EZ Communications
EZ Communications, Inc. was a corporation with its headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. In the 1970s, the small company was one of the pioneers of the easy listening on the FM broadcasting radio spectrum with 2 stations in Manassas and Richmond. Within 25 years, the company grew to 20 stations across the United States.
History
 |
automobiles
in the U.S. were equipped to receive FM signals until the early 1970s.
Muzak
" are other common terms for the format and the style of music that it featured.
In the
Arbitron
ratings indicated it has popular with the public.
In 1970, the company took the successful easy listening format to the
WFMV (FM), which had been Virginia's first station to broadcast in multiplex stereo, and changed the call sign to WEZS
. The easy listening format was very successful in Richmond has it had been in the Washington DC metro market.
Soon, EZ Communications expanded into larger broadcast markets. Stations which used the easy listening format to find profitability in emerging FM markets were
New Orleans, Louisiana
. In the early 80's EZ made a successful transition from easy listening to creating Contemporary Hit Radio stations in New Orleans (WEZB became B-97) and Pittsburgh (B-94). By 1995, EZ Communications was # 12 in the Top 25 Radio Groups in the U.S.
Listeners as of spring 1995, as measured by the Arbitron ratings service.
Sale to American Radio Systems
In 1996,
St. Louis, Missouri. The combination gave American Radio 96 outlets in mostly midsize markets, making it the nation's second-biggest radio broadcaster in advertising sales. The sale officially closed on April 4, 1997.[1]
The combined company's estimated sales of $340 million ranked second only behind Westinghouse Electric Corp.
See also
- FM broadcasting in the USA
- FM broadcast band
- AM broadcasting
- AM stereo
- list of broadcast station classes
- history of radio
- RDS (Radio Data System)
- long-distance FM reception (FM DX)
References
- Fisher, Mark D. (2005) A Brief History of WFMV: Virginia's first stereophonic good music station, Richmond Radio Group on Yahoo[dead link]; Richmond, VA
- Washington, D.C. AM Station History by Thomas H. White
- Specific
- ^ "R&R 1997" (PDF). worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 9 October 2023.