WGTZ
Broadcast area | Dayton, Ohio |
---|---|
Frequency | 92.9 MHz |
Branding | 92-9 Jack FM |
Programming | |
Format | Adult hits |
Affiliations | Jack FM network Ohio State Sports Network |
Ownership | |
Owner |
|
WDHT, WING, WCLI-FM, WROU-FM | |
History | |
First air date | November 28, 1960 | (as WCTM-FM)
Former call signs | WCTM-FM (1959-1972) WJAI (1972-1984) |
Call sign meaning | W Great Trails' Z-93! (former branding) |
Technical information | |
Facility ID | 25043 |
Class | B |
ERP | 40,000 watts |
HAAT | 168 meters (551 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 39°50′10″N 84°24′14″W / 39.836°N 84.404°W |
Links | |
Webcast | Listen live |
Website | www |
WGTZ (92.9
WGTZ has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 40,000 watts. The transmitter is on Carr Drive near Albert Road in Brookville, Ohio.[1]
History
MOR (1959-1972)
The station
In the 1960s, Coning was locked out of the station in an attempt by his partners to take over the operation. The case was taken to court. Coning won and became the sole owner. He originally wanted an AM station at first, but was unable to obtain an AM license at the time, so he went for the FM
Easy listening (1972-1979)
After the station was acquired, the call letters were changed to WJAI (for
Program Director John Robertson rarely visited the studios, remaining at the WING studios in Dayton. Robertson was a former WING on-air personality, promoted to managing the FM station and its largely automated format. Robertson hired Doug Ritter (Doug Ritterling) as one of WJAI's first announcers. Ritter was only 16 years of age. Ritter later became a newscaster at WING. Great Trails' purchase of WJAI was motivated by a possibility of a transmitter power increase, and access to the much larger Dayton market. The power increase was finally approved by the FCC after a prolonged legal battle with owners of two Dayton stations. The owners of those stations protested establishment of a new competing station in the Dayton market.
WJAI's first "official" studios were moved to a movie theater which had been converted to an office building at the corner of Somers and North Barron streets in downtown Eaton.
Country (1979-1982)
The beautiful music continued under the new nickname "WJ-93". Then in 1979, it switched to country music. That gave competition to WONE 980 AM in Dayton and WBZI in Xenia (then at 95.3 FM). By this time, Kim Faris was hosting middays as one of the first women DJs in the Dayton market. She was joined by afternoon personality Ron Scott. Doug Davisson did the 7 to midnight shift after leaving WONE AM in the early 1980s.
The studios in 1986 moved to its current location at 717 E. David Road. The station joined its clustermate 1410 WING AM.
Adult standards (1982-1984)
In 1982, the
The
Top 40 (1984-2007)
On March 18, 1984, at noon, Great Trails Broadcasting flipped WJAI to the new call sign WGTZ, as Z-93. The first song on the new "Hot Rockin' Flame Throwin' Z-93" was "
The catchy
Logo and contests
The station's branding initially consisted of the text "Z-93" in block letters with a drop shadow. This logo was often displayed adjacent to the Coca-Cola company's "Enjoy Coke" logo in a co-branding campaign. In late 1984 and early 1985, bumper stickers bearing this logo pairing were widely distributed. It was part of a contest where listeners were eligible to win a 1985 Chevy IROC-Z if they sent in a registration form and displayed the Z-93 bumper sticker on their car.
In 1990, the station switched to a different logo with the "Z-93" underlined and written in a graffiti-like, scrawled style, with red lettering underlined with black lettering over a yellow background making up the Z-93 portion of the logo, and the WGTZ 92.9 FM call sign and frequency displayed in a red line underneath the Z-93 logo in yellow letters. At this time, Z-93 also sold T-shirts and other merchandise featuring the new logo at Dayton/Springfield area JCPenney stores for a period of a year or so.
Great Trails also owned
WGTZ's studios are located at 717 E. David Road in
Change in ownership
On May 17, 2007,
Throughout the 2000s, WGTZ repeatedly jabbed at what was then known as WDKF for not having local DJs or contests with local winners and being controlled by
Z-93 morning shows
John King and Terry Dorsey (who originally broadcast afternoons at
In June 1990, night jock Joe Mama replaced Hayes. Todd Hollst, who was doing overnights, began producing comedy bits & doing stunts for the show. In March 1991, Alan Kaye would be fired under controversy by GM David Macejko, which would result in a later lawsuit from Kaye, which he would win. Joe Mama's new co-host was Sandy Donovan.
In March 1992, Jeff Wicker was hired as the new Z-93 Morning Show host under PD Kevin Kenney, and Mama and Donovan were fired, and the Z Morning Zoo name was permanently retired. Kim Faris, who had been doing news at the station since Marita Matray departed in 1990, was named Wicker's new co-host, along with Producer Dave. Booger Johnson would later replace Dave in 1995 as Morning Show Producer. Wicker left the station in August 1995, replaced briefly by "The Hawkman", and then he was permanently replaced by Jack Pohl, with the morning show being called simply "Jack and Kim in the Morning", with future Z-93 morning host Scott Mallory becoming Morning Show Producer.
After Pohl left to take the position of Sports Director at local TV station WDTN-TV 2 in 1997, he was replaced briefly by former 92X evening host Suzy Waud. Upon her departure, Chadow briefly hosted mornings. He would be replaced by comedians Rob Haney and Chili Challis, who along with Kim Faris and Producer Scott Mallory would be referred to as "The Z-93 Morning Show". Mallory left Z-93 in Fall 1997 for Alternative WXEG, where he would host afternoons and mornings before returning to Z-93 as Morning host in 2003. Haney left WGTZ in March, 1998, and was replaced by long-time afternoon drive host Sean Roberts. Challis would leave in mid-1998. Roberts left Z-93 in mid-June, 1999 after 7 1/2 years combined between hosting afternoons and mornings, making Sean one of Z-93's longest-tenured "Zeejays" in the history of Z-93.
After two months of Scott Sharp subbing, along with Angie J. and Kim and Morning Show Producer Mike D., Jim Wheeler was hired in August, 1999, and the show would now be known as "Jim and Kim in the Morning". Campy moved over to Z-93 after sister station 102.9 WING-FM changed formats from
Faris was moved to middays in August, 2002, leaving Campy solo in the morning as a search for a new morning host was underway. Scott Mallory was eventually hired and debuted on Monday, March 17, 2003, and the show would be known until the end of Z-93 (on November 1, 2007) as "The Morning Z with Mallory and Campy". Kim Faris stayed on at the station doing mid-days until the end of 2006 when she was inducted into the Ohio Broadcasters Hall Of Fame. She announced her departure from the Z-93 air staff in December of that year and thanked her many fans who sent in countless letters and e-mails thanking her for a job well done. In 2007, Faris was also inducted into the Dayton Area Broadcasters Hall of Fame. She was joined by fellow broadcasters from WING's hit music era including Kathy O'Conner Bow, Charlie Reeder, Bill Nance and Reetha Phillips. Faris returned to the air in the summer of 2007 as the morning personality of competitor WLQT 94.5 Lite FM, where she remains on-air today as the morning host.
Adult hits (2007-2015)
On November 1, 2007, "Z-93" came to an end with "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by Green Day. That was followed by an announcement that Z-93 would be changing formats the following day. The station began stunting with a countdown. All "Z-93" jocks were either let go or reassigned within the Main Line/Dayton cluster.
According to the Dayton Daily News on November 2, 2007, Z-93 was expected to switch to a
At 12 Noon on Friday, November 2, 2007, "FLY 92-9" debuted with an
".Soft rock (2015-2017)
On February 27, 2015, at 3 p.m., WGTZ flipped to
WGTZ incorporated elements of the previous format including some of the old station's
Adult hits again (2017-present)
On September 1, 2017, at 5 p.m., after again playing "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", WGTZ flipped back to adult hits as "92.9 Jack FM". Coincidentally, that name was rumored to be used 10 years prior with the initial flip. It was one of several flips to the Jack-FM format that Alpha planned across the country.
The first song on "Jack" was "
As with most stations running the Jack-FM format, no DJs are used. A voice calling itself "Jack" makes all the station announcements and quips between songs.See also
References
- ^ Radio-Locator.com/WGTZ
- ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1973 page B-154, Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "WGTZ 92.9 FM "Z-93" Launch March 15, 1984". YouTube.
- ^ News article of Main Line's purchase of Dayton and Louisville station clusters from Radio One (Radio-Online, May 17, 2007)
- ^ From Radio-Online (September 14, 2007)
- ^ http://tophour.com/audio/Dayton%20OH/fm0929_2006-05_wgtz_jlehmann.mp3 WGTZ legal ID jabbing WDKF
- ^ http://tophour.com/audio/Dayton%20OH/fm0945_2006-05_wdkf_jlehmann.mp3 WDKF’s legal ID responding to WGTZ’s claims
- ^ Dayton Daily News article Nov. 2, 2007
- ^ WGTZ Flys to Soft Rock
- ^ Jack is Eaton Dayton Alive
- ^ WGTZ Becomes 92.9 Jack FM
External links
- 92.9 Jack FM
- WGTZ in the FCC FM station database
- WGTZ in Nielsen Audio's FM station database