Update 11/15: WZIM made the flip to AC as “Magic 99.5” at 12pm today.
The press release announcing the launch follows:
Great Plains Media, Inc. a Zimmer Company, owned by Jerry Zimmer, has changed the format on WZIM-FM 99.5 from a sports talk format to an Adult Contemporary music format. The new format, named New Magic 99.5 FM, will include music from the 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s and today.
General Manager, Greg Cook further explains, “We’re playing all of the popular songs that from the 80s, 90s and today that you feel comfortable listening to at work or with your kids in the car.”
The John Tesh Radio Show will anchor the morning drive from 5a – 10a CST and local talent will be on the rest of the day until 7pm.
Operations Manager, Josh Roberts said, “When Classic Hits and the old Magic left the market within a week of each other a couple of years ago it left a hole for Adult Contemporary in this market. We felt 99.5’s frequency was optimal to reach audiences who enjoy this type of music.”
Promotions Director, Kaitlin Christakos said, “I’m really excited for the launch of this station. It will be a lot of fun to create promotions that will cater to the whole family!”
Megan Zimmer, Market Manager, says “The New Magic 99.5 is the perfect complement to our other two stations here Bloomington/Normal. Offering Country, News/Talk and now Adult Contemporary to both our clients and our listeners is the perfect combination.”
99.5 The Ticket, a Fox Sports Radio station, went off the air on Wed at 10am and the station played rock music until Friday at noon. The Indianapolis Colts will be finishing up their play by play season on their sister station, Cities 92.9 WRPW-FM.
Original Report 11/13: Great Plains Media has dropped the Sports format from “99.5 The Ticket” WZIM Lexington/Blommington, IL.
Currently stunting with automated Classic Rock, all signs point to the station flipping to AC in the coming days as “Magic 99.5“. Great Plains registered Magic995FM.com in October, while a Twitter account @Magic995FM promotes the station as “The Twin Cities Home For John Tesh Mornings”.
WZIM registered a 0.7 share in the Spring 2013 ratings. It flipped to Sports from Classic Hits in April 2012 just days after the market’s last AC station left the format.
In addition to WZIM, Great Plains Media owns Talk “Cities 92.9” WRPW and Country “107.7 The Bull” WIBL in the Bloomington/Normal market.
pjc1961 
Joseph_Gallant
The “song tag” showing on the WZIM stream as of this posting during the Classic Rock stunting period confirms the soon-to-be format switch: it reads “Magic 99.5 – 80’s, 90’s & NOW”.
Direct streaming URLs:
http://1.ice1.firststreaming.com/wzim_fm.aac (48 K, 44 kHz, stereo) and
http://1.ice1.firststreaming.com/wzim_fm.mp3 (96 K, 44 kHz, mono)
Player link with new logo:
http://mgmt.firststreaming.com/listen/player.php?callsign=WZIM_FM
Could WZIM-99.5 decide to go all-Christmas and not adopt it’s “Magic” format until after December 26th??