newsbank.
  9. ^"RR-2000-06-09"(PDF).
  10. ^Adrian McCoy (January 20, 2010)."Sports station expands KDKA to FM".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Archived fromthe originalon August 17, 2022.
  11. ^"WBZZ Returns to Pittsburgh".January 10, 2011.
  12. ^"CBS Radio To Merge With Entercom".February 2, 2017.
  13. ^"Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio".Entercom.November 9, 2017.RetrievedNovember 17,2017.
  14. ^Venta, Lance (November 17, 2017)."Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger".Radio Insight.RetrievedNovember 17,2017.
  15. ^"The Beat Launches in Pittsburgh".

Early History of 100.7 by Ed DeHart, employee from 1968 to 1971.

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