After seven hours of stunting with a loop directing WTFX-FM listeners to sister 95.7 WQMF Jeffersonville/Louisville, iHeartMedia launched Urban “93.1 The Beat” at 5:00pm today.
Launching with Big Sean’s “Idfwu”, The Beat is debuting with the usual 10,000 songs commercial-free. The station’s website promotes the syndicated Breakfast Club will premiere on June 13.
The new format gives a direct competitor to Alpha Media’s “B96.5” WGZB. WGZB is currently ranked third in the Louisville market with a 6.4 share trailing only iHeart’s News/Talk 840 WHAS and Country 97.5 WAMZ. Alpha currently owns the Urban market with WGZB and sister Urban AC “Magic 101.3” WMJM and Classic Hip-Hop “Old School 105.1” WGHL.
iHeartMedia flips Active Rock WTFX-FM (The Fox)/Louisville to “93.1 The Beat” with the slogan “The Ville’s Hip Hop and R&B,” effective immediately. 93.1 The Beat will launch commercial-free with 10,000 songs in a row. The station will be anchored by syndicated morning show “The Breakfast Club,” featuring DJ Envy, Angela Yee and Charlamagne Tha God, which is set to begin June 13.
“This is an exciting addition to the iHeartMedia Louisville portfolio,” said iHeartmedia Kentucky-Indiana Region President Earl Jones. “Hip hop is thriving and we want to build on that success and excitement.”
“It’s all about the music on ‘93.1 The Beat’ and we’re going to kick things off by playing a lot of it,” added Regional Senior VP/Programming Michael Jordan. “This will be Louisville’s new home for classic hip hop and R&B.”
The previous Active Rock format will continue to be heard in Louisville on 95.7 WQMF-HD2, online at FoxRocks.com and on the iHeartRadio mobile app.
Original Report 5/11 10:15am: iHeartMedia Active Rock “93.1 The Fox” WTFX-FM Clarksville IN/Louisville KY has begun stunting with a loop redirecting listeners to sister 95.7 WQMF Jeffersonville.
WQMF has concurrently tweaked its format from Classic Rock to Mainstream Rock with the addition of former WTFX core artists. The sweepers on 93.1 list Foo Fighters, Green Day, Linkin Park, Metallica, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots among the artists now being heard on WQMF. The former Fox format is also being heard on 95.7 WQMF-HD2 and on iHeartRadio.
The Fox airstaff will merge into the WQMF lineup. Shannon The Dude will move from 3-6pm on 93.1 to 4-7pm on 95.7. Mudd and Ian will share overnights. Existing WQMF staffers Harley from 10am to 1pm and Tony ‘TNT’ Tilford from 1-4pm remain in place along with the syndicated Bob & Tom and Sixx Sense.
WTFX-FM was thirteenth in the Louisville market with a 2.5 share in the Winter 2016 Nielsen Audio ratings. WQMF was tenth with a 3.4. We’ve been tracking domains for a potential flip to Alternative or Urban at WTFX-FM.
