FM Technical Profile: WZRR

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Station Name:

Talk 99.5

Frequency:

99.5

Format:

  Talk/News

Transmitter Location:

[map] Approx 1/4 mile west of Oxmoor Rd. & Industrial Park Dr. Co-located with the WJOX transmitter.

Power (ERP):

100 kW

Antenna:

Omnidirectional

Antenna HAAT:

1007 feet.

Other Information:

60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.

:
PS-TALK 995
Time-present
Text-blank
PTY-Talk
PI-WZRR-FM

AUX: 50 kW @ 841 feet. 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.

More Information:

[FCC]

[FCCdata]

[Radio-Locator]

[Wikipedia]
[Facebook] Old NASH Icon page
[Facebook] Page for WAPI/WZRR talk format
[Twitter] Old South 99.5 handle
[Lite 99 Online] A tribute to the station's easy listening years when it was WLTB, complete with liners from the era and a live stream of easy favorites.

[RDS] RDS display from the station on a GMC Yukon's radio.
[RDS] RDS display from the station on a GMC Yukon's radio.
// WAPI Birmingham

Owner:

Cumulus

History:

This frequency is associated with two different stations.  Early in this station's life, it had the WAFM calls and was the FM companion to WAPI.  In the late 40's to about 1950 it was reported that this station ran an incredible 540,000 watts from atop Red Mountain, with reception being possible for hundreds of miles.  The high cost of the special equipment and lack of FM listeners doomed the high power experiment, so it only lasted a few years.  By 1952, it was reported at a much more reasonably 52 kW.  WAFM vacated this frequency for 94.5 MHz in the mid-60's.

The frequency's second life started around 1976 as the FM companion to WVOK.  WVOK-FM's format was album rock (as "K-99").  The calls changed later to WRKK. It stayed with the AoR format until 1983, when it switched to country with the "K-99 Country" slogan. Went to new calls, WQUS, remained country with the "US 99" slogan. Around Christmas 1985 it became WLTB (LiTe rock Birmingham) "Lite 99".  Flipped to classic rock in 1988. Was always going by "Rock 99" or "Classic Rock 99-5" but in July 2002 the station held a contest to give itself a new name. The winner: "The Buzzard". That name lasted until August 2003 when they reverted back to the simple "Rock 99" slogan.

 

In February 2010, the station dropped the long time "John Boy and Billy" syndicated morning show.  In its place was automated music until a replacement program was found in the form of MOJO.  John Boy and Billy later showed up on a classic rock-formatted translator, Rock 94.9, in town.

 

On 1 January 2012 the station dropped its long-classic rock format for CHR as "99.5 The Vibe", putting it in direct competition with heritage CHR "The Q", a Clear Channel property.  That lasted until 15 August 2014, when the station abruptly switched to an 80s & 90s country format under the Nash Icon branding.  That lasted until late May 2016, when Cumulus dropped the NASH branding for a southern-tinged mix of classic rock re-branding as "99.5 The South".  That format was a stunt, as the format flipped to news/talk in a simulcast of 1070 WAPI on Tuesday, 24 May 2016.