Completed Changes
January 1
Bluefield WV – First Media Services Classic Hip-Hop “Z98.7” 1240 WKEZ/98.7 W254CV Bluefield WV flipped to Soft AC “98.7 EZ-FM”
Lewistown PA – Nittany Media flipped Rock leaning Classic Hits “Big 100.3” 920 WKVA/100.3 W262DO to Soft AC “WKVA Gold Hits“.
Minneapolis MN – Milestone Radio Rock leaning Classic Hits “Killer Bee Radio” 95.9 WLKX-FM Forest Lake/1300 WQPM Princeton/107.5 W298CE Big Lake MN returned to its former Oldies “The Big Q” identity.
St. George UT – Cherry Creek Media Country “Big Kickin Country” 94.9 KCIN/107.3 KIYK rebranded as “New Country 94.9“.
Sun Valley ID – Magic Valley Media AAA 94.5 KSKI-FM flipped to Alternative after two months as “Sun Valley’s Official Christmas Music Station”
December 31
Greenville SC – iHeartMedia AC “My 102.5” WMYI came out of its “Christmas 102.5” stunting as Variety Hits “102.5 The Lake“.
eliminated its branding and airstaff when it became “Christmas 102.5“. (DOMAIN INSIGHT)
December 30
Bowling Green KY – Forever Communications flipped 1340 WBGN/107.9 W300DA Bowling Green KY to Oldies.
December 26
Billings MT – Desert Mountain Broadcasting launched Oldies “98.1 K-Bear” on the former News/Talk 730 KYYA and new translator 98.1 K251CI.
Erie PA – iHeartMedia AC “95.9 Lite-FM” WLTM Mina NY ended its month-plus run as “Christmas 95.9” to become “iHeart Podcast 95.9“.
Jonesboro AR – After stunting as “94.1 Reindeer Radio“, East Arkansas Broadcaster’s 94.1 K231BV/101.7 KIYS-HD2 flipped to Variety Hits “94.1 Bob-FM“.
Mansfield OH – iHeartMedia’s “Christmas 107.7” WXXF Loudonville flipped to Soft AC “107.7 The Breeze“.
Wausau WI – 100.5 WAVL Rothschild became AC “Wave 100.5“.
Willmar MN – After stunting as “97.3 Happy Holidays” , Ingstad Mediactive AC “97.3 The River” KRVY-FM Starbuck flipped to Rock leaning Classic Hits “97.3 The Kangaroo“.
December 25
Fort Wayne IN – Adams Radio Group Soft AC “103.9 Sunny-FM” WWFW flipped to Variety Hits “103.9 Wayne-FM” at 6pm on Christmas night.
West Palm Beach FL – VCMG Live launched Classic Rock “The Surf” on 960 WSVU North Palm Beach/92.5 W233CJ West Palm Beach/101.7 W269DS North Palm Beach FL after launching the translators as “Rudolph’s Radio”
December 24
Philadelphia – Radio One Urban “Boom 103.9” WPHI rebranded as “Hip Hop 103.9“.
More Stunting
Cleveland OH – Rubber City Radio’s 107.3 WNWV Elyria has moved to a temporary simulcast of Country 94.9 WQMX Medina/Akron. The station dropped its Smooth Jazz format for Christmas music in November. (DOMAIN INSIGHT).
Louisville KY – iHeartMedia’s 100.5 WLGX is “Under Construction” with a broader than usual Variety Hits playlist. WLGX dropped its Hot AC “100.5 Kiss-FM” brand the day before Thanksgiving. (DOMAIN INSIGHT)
Pensacola FL – ADX Communications’ “Christmas Radio 94.5” W233CM/WYCT-HD2 Pensacola changed its stunting to a loop of different versions of “Baby Shark”
Confirmed Changes
Albany GA – Pretoria Fields Collective Media will launch “Q102 The Queen Bee” WPFQ on January 6 on what is currently Country “102.1 Nash Icon” WNUQ Sylvester GA.
Green Bay WI – Educational Media Foundation will close on its purchase of 104.9 WPCK Denmark/Green Bay WI and flip the currently stunting “Christmas 104.9” to either Christian AC “K-Love” or Contemporary Worship “Air 1” on an unknown date.
Tyler/Longview TX – Educational Radio Foundation of East Texas will launch Spanish Christian “Fuzión“ on 102.3 KLJT Jacksonville and 103.1 KMPA Pittsburg TX and Christian Preaching “The Well” on 94.3 KZXM Bullard and 95.3 KFRO-FM Gilmer TX in January.
Other Potential Changes
Huntsville AL – Southern Stone Communications is currently stunting on 1550 WLOR/107.5 W298BZ as “Christmas Star 107.5” as a brand extension of AC “Star 99.1” WAHR.
Returned To Previous Format
Youngstown OH – Despite being the first station to go all-Christmas this year, Cumulus Media returned Oldies to “Z104” 103.9 WWIZ Middlesex PA on January 1.
Living in Erie, I can tell you the signal for 95-9 Lite FM barely reaches the city of Erie if at all. There really isn’t a format hole in the market either so it would be interesting what they would flip to.
I totally agree with you. I don’t live in Erie but I know that the signal is barely audible if at all because there is a LPFM station on the exact same frequency right in downtown Erie so it blocks out 95-9 Lite FM. Why the original owners but the station on the frequency in the first place since they were trying to target Erie and they knew that there was a LPFM on 95.9 already I don’t understand.
One other change to look for is in Detroit, where Urban One will end its LMA of WGPR on or around New Year’s Eve. WGPR is currently Hip-Hop as Hot 107.5.
Interesting development out of Bowling Green, KY. The FCC Report for 11/10 notes that 107.9 W300DA has applied to move to 94.5 where it will simulcast 1340 WBGN, which would make sense because WBGN itself is mostly a simulcast of 94.1 WLYE Glasgow, and the stations used to brand themselves as Willie 94.1 and 107.9. But now WBGN is airing Rudolph Radio, and WLYE has dropped all references to the 107.9 frequency in its branding. Hmmm?
On January 7th, there’ll be a major rebranding (potentially more) throughout Mexico, as Grupo ACIR will stop using the “Radio Disney” name on its CHR stations; almost all of those stations will adopt the new “Match” brand, while the others will be seguing to other formats. There’s still a rumor, though, that “Radio Disney” might resurface in at least one market, on a competitor.
https://medium.com/en-frecuencia/the-matchmaker-48c1a0f64d80
Now that I’ve been able to listen online a bit, it looks like the stations might already be using the “Match” brand (although the full relaunch should still be in January). Also, the Disney folks released a statement today confirming the dissolution of their agreement with ACIR–and teasing some sort of a return. However, I don’t think they could pull off a major deal with a national competitor.
https://radiodisney.disneylatino.com/nota/radio-disney-mexico-2020
The official launch of Match FM was indeed earlier today. Beyond the new brand, though, are a couple of big differences (which already might have been in place during the stunting): First, the music mix is being promoted as being overwhelmingly in English; the previous RD format included a lot of Spanish-language tunes. Second, even though there’s a unified brand (and a shared website), each of the individual stations has at least some local airstaff and perhaps some differences in their playlists (with each station having its own stream on iHeartRadio); RD might’ve been more centralized.
Also, here’s a new interview about the launch…
https://radionotas.com/2020/01/07/conecta-y-haz-match-fm
One format change you’ve missed. CHOK 1070 AM / CHOK-1 103.9 FM Sarnia, Ontario has flipped to Country following its Christmas music marathon. It had been Classic Hits/Adult Hits.
I stumbled across a mention of it earlier, but KDDD 800 AM (Dumas/Lubbock) may have been stunting leading up to Christmas–and then flipped to the True Oldies Channel…
http://bigcountry953.com
I should clarify that the station serves Amarillo much more than Lubbock; I confused the two, perhaps because of the Buddy Holly references.