iHeartMedia flipped “96.3 Real Fun Beach Radio” 590 WDIZ/96.3 W242BF Panama City FL to Active Rock “96 Rock” at 5pm today.
The station will run 5,000 songs commercial free for two weeks before debuting its airstaff on July 17. The station will carry the syndicated Lex & Terry morning show and return former local jock Paco to the market for afternoons.
The new format goes after Magic Broadcasting Active Rock “97X” 97.7 WYYX.
Does it have enough power to go against 97X?
I have family in that area and the last time I was there 96.3 did OK on the beach but by time you got back into Panama City proper the signal was already experiencing a lot of static. 97.7 on the other hand has a huge signal presence in the area. Their signal goes north into and beyond the Dothan Alabama area, West to Fort Walton Beach and Crestview, and East almost into Tallahassee clearly. This is a situation where iHeart dropped the ball. If they were smart about this they would have done this change last year after the tower for 97.7 was struck by lightning and they were forced to move to 100.1.
IHeart Panama City has never had good luck when it comes to rock. In the late 90s they tried to compete with 97X on 94.5 and after several years of not being successful shift at the frequency to compete against classic rock arrow 95.9. In 2007 after once again being unsuccessful at dominating the market 94.5 was switched to News / Talk and the classic rock format was shifted to 93.5 which was in the process of being sold. Considering that they now also have to overcome signal issues I’m not sure what has changed that makes them think they can suddenly do what they have never done before.