WIEZ (AM)

WIEZ (1490 AM, "94.7 WIEZ) is an American radio station licensed to Decatur, Alabama, that serves the western Huntsville, Alabama, market. The station broadcasts a soft oldies variety format.[2]

WIEZ
CityDecatur, Alabama
Broadcast areaHuntsville, Alabama
Frequency1490 kHz
Branding1490 & 94.7 WIEZ
SloganDecatur's Music!
Programming
FormatSoft Oldies
AffiliationsABC. Accuweather
Ownership
OwnerMKRadio 1, LLC
History
First air date1953 (as WAJF)
Former call signsWAJF (1953-2006)
WDPT (2006-2009)
WEKI (2009-2018)[1]
Technical information
Facility ID70707
ClassC
Power1,000 watts
Translator(s)94.7 W234DN (Decatur)
Links
Websitewiezradio.com

WIEZ carries Austin High School football on Friday evenings during the fall.

History

During the early 1960s to the early 1990s, WAJF were the call letters and the format was mostly top 40. It was in main competition with WMSL across town. There were several local legends that worked there, including Hamilton Masters, George "The Cardboard" Carden, Bill and Dave, Thom Collins and more. WAJF also hosted the CBS Radio Mystery Theater each weeknight at midnight. With FM radio becoming more and more popular, AM stations began to suffer. The local talent moved on and advertising got virtually impossible to sell. Eventually, the station had only a handful of faithful sponsors but not enough to hold.

Before switching to the current call letters, this station was known as WAJF. The station was assigned the WDPT call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on November 20, 2006.[1] The 1490 frequency was re-allocated to Decatur after WHBS-AM/1490 in Huntsville moved from 1490 kHz to 1550 kHz in 1952.

In December 2002, the then-WAJF was sold to WAJF Inc. (Ira Littman, president) by Daniel L. Oppenheim for $150,000.[3]

ProTalk logo (2007-2009)

In June 2007, WDPT was sold to Christian Voice of Central Ohio Inc. by WAJF Inc. (Troy Bryant, president) for a reported sale price of $167,500.[4] The station, branded as "ProTalk 1490", was operated as a simulcast of sister station WTKI until both ceased operations and went temporarily silent on January 30, 2009, due to the late 2000s recession.[5] Both stations returned to the air in November 2009 broadcasting a mix of talk radio and sports talk programming. The station's callsign was changed to WEKI on November 19, 2009, to better match its simulcast partner.[1]

On December 23, 2009, Christian Voice of Central Ohio Inc. applied to the FCC to transfer the broadcast license for WEKI to FRC of Alabama LLC, doing business as "Focus Radio Communications" (Frederick Holland, managing member).[6][7] The Commission approved this application on February 16, 2010, and the transaction was consummated April 30, 2010. Focus Radio, which provided programming for both WEKI and WTKI under a local marketing agreement from November 2009, paid a total of $235,000 for the licenses and assets of both stations.[7] Upon commencement of the local marketing agreement with Focus Radio, WEKI was originally a simulcast of sister WTKI Huntsville.

Also in 2009, WEKI began broadcasting on FM translator W234AD, Decatur at 94.7 FM.

In 2010, WEKI broadcast at least 85 Southern League baseball games as a member of the Huntsville Stars Radio Network. The network also includes sister station WTKI and WWIC in Scottsboro.

In 2011, WEKI separated from the WTKI simulcast, catering to Decatur, Alabama, and the western part of the metro area - although the two stations carry much of the same programming throughout the week.

On March 8, 2018, WEKI changed their format from talk to oldies, branded as "94.7 Oldies Radio" under new WIEZ calls.[8] Veteran DC programmer Chris Roth became the Program Director.

On March 4, 2019, an application was filed with the FCC to transfer ownership of WIEZ and the 94.7 translator (now W234DN) to MKRadio I, LLC (Joshua Bohn, managing member) for $131,500. Ownership transferred from Focus Radio to MKRadio 1 on July 1, 2019. Accuweather forecasts and ABC News were added in October. The format shifted from Oldies to Soft Oldies variety on October 25, 2019.

gollark: I think lockdowns make sense as a way to get a bit more time to implement a long-term solution. Guess what's not really happening?
gollark: I think in practice most countries will have to at least partly unlockdown soonish.
gollark: Definitely.
gollark: And the worldwide economic recession (and partly protest, perhaps?) are basically just caused by COVID-19 anyway.
gollark: Though honestly I haven't heard much about the hornets since the internet got obsessed with them.

References
  1. "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  2. "Station Information Profile". Arbitron. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
  3. BIA Financial Networks (December 12, 2002). "Changing Hands". Broadcasting & Cable.
  4. BIA Financial Networks (June 24, 2007). "Deals". Broadcasting & Cable.
  5. "Application Search Details (BLSTA-20090223AAW)". Federal Communications Commission. December 8, 2009.
  6. Welch, Chris (January 12, 2010). "WTKI-AM 1450 back on the air in Huntsville with new owners, new programming". The Huntsville Times.
  7. "Application Search Details (BAL-20091222ANX)". Federal Communications Commission. February 16, 2010.
  8. Alabama Broadcast Media Page
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