WFEZ (FM)

WFEZ
City Miami
Broadcast area Miami metro area
Branding Easy 93.1
Slogan Continuous Soft and Easy Favorites
Frequency 93.1 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date December 29, 1947 (as WKAT-FM)
Format Soft AC
HD2: Dance ("Party 93.1")
ERP

98,000 watts

100,000 watts with beam tilt
HAAT 307 meters (1,007 ft)
Class C0
Facility ID 40408
Transmitter coordinates 25°58′2.00″N 80°12′34.00″W / 25.9672222°N 80.2094444°W / 25.9672222; -80.2094444
Former callsigns WKAT-FM (1947-1971)
WTMI (1971-2001)
WPYM (2002-2005)
WHDR (2005-2010)
Owner Cox Media Group
(Cox Radio, Inc.)
Sister stations WEDR, WFLC, WHQT
Webcast Listen Live - WFEZ
Listen Live - Party 93.1 HD2
Website easy93.com
party931.com (HD2)

WFEZ (93.1 FM; "Easy 93.1") is a radio station broadcasting a Soft AC format. Licensed to Miami, Florida, United States, the stations serves Miami-Dade, Broward, and most of Palm Beach Counties. WFEZ is currently owned by Cox Media Group.[1] Its studios are located on North 29th Avenue in Hollywood, and the transmitter site is just south of the Miami-Dade/Broward County Line near Northwestern 215th Street and State Road 7 in Miami Gardens.

History

Early years, classical era as WTMI, and Dance era as WPYM (1971-2005)

93.1 FM was originally WKAT-FM, which began broadcasting on a full-time basis December 29, 1947.[2]

Later, the station became Classical-formatted WTMI, which began in 1971. For decades, the station also featured popular jazz broadcaster China Valles and his overnight show, "China's Jazz Thing," Monday through Friday.[3] At Noon on December 31, 2001, WTMI flipped to a Dance format and became WPYM, "Party 93.1, South Florida's Pure Dance Channel."[4] The station earned an "Innovators Award" from Billboard magazine in 2002 and a "Best Dance Radio Station Award," at the 2004 Dancestar USA honors.[5]

WHDR "93 Rock" (2005-2010)

WPYM's demise came on February 14, 2005. With decent ratings but poor marketing sales from non-local companies, Cox Radio took advantage of the sudden departure of WZTA (when it flipped from Rock to Hispanic Rhythmic as WMGE) by picking up the Active Rock format and taking the call letters WHDR, calling itself "93 Rock".[6] It became a mainstream rock station per Mediabase and Nielsen BDS reports in 2008. For a few years, the station aired Bubba the Love Sponge in mornings, which was syndicated from sister station WHPT in Tampa.

WFEZ "Easy 93.1" (2010-present)

On November 20, 2010, at 7 a.m., due to underwhelming ratings with their Mainstream Rock format, WHDR began stunting with Christmas music, with a new format to debut after the holidays. At Midnight on December 26, 2010, under the direction of programming director Gary Williams, the station flipped to a Soft AC format and became "Easy 93.1". The first song on "Easy" was "Easy" by The Commodores.[7] The following day, WHDR changed call letters to WFEZ to match the new format. Unlike WPYM and WHDR, the station has become a runaway success, as the station is frequently ranked within the top 10 of the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market ratings. In 2013, WFEZ was a Marconi finalist for AC station of the year.

Current weekday and weekend lineup

  • Weekdays
    • 6AM-10AM: Giselle Andres and Jeff Martin
    • 10AM-2PM: Gary Williams
    • 2PM-7PM: Mike Kruz
    • 7PM-12AM: Delilah
  • Saturdays
    • 6AM-9AM: Ellen Jaffe
    • 9AM-2PM: Denny Miller
    • 2PM-7PM: Rob sidney
    • 7PM-12AM: Mike Kruz
  • Sundays
    • 6:50AM–7:20AM: Easy Community Focus with Ellen Jaffe
    • 7:20AM–9AM: Ellen Jaffe
    • 9AM-2PM: Denny Miller
    • 2PM-7PM: Rob Sidney
    • 7PM-12AM: Delilah

WFEZ-HD2: Party 93.1 HD2

On March 24, 2008, Cox relaunched "Party 93.1" on the station's HD2 sub-channel. Like its predecessor, this version of "Party" is also running jockless, but the station's playlist has been broadened significantly, with more music from the trance and house genres. In March 2011, the station, which had only been available on HD Radio within the station's local listening area, began streaming on the internet again for the first time since 2005.[8] As of January 2018, Party 93.1 HD2 is still broadcasting. However, its online stream and social media presence has disappeared.

References

  1. ↑ "WFEZ Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. ↑ "WKAT-FM Begins" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 12, 1948. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  3. ↑ "The Jazz Spinner - tribunedigital-sunsentinel". Articles.sun-sentinel.com. 1995-01-22. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  4. ↑ "WTMI Becomes Party 93.1 - Format Change Archive". Formatchange.com. 2001-12-31. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  5. ↑ "Dance Music". Dancemusic.about.com. 2017-03-06. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  6. ↑ "History" (PDF). www.americanradiohistory.com. 2005.
  7. ↑ Venta, Lance (2010-12-26). "93 Rocks No More In Miami; Getting Easy". RadioInsight. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  8. ↑ "HD Radio station guide for Oklahoma City, Oklahoma". Hdradio.com. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
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