WKRZ

WKRZ (98.5 MHz, "98.5 KRZ") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Freeland, Pennsylvania, and serving the Wilkes-Barre - Scranton - Northeastern Pennsylvania radio market. It has aired a Top 40/CHR radio format since 1980. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., through licensee Audacy License, LLC.

WKRZ
CityFreeland, Pennsylvania
Broadcast areaWilkes-Barre - Scranton - Northeastern Pennsylvania
Frequency98.5 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding98.5 KRZ
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatContemporary hit radio
SubchannelsHD2: Country music (WGGY)
Ownership
OwnerAudacy, Inc.
(Audacy License, LLC)
History
First air date
1948 (1948) (as WBRE-FM)
Former call signs
WBRE-FM (1948–80)
Call sign meaning
We're KRaZy!
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID34379
ClassB
ERP8,700 watts (analog)
348 watts (digital)[1]
HAAT357 meters (1,171 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
41°11′56.3″N 75°49′4.7″W
Translator(s)92.5 MHz W223CC (Wilkes-Barre)
103.9 MHz W280CV (Scranton, etc.)
103.9 W280FJ (Bloomsburg)
Repeater(s)107.9 WKRF (Tobyhanna)
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
WebcastListen live (via Audacy)
Websitewww.audacy.com/985krz

WKRZ has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 8,700 watts. The station broadcasts using HD Radio; the country music programming of sister station WGGY (Froggy 101) is heard on its HD2 digital subchannel. The transmitter tower is located in Bear Creek Township at (41°11′56.0″N 75°49′5.0″W).[2] WKRZ programming is simulcast on WKRF (107.9 FM) in Tobyhanna, serving the Stroudsburg area of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

History

The station first signed on in 1948.[3] The call sign was WBRE-FM, originally licensed to Wilkes-Barre. It was the sister station to WBRE (1480 AM, now WYCK).[4] The WBRE call letters stood for Baltimore Radio Exchange for the original owner, the Baltimore Family, Not Wilkes-BarRE like commonly thought. WBRE-AM-FM evolved through a number of radio formats and by the 1970s, was all-news.[5] At first, the stations used NBC's NIS (News and Information Service). When that was discontinued, it ran the all-news format with its own staff. WBRE-FM, up to that point, broadcast in FM mono since its start in 1948. The station's audience was loyal but the ratings were not great.[6]

WBRE-FM made a big change in 1980 when it was sold. The new owners added FM stereo, along with a format switch to Top 40/CHR music, and with the call sign change to the present WKRZ. WKRZ has been a Top 40 station since 1980, branded at first as 98½ FM KRZ. The station was sold in 1999 to Entercom Communications.[7]

Entercom received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval in 2003 to move co-owned WAMT (103.1 FM, now WILK-FM) from Freeland to Avoca. As a condition of the move, Entercom agreed to change the city of license of WKRZ from Wilkes-Barre to Freeland due to FCC concerns about the "loss of local service" to Freeland because of the WAMT move. In practice, the only change was the legal station identification.[8] The studios remained in Wilkes-Barre and the transmitter remains in Bear Creek Township.

Stations

One full-power station simulcasts the programming of WKRZ:

Call sign Frequency City of license Facility ID ERP
W		 Height
m (ft)		 Class Transmitter coordinates Service contour
WKRF107.9 FMTobyhanna, Pennsylvania14643830267.7 meters (878 ft)A41°02′39.6″N 75°22′37.7″WCovers Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

This station was originally assigned the WPMR call sign on November 29, 1989. The call sign was changed to WPMR-FM on March 11, 1992[9] and was off the air but began a simulcast of WKRZ in 1995.[10] Its call sign was changed to WKRF on May 15, 1995.[9]

See also

References
  1. "FCC 335-FM Digital Notification [WKRZ]". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. April 9, 2014. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  2. "FM Query Results for WKRZ". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  3. "U. S. FM Stations as of 1948". Archived from the original on 2004-07-29. Retrieved 2004-07-29.
  4. "U. S. AM stations as of 1946". Archived from the original on 1999-01-28. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  5. Northeastern Pennsylvania Radio Answers
  6. "ROCKING LOCAL AIRWAVES MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO, A TEAM OF WACKY RADIO PERSONALITIES LED WKRZ-FM TO BECOME THE AREA'S MOST SUCCESSFUL FM STATION". Times Leader. Wilkes-Barre, PA. April 8, 2001. p. 1B. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  7. Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2010 page D-478
  8. "NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush". Archived from the original on 2003-12-09. Retrieved 2003-12-09.
  9. "Call Sign History [WKRZ]". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  10. Stark, Phyllis (April 29, 1995). "Vox Jox". Billboard. 107 (17): 92.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.