It’s the most wonderful time of the year. A time to blow up your station’s previous branding and start fresh after blowing out your playlist for 6-8 weeks of music that you cannot play except for maybe that one day in July when people like to pretend it is winter.
While there will be many others changes that seemingly come out of nowhere (even beyond those we track in our Domain Insight reports), the following is a list of stations where changes have been confirmed, expected, or at least worth monitoring between Christmas Day and the first week of January.
Completed Changes
1/5 Washington DC – iHeartMedia flipped its newly LMA’d 1190 WCRW Leesburg VA and the former Talk “104.7 WONK-FM” W284CQ/101.1 WWDC-HD2 to “iHeart Sports DC“ WTSD.
1/5 Louisville KY – iHeartMedia relaunched Sports 790 WKRD as “Sports Talk 790”
1/3 Elmira NY – Tower Broadcasting CHR “94 Rock” WLVY moved its programming to the former Oldies/Standards 1600 WEHH/93.9 W230BB and Classic Rock “106.5 The Pirate” 1410 WELM/W293CZ as its signal was sold to Family Life Ministries.
1/3 Marion IL – Max Media’s River Radio of Southern Illinois flipped Classic Hits “Magic 95.1” WUEZ to Variety Hits “95.1 Steve-FM“.
1/3 Green Bay WI – Woodward Communications flipped former AC “KZ 104.3” WKZG to Alternative “104.3 The Fuse” WFZZ after Christmas music and Weird Al stunts.
1/3 State College PA – Seven Mountains Media completed the majority of its programming consolidation as five stations debuted new formats while another four continued stunting.
1/2 Alpena MI – After stunting with Christmas Music, Midwestern Broadcasting Conservative Talk 105.7 WZTK flipped to Oldies “105.7 The Bird”.
1/1 Harrisburg IL – Withers Broadcasting Soft AC 102.3 WEBQ-FM relaunched as “102.3 Lite-FM“.
1/1 Worthington MN – Absolute Communications’ Radio Works flipped Classic Rock “Rock-It 93.5” KITN to Classic Hits “93.5 Rewind-FM”
1/1 York PA – After stunting as “Santa 92.7“, Forever Media CHR “Nu 92.7” WNUU relaunched as AC “Happy 92.7” WPPY. 1320 WGET/93.7 W229DK Gettysburg and 1280 WHVR/95.3 W237EN Hanover also switched from “Nu” to “Santa” to “Happy“.
1/1 West Palm Beach FL – iHeartMedia rebranded Classic Hip Hop “The New 93.3” W227CX as “Jam’n 93.3“.
1/1 Jackson MS – Alpha Media ended its LMA of 100.9 WJXN-FM bringing to an end to Variety Hits “100.9 Jack-FM“. WJXN-FM is currently airing EMF’s “Air 1” programming.
1/1 Elmira NY – Tower Broadcasting CHR “94 Rock” WLVY has begun simulcasting on Oldies/Standards 1600 WEHH/93.9 W230BB and Classic Rock “106.5 The Pirate” 1410 WELM/106.5 W293CZ ahead of the sale of WLVY’s signal..
1/1 Billings MT – Townsquare Media debuted AC “95.5 Lite-FM” KCHH Worden on January 1. The brand launched on November 18 with Christmas music ahead of the launch.
12/31 Page AZ – Lake Powell Communications ceased operations of Variety Hits “AZ 93.3” KXAZ and Country “The Bandit” 1340 KPGE/98.3 K252FG Page AZ.
12/29 Santa Barbara CA – KCBX Inc. shut down Public News/Talk 89.5 KSBX due to interference issues they blamed on climate change.
12/26 Raleigh NC – Curtis Media flipped Stunting 102.3 WKJO and CHR “Pulse-FM” 102.5 WPLW to simulcasts of Classic Hits “Kix 102.9” WKIX-FM. Simultaneously other translators were flipped to simulcast CHR 96.9 WWPL and Oldies 850 WKIX.
12/26 Joplin MO – American Media Investments’ “92.9 The Dove” 1450 KQYX/92.9 K225CS relaunched as “Magic Mix 92.9“.
12/26 Orangeburg SC – R&B Oldies “Old Skool 95.7” WQKI-FM flipped to Classic Hip Hop “Jamz 95.7”.
12/26 Portsmouth OH – Strong Tower Christian Media debuted “98.3 The Rock” on WKSG Garrison KY with Christmas music and launched a new non-commercial Christian format after the holidays.
12/22 Nashville – Nashville Public Radio signed-off “WPLN International” 1430 WPLN at 12pm ahead of the station’s sale to Kensington Digital Media, which will relaunch the station under new WYGI call letters.
12/19 Dallas – Cumulus Media shifted CHR “Hot 93.3” KLIF-FM to 90s/2000s Hits retaining the same branding.
12/19 Las Vegas – Beasley Media flipped Alternative “Alt 107.5” KXTE to Hot Talk/Alternative “X107.5“.
12/19 Multiple Markets – SummitMedia rebranded Classic Rock “104.5 The Fox” KFXJ Wichita to “Classic Rock 104.5“, “106.9 The Eagle” WBPT Birmingham to “Classic Rock 106.9“, and “107.7 The Eagle” WSFR Louisville to “Classic Rock 107.7” as part of a company-wide format restructuring
Upcoming Changes
1/9 Calgary AB – Corus Classic Rock “Q107” CFGQ-FM will debut a new format on Monday, January 9.
1/9 Medford OR – Bicoastal Media will sign-off News/Talk 1440 KMED while moving its programming to 106.3 KYVL. KYVL’s AAA “The Valley” brand will move to HD2 fed translators.
Returned To Previous Formats
Fort Collins CO – iHeartMedia 90s Hits “B107.3” K297AK Loveland CO/97.9 KXBG-HD2 Cheyenne WY became “Christmas 107.3” on November 3 before returning to its former identity on December 26.
Sarasota FL – iHeartMedia Hot AC “103.9 Kiss-FM” 1450 WSDV/103.9 W280EV Sarasota dropped its branding to become “Santa-FM” on November 11 and returned to its former format and brand on January 1.
Savannah GA – Dick Broadcasting Classic Hits “Rewind 107.9” WRWN Port Royal SC rebranded as “Christmas 107.9” on November 1 but returned to its regular brand on December 26.
