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
Binghamton NY – Equinox Broadcasting Alternative “100.5 The Drive” WDRE relocates to HD-fed translators 95.1 W236AP Binghamton and 98.7 W254BH Endwell clearing way for 100.5 to become a simulcast of “Solid Gold 104.5” W283AG.
Corpus Christi TX – ICA Broadcasting Country “107.3 The Bull” KAJE flipped to Regional Mexican “Que Buena 107.3“.
Fort Pierce FL – Indian River State College Classical 91.1 WQCP ended its R&B Christmas run with a flip to Adult R&B “Q91.1“.
Galveston TX – Matthew Velasquez’s 920 KYST Texas City went from Spanish Talk to Conservative Talk “920 The Patriot“.
Greenville TX – E Radio Network flipped Soft Oldies “105.9 EZ Rock” 1400 KGVL/105.9 K290AP to Sports “ESPN 1400“.
Huntington WV – Kindred Communications AC “97.9 The River” WMGA came out of holiday mode with a flip to Oldies.
Jackson TN – Forever South Communications flipped Conservative Talk “The TJ Network” 1390/94.1 WTJF and 94.3 WTJF-FM to “Sports Radio 94/1390“.
Newport OR – Yaquina Bay Communications shut down its five station cluster after its real estate was foreclosed.
Pensacola FL – Cumulus Media AC “Soft Rock 94.1” WMEZ gave way to Rhythmic CHR “Hot 94.1” on New Years Day.
Plattsburgh NY – After stunting with all-Rick Astley as “106.3 Rick-FM” on New Years Eve, NBZ LLC Classic Hits “Z106.3” WNBZ-FM relaunched as “106.3 NBZ-FM“.
Portland ME – Binnie Media launched Soft Oldies “99.3 The Wave” WBQQ, which had been simulcasting Country “99.9 The Wolf” WTHT.
Reno – Evans Broadcast Company flipped CHR “94.9 The Party” K235DC to Adult Alternative “94.9 X” following a brief run as “K-Santa“.
Rutherfordton NC – Signal Hill Media Partners flipped newly acquired Oldies 590 WCAB/100.9 W265DW to Classic Country “Pure Country 100.9/590” on January 1.
Salt Lake City – Broadway Media Country “101.5 The Eagle” KEGA ended its Country based Christmas music run with a rebrand to “101.5 Hank-FM” KNAH.
San Antonio – Cox Hot AC “Magic 105.3” KSMG dropped its heritage branding with a relaunch as “Hits 105.3“.
Sedalia MO – Townsquare Media Classic Hits “Awesome 92.3” KSDL ended its “Santa 92.3” stunt and flipped to AC “Mix 92.3“ on Tuesday, December 26.
Springfield MA – Full Power Radio flipped Oldies “Kool Radio” 1270 WACM/100.1 W261DD to Rhythmic CHR “Jammin 100.1” on New Years Day.
Tallahassee FL – Adams Radio Group flipped “Kool Oldies 106.1” WQTL to Rhythmic Hot AC “Vibe 106.1“.
Texarkana AR/TX – Texarkana AR/TX – After stunting as “Christmas 105.9” since early November, Local First Media Group Gospel 940 KTFS/105.9 K290CP flipped to Sports “ESPN 105.9“.
Twin Falls ID – Iliad Media Group has flipped Hot AC “Q106.7” KIRQ to AC “Sunny 106.7“.
Wichita Falls TX – Falls Media Variety Hits “100.9 Jack-FM” KWFB returned to its former “100.9 Bob-FM” identity after stunting as “Santa 100.9“.
Canada
Assiniboia SK – Huber Radio’s “Cat Country 98.1” CKHD-FM flipped to Classic Hits “98 CKHD Hit Radio”
Smiths Falls ON – Rogers Sports & Media’s 92.3 CJET-FM ended its “Santa Radio” run and returned to Variety Hits as “Jack 92.3“.
Winnipeg MB – Corus Radio Soft AC “Peggy 99.1” CFPG-FM flipped to Country as “Country 99” at 12:01am on December 27.
Upcoming Changes
Cape Cod MA – iHeartMedia’s 96.3 WEII will drop its simulcast of Audacy Sports 93.7 WEEI-FM Boston for a mix of local and national Sports programming.
Knoxville TN – Loud Media will launch a new format on what is currently “Santa 93.7” 850 WSMM/93.7 W229DO after the holidays.
Las Vegas NV – Latino Media Network will relaunch Spanish CHR “Latino Mix 99.3” KRGT as “Latino Beats” on January 1.
Lebanon PA – Seven Mountains Media Talk 1270 WLBR is currently stunting with a “Wheel of Formats” and will debut a new format in early January.
Expected Changes
Dallas TX – Cumulus Media 90s/2000s Hits “Hot 93.3” KLIF-FM is expected to flip to a simulcast of News/Talk 820 WBAP on January 3.
100.3 in Chicago could potentially rebrand but this is just a rumor from my perspective. It may not happen but I’m eyeing that a rebrand happens.
I have an HD Radio and the text on my radio said 100.3 The New SHE instead of The New 100.3.
It is interesting to notice CKHD-FM in Assiniboia, SK on this list, because the station is not only using JAM jingles for the format, but they are also using Earl Mann as the station’s voice. And to top it all, the slogan “HitRadio” and logo were based on some of the old Mike Joseph “Hot Hits” stations from the 1980s.
I will add this: I am listening to the station online over the Internet from the United States and CKHD is doing such a fantastic job with the new format. And, I hope they will find some good DJs to make this station even more exciting.