WEZB

WEZB
City New Orleans, Louisiana
Broadcast area Southeast Louisiana & Southern Mississippi
Branding B97 FM
Slogan All the hits.
Frequency 97.1 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date September 1, 1945 (as WRCM)
Format Analog/HD1:CHR
HD2: Urban oldies (WWWL simulcast)
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 300 meters (984 feet)
Class C0
Facility ID 20346
Callsign meaning W (East side of the Mississippi River), EZ (EZ Communications; former owner), B (for their former format, Beautiful music)
Former callsigns WRCM (1945-1967)
WNNR-FM (1967-1972)
Owner Entercom
(Entercom New Orleans License, LLC)
Sister stations WWL, WWL-FM, WWWL, WKBU, WLMG
Webcast Listen Live
Website B97

WEZB (97.1 FM, "B97 FM") is a radio station licensed to New Orleans, Louisiana. Owned by Entercom, it broadcasts a contemporary hit radio format.

Its studios are located at the 400 Poydras Tower in New Orleans' downtown area, and the transmitter site is in the city's Algiers district. Sister station WWWL and its urban oldies format are simulcast on an HD Radio subchannel.

History

According to the broadcasting yearbooks, on September 1, 1945, 97.1 signed on the air. This was WRCM, the FM simulcast of WJMR/990 and sister to WJMR-TV 12 (now WVUE channel 8), all owned by George J. Mayoral. Then, around 1966–67 after the TV station had already been sold, Supreme Broadcasting Company bought the two radio stations and changed the call letters to WNNR AM and FM. At the time, the station was located in the Jung Hotel at 1500 Canal Street in downtown New Orleans. It broadcast a forward power of only 20,500 watts from an antenna 310 feet atop the building.

On January 2, 1972, EZ Communications acquired the FM station and this is when it became WEZB, part of a chain of Beautiful Music stations (WEZC Charlotte, WEZR Washington, et al.) owned by EZ. It was never very successful against formidable competition in that format. Briefly in the 1970s when disco became a popular genre, it became "Disco 97 FM" on Thursday, February 8, 1979, but failed shortly after, switching formats in favor of a more rhythmic approach called "FM97, The Rhythm Of The City." "We had a big party in the Atrium at the Hyatt [Regency Hotel]" says Jim Roberts, B-97's first Bee Jock (disc jockey). On January 1, 1980, "Baby New Year was dropped from the ceiling and we switched over from 'FM97, The Rhythm Of The City' to the new 'B-97 FM'."[1] According to Jackson "Jack Da Wack" Tally, who was also one of B-97's first Bee Jocks, in early November 1979, the station slowly started to work more and more Top 40 music into rotation. By the end of that year, the staff was ready for the format change to B-97FM. This station would be a popular Top 40 outlet for years to come, much like "The Mighty 690, WTIX" was in the 1960s and 1970s.

Kent Burkhart, consultant to EZ Communications at the time, states on his website[2] that Dan Vallie was hired on by the company to change the ailing format of WEZB from disco and dance music to Top 40. Over the years, the name went through minor changes (i.e., "The New B-97 FM", "B-97", "97.1 The New B-97 FM", etc.), the transmitting power was increased, and the antenna was moved to a taller location. Currently, many New Orleanians know B-97 as a well-known and established radio station playing the hits.

To note, WEZB has been a prominent Top 40 radio broadcast station in the New Orleans metropolitan area for over 35 years, except for two brief, failed experiments. The first format change was a decision by now-defunct EZ Communications, in which the station changed to a news and hot talk format in the summer of 1994. The decision to return to a music format came on June 7, 1996, in which the station played Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" repeatedly for seven hours. At noon that day, the station returned as an adult contemporary Top 40 format using the same name "B-97", and starting with Hootie & the Blowfish's "Only Wanna Be With You".[3] On July 26, 1998, B-97 returned to its heritage Top 40 contemporary hit radio (CHR) format. The station became more Rhythmic in its musical approach before making the shift in 2002, back to its current, true Top 40 approach.

Hurricane Katrina

WEZB was also a member of the United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans, an alliance of broadcast stations formed by the joint ventures of WEZB's parent company, Entercom Communications with Clear Channel Communications, during Hurricane Katrina in September 2005.

Past programming and staff

Notable former programs include The Howard Stern Show. Notable former on-air personalities include program director Elvis Duran sports reporter Bernard "Buddy" Diliberto.

References

  1. ↑ B-97's Alumni page on Facebook.com
  2. ↑ http://www.kentburkhart.com/kentburkhart49.htm Kent Burkhart.com
  3. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1996/R&R-1996-06-14.pdf

Coordinates: 29°55′12″N 90°01′30″W / 29.920°N 90.025°W / 29.920; -90.025

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