Update 5/23: At 12:00am, 106.5 dropped its simulcast of 690/104.5 WOKV and debuted Urban Oldies “Hot 106.5“. Branded as “Duval’s Adult R&B” for Jacksonville’s home county, the station is launching with the prerequisite 10,000 songs in a row commercial free.
Clarence Natto, who had been serving as Promotions Director for Cox’ “Kiss 104.1” WALR Atlanta will program the station.
The move places the station in direct competition with Clear Channel’s “V101.5” WSOL-FM and creates an Urban wall with sister “Power 106.1“.
Update 5/19: WOKV has announced that Wednesday, May 22 will be the last day the station will be heard on 106.5.
Update 5/17: Cox’s call letter applications give the next hint for what’s coming to 106.5.
The company has first swapped WOKV-FM from 106.5 to 104.5 with WFYV-FM. On top of that, Cox has requested WHJX for the frequency. The WHJX calls have history in the market on what is now 101.5 WSOL-FM from 1991 to 1995 and 105.7 WJGM from 2002 to 2011. Both stations used the “Hot” moniker with Urban and Rhythmic CHR formats.
Coincidentally, on top of the previous MyHot1065.com domain registration social media profiles have been made for @Hot1065 on Facebook and Twitter. We still expect an Urban AC or Oldies format for the frequency when it launches its new format.
Original Report 5/2: With the move of the FM simulcast of News/Talk WOKV Jacksonville from 106.5 to 104.5 this week the attention now turns to what format will appear on the 106.5 frequency.
On Tuesday four domains were registered hinting at formats that were teased during 104.5’s stunt. Looking through what they could mean:
1065TheBone.com – Hot Talk similar to sister “102.5 The Bone” WHPT Tampa. The format would allow Cox to return former WFYV morning hosts Bubba The Love Sponge and Billy Madison to remain in the market, however after making a strong push to move Rock 104.5’s audience to sister Modern Rock “X102.9” would they want to do something to fracture the Male audience again?
Easy1065.com – Cox runs Soft AC/Oldies formats in Tampa and Miami and teased it earlier this year on the 106.1 translator in Jacksonville before launching Urban “Power 106.1“. With Renda’s “Lite 96.1” WEJZ being the only AC and there being no pop-based Classic Hits station in the market anymore there may be a hole for such a format.
MyHot1065.com – Cox uses the Hot moniker for CHR in Tampa (which is unlikely with sister 95.1 WAPE in place) and Urban AC in Miami. An Urban AC to pair with “Power 106.1” as a sales combo and compete against Clear Channel’s “V101.5” WSOL makes a lot of sense from a competitive standpoint.
Power1065.com – Moving the Power brand from the 106.1 translator to the full powered 106.5 signal would seem likely at first glance. However there’s not that much of a difference between 106.1’s coverage area and the Class A signal of 106.5. Is it worth the marketing expenses to move Power and then launch a new format on 106.5?
Additionally OldSchool1065.com was registered on April 1. Here a Rhythmic/Urban Oldies format could be niched between Classic Rock “96.9 The Eagle” to target the female 35+ audience and paired with Power for a sales combo.
