WBZY

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For the station located in Peachtree City, Georgia, formerly known as WBZY, see WRDG. For the station located in New Castle, Pennsylvania, formerly known as WBZY, see WUZZ (AM). For the radio station formerly located in Torrington, Connecticut, see WBZY (Connecticut).
WBZY
MHz (HD Radio)
BrandingZ105.7
Programming
FormatSpanish CHR
SubchannelsHD2: Regional Mexican (WBZW simulcast)
HD3: Dance radio (Pride Radio)
AffiliationsPremiere Networks
Ownership
Owner
WBIN, WBZW, WRDG, WUBL, WWPW
History
First air date
August 1, 1964 (as WCHK-FM at 105.5)
Former call signs
WCHK-FM (1964–1993)
WGST-FM (1993–2000)
WMXV (2000–2003)
WLCL (2003–2005)
WWVA-FM (2005–2013)
WRDA (2013–2020)
Former frequencies
105.5 MHz (1964–1993)
Call sign meaning
"Buzz" (moved over from now-WRDG, which formerly used this branding)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID10698
ClassC2
ERP20,000 watts
HAAT238 meters (781 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
34°03′58.00″N 84°27′15.00″W / 34.0661111°N 84.4541667°W / 34.0661111; -84.4541667
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen Live
Websitez1057atlanta.iheart.com

WBZY (105.7

WANN-CD (29 UHF, 32 PSIP) and previously did so on a number of occasions with sister station WBZW
, the most recent lasting until November 5, 2021.

The station is also broadcast in

HD radio
.

History

Country (1964–1993)

From its sign-on in 1964 until 1991, the station was

Georgia 5 at Rabbit Hill Road, and now only has mobile phone base stations about halfway up on it.) This change also required a frequency shift of one channel to 105.7. Subsequently, this also allowed a later move by WMAX-FM (now sister station WRDG) on 105.3 from Carrollton east towards Atlanta, also having changed channels from 105.5. WCHK remained under local management for a little over a year afterward, briefly as "North Metro's K-105" then as "Country 105.7", and finally as "Atlanta's Classic Country 105.7", before owner Chuck McClure leased the station to iHeartMedia
(which also owns 105.3), then known as Clear Channel Communications.

News/talk (1993–2000)

Under Clear Channel

WNSY FM (oldies "Sunny 100") in 1999, later becoming the market's third hispanic FM station, but covering more toward northwest Georgia
.

Adult contemporary (2000–2002)

On September 8, 2000, 105.7 broke away from the WGST simulcast, and became

Arbitron ratings, despite adding a simulcast on 96.7 FM
for the South Metro in October 2001 (which was dropped in April 2002).

Oldies (2002–2005)

On February 3, 2002, at 5 p.m., WMXV began stunting with all-

WSRV.[3]
At the time, WLCL was the only oldies station in Atlanta; however, the format was not as profitable to companies as it was in Fox 97's prime.

Spanish music (2005–2009)

On May 2, 2005, the oldies format was ended, and WWVA moved its "Viva" format to the 105.7 frequency. During the flip, "Viva" warned listeners on the old 105.3 frequency to make the change to 105.7 that was played on a format loop. One week later, the station officially became WWVA-FM itself, swapping the WLCL callsign over to 105.3, where "The Buzz" format from 96.7 was put. Strangely, that left the hard modern rock of "The Buzz" with the WLCL call letters instead of its own WBZY-FM, which was unused for about two weeks. ("The Buzz" later merged into "96 Rock", becoming "Project 9-6-1", but remaining as WKLS.)

"Viva 105.7" began

callsign as well. (This station would flip about a year later to country music WWLG
FM 96.7 "The Legend", and later returned to simulcast this station.)

Rhythmic (2009–2012)

On October 19, 2009, at 10 a.m., the station dropped the Spanish format and again began simulcasting

Groove Is In The Heart" by Deee-Lite and "Let's Groove" by Earth, Wind & Fire. Clear Channel, in turn, merged WWVA's format into WBZY's, giving Atlanta a hybrid regional Mexican and Spanish AC outlet at the latter. On January 11, 2010, the nationally syndicated morning drive-time Elvis Duran and the Morning Show premiered on the station. Duran previously did evenings in Atlanta with sidekick "Hot Henrietta" at Z-93
during the late 1980s.

The station briefly aired "

TV channel 29 in Atlanta. The main channel was heard on virtual channel 32.106, with Pride Radio (WWVA's HD2 digital subchannel) formerly on 32.105. Clear Channel's other Atlanta stations are also heard via DTV radio
on WANN.

In May 2010, WWVA's music and playlist direction shifted to

rhythmic top 40 by adding more current rhythmic pop/R&B/dance tracks. They also added a few mainstream pop songs, but later dropped them from the playlist. It also phased out the heavy amount of Rhythmic gold product. This move was expected to benefit WWVA (as evidenced on their Facebook page at their website) as it stood to pick up listeners and carry the rhythmic top 40 mantle from WBTS, who exited the rhythmic format after 11 years to become a simulcast of WSB on August 16, 2010.[7] Despite the sudden shift to rhythmic top 40 and primary signal coverage into Atlanta, there was some criticism over whether WWVA could actually replace WBTS, or fill the void for that matter, in terms of music, personalities, area promotion, and signal presence.[8]

In efforts to fill in a signal shortcoming in southern portions of the market, the station re-added WWLG FM 96.7 as a simulcast on September 6, 2010.

Ke$ha.)[11] WWVA saw an increase in terms of listeners and ratings, mostly among the 18-34 audience and managed to carve its own niche by playing dance-pop and rhythmic tracks that their competitors usually avoid.[12]

Alternative rock (2012–2020)

On August 29, 2012,

hip-hop tracks and less emphasis on dance under its new PD (Rick Vaughn) for both WWVA and WWPW.[14]

However, by March 2013, due to the launch of Power, the move of

sports talk
the following month.

The two stations'

WWPW
FM 96.1 HD2, replacing the "Project 9-6-1" format that was eliminated from analog and HD1 by Wild's near-clone "Power 96-1".

On November 11, 2016, WRDG dropped its simulcast of WRDA and flipped to urban; however, WRDA retained the alternative format.[17] On December 5, 2017, WRDA rebranded as "Alt 105-7", to align itself with other iHeartMedia-owned alternative outlets.[18]

Spanish music (2020–present)

On April 20, 2020, at Midnight, after playing "Novocaine" by

Ozuna), initially as a simulcast of WBZY (105.3 FM), where the format has been heard since October 2018. WBZY serves areas to the south and west of Atlanta, while WRDA covers the more populous northern and eastern portions of the market, as well as where the majority of the market's Hispanic and Latino population resides. The simulcast would last until May 4, when WBZY adopted WRDG's urban format. Both WBZY and WRDA had a 0.9 rating in the March 2020 Nielsen Audio ratings, which had just been released days prior to the flip.[19][20] The WBZY call letters would move to 105.7 FM on May 11; in turn, the WRDA calls moved to 105.3 FM.[21] On May 18, 2020, WBZY began simulcasting on WBZW (96.7 FM) once again,[22] but would then drop the simulcast again on November 5, 2021.[23]

HD radio and other outlets

WBZY's digital subchannel offers one different format:

  • HD2: WBZY-HD2 is a Regional Mexican simulcast of sister station WBZW, which is used to cover the areas WBZW cannot reach.
  • HD3: WBZY-HD3 airs Pride Radio, which plays dance music targeted towards the LGBT community[24]

WBZY's main channel was also heard on

WANN-CD 29, on virtual channel
32.23, with the former WiLD format on 32.25.

Previous logos

References

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ American Radio History [dead link]
  3. ^ "WMXV Becomes Cool 105.7". February 7, 2003. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  4. ^ "Viva 105.7 no more! Welcome to Groove 105.7 | Radio and TV Talk". Archived from the original on August 11, 2016.
  5. ^ "105.7 Gets Its Groove On". All Access. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  6. ^ "Groove 105.7". Archived from the original on August 29, 2014.
  7. Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    (August 16, 2010)
  8. ^ "Topic: Groove 105.7 is a Dance CHR" from Radio-Info Atlanta Messageboard
  9. ^ "Atlanta Doubles Its Groove". September 6, 2010.
  10. ^ "Mami Chula Takes Her Beats To The Groove In Atlanta" from All Access (September 22, 2010)
  11. ^ "Groove Atlanta Evolving Wildly". November 14, 2010.
  12. ^ "Second quarter radio ratings report: Star, Wild, Hot, Kiss Atlanta’s Greatest Hits up; Dave, Praise, Bull down" from AJC.com (July 15, 2011)
  13. ^ "Project 9-6-1 becomes Power 96.1, a top 40 station | Radio & TV Talk". Archived from the original on September 1, 2012.
  14. ^ "Rick Vaughn To Program Power And Wild In Atlanta" from All Access (August 30, 2012)
  15. ^ "Alternative Returns to Atlanta". March 28, 2013.
  16. ^ "Radio 105.7 Atlanta Launches". March 28, 2013.
  17. ^ "iHeart Debuts The Beat 92.3/96.7 Atlanta - RadioInsight". November 11, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  18. ^ "Radio 105.7 Atlanta Rebrands As Alt 105.7 - RadioInsight". December 5, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  19. ^ “Alt 105.7 Atlanta Gives Way To Spanish CHR Z105.7” from Radio Insight (April 2020)
  20. ^ Ho, Rodney. "Alt 105.7 is off the FM dial, signal now simulcasting Latin hits Z105.3". Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  21. ^ "FCCdata.org - powered by REC".
  22. ^ "Z105.7 Atlanta Readds 96.7 Simulcast – RadioInsight". May 18, 2020.
  23. ^ "Commercial-Free Christmas Comes To Atlanta - RadioInsight". November 5, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  24. ^ "HD Radio | Stations | More Music. More Stations. More Features. Digital Sound. No Subscription". Archived from the original on April 4, 2011.

External links

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