WFEZ (FM)

WFEZ
City Miami
Broadcast area Miami metro area
Branding Easy 93.1
Slogan Continuous Soft and Easy Favorites
Frequency 93.1 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date December 29, 1947 (as WKAT-FM)
Format Adult Contemporary
HD2: Dance
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 307 meters
Class C0
Facility ID 40408
Transmitter coordinates 25°58′2.00″N 80°12′34.00″W / 25.9672222°N 80.2094444°W / 25.9672222; -80.2094444
Former callsigns WKAT-FM (1947-1971)
WTMI (1971-2001)
WPYM (2002-2005)
WHDR (2005-2010)
Owner Cox Media Group
(Cox Radio, Inc.)
Webcast Listen Live - WFEZ
Listen Live - Party 93.1 HD2
Website easy93.com
party931.com (HD2)

WFEZ (93.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Adult Contemporary format on analog and HD1 and a Dance format on its HD2 channel. Licensed to Miami, Florida, USA, the stations serves Miami-Dade, Broward, and most of Palm Beach Counties. WFEZ is currently owned by Cox Media Group.[1] Its studios are in Hollywood and the transmitter site is in Miami Gardens.

History

Early years, classical era as WTMI & Dance era as Party 93.1 WPYM (1971-2005)

93.1 FM was originally WKAT-FM, which began broadcasting on a full-time basis December 29, 1947.[2]

Later, the station became classical WTMI, which began in 1971. For decades, the station also featured popular jazz broadcaster China Valles and his overnight show, "China's Jazz Thing," Monday through Friday.[3] At Noon on New Year's Eve, 2001, WTMI flipped to a Pure Dance format and became WPYM, "Party 93.1, South Florida's Pure Dance Channel."[4] The station earned an "Innovators Award" from Billboard magazine in 2002 and a "Best Dance Radio Station Award," at the 2004 Dancestar USA honors.[5]

WHDR "93 ROCK" (2005-2010)

WPYM's demise came on February 14, 2005. With poor ratings, Cox Radio took advantage of the sudden departure of WZTA (when it flipped from Rock to Hispanic Rhythmic as WMGE) by picking up the Active Rock format and taking the call letters WHDR, calling itself "93 Rock".[6] It became a mainstream rock station per Mediabase and Nielsen BDS reports in 2008 after continued failure with the active rock format.

WFEZ "Easy 93.1" (2010-present)

On November 20, 2010, at 7 a.m., due to underwhelming ratings with their Mainstream Rock format, WHDR began stunting with Christmas music, with a new format to debut after the holidays. At midnight on December 26, 2010, under the direction of programming director Gary Williams, the station flipped to a Soft AC format and became "Easy 93.1". The first 5 songs to be played were "Easy" by The Commodores, "Something" by The Beatles, "You've Got a Friend" by James Taylor, "My Special Angel" by Bobby Helms, and "Greatest Love of All" by Whitney Houston.[7] Unlike WHDR and WPYM, the station has become a runaway success, more so then many analysts anticipated. In 2013, WFEZ was a Marconi finalist for AC station of the year.

Current weekday and weekend lineup

WFEZ-HD2: Party 93.1 HD2

On March 24, 2008, Cox radio relaunched "Party 93.1" on its HD2 subcarrier. Like its predecessor, this one is also running jockless but the dance music being played this time around is broader, with more music from the Trance & House genre. In March 2011, the station, which had only been available on HD radio devices within the WFEZ South Florida listening area, began streaming on the internet again for the first time since 2005.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "WFEZ Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. ↑ "WKAT-FM Begins" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 12, 1948. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  3. ↑ The Jazz Spinner Deborah P. Work. Sun-Sentinel. January 22, 1995. Retrieved May 27, 2016
  4. ↑ http://formatchange.com/wtmi-becomes-party-93-1/
  5. ↑ from dancemusic.about.com
  6. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2005/RR-2005-02-18.pdf
  7. ↑ https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/netgnomes/27518/93-rocks-no-more-in-miami/
  8. ↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=12 HD Radio Guide for Miami-Ft. Lauderdale
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