WEZR-FM

For the FM radio station in Manassas, Virginia that held the call sign WEZR from 1968 to 1985, see WEZR (defunct) and WJFK-FM.
WEZR-FM
City Norway, Maine
Broadcast area Oxford County, Androscoggin County, Northern Cumberland County, Maine and the Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire
Branding Maine's Big Z
Slogan More Music. Better Variety.
Frequency 92.7 MHz
First air date December 12, 1970 (1970-12-12)[1]
Format Hot adult contemporary
ERP 5,200 watts
HAAT 224 meters
Class C3
Facility ID 67698
Transmitter coordinates 44°17′47″N 70°37′5″W / 44.29639°N 70.61806°W / 44.29639; -70.61806
Former callsigns WNWY-FM (1970–1976)
WOXO (1976–1981)
WOXO-FM (1981–2016)
Former frequencies 105.5 MHz (1970–1974)
Owner Mountain Valley Broadcasting, Inc.
Sister stations WEZR, WOXO, WOXO-FM, WTME
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.z1055.com

WEZR-FM (92.7 FM; "Maine's Big Z") is a radio station licensed to serve Norway, Maine, United States. Established in 1970 as WNWY-FM, the station is owned by Mountain Valley Broadcasting, Inc.[2] It broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format as a simulcast of Lewiston sister station WEZR.

History

WEZR-FM signed on December 12, 1970[1] as WNWY-FM under the ownership of Oxford Hills Radio Communications.[3] The station originally operated on 105.5 FM with a middle of the road format. By 1974, WNWY had moved to 92.7 FM,[4] a change made to accommodate the move of Skowhegan station WTOS-FM from 107.1 to 105.1,[5] and was programming contemporary music, country music, pop, and gold.[4]

Last logo as WOXO-FM, used until August 1, 2016

Richard Gleason, the general manager of WSKW and WTOS in Skowhegan, bought WNWY-FM for $120,000 in 1975;[6][7] the following year, the call letters were changed to WOXO[8] to reflect the station's service to Oxford County and the Oxford Hills.[7] By 1978, WOXO's top 40 format was 80-percent simulcast with WXIV (1450 AM) in South Paris, which Gleason acquired in 1976.[9] In 1981, WOXO dropped the top 40 format in favor of country music after Gleason conducted a survey that found that a country-formatted station would be highly-rated.[7] WOXO-FM's country format was simulcast on 1450 AM, which had taken on the WOXO call letters,[5] until the early 1980s, when the AM station shifted to religious programming; in 1986, that station changed its call letters to WKTQ.[5] In 1990, Gleason bought WTBM (100.7 FM) in Mexico;[10] that station then became a simulcast of WOXO-FM.[5]

WOXO-FM's country format moved to WKTQ, which took on the WOXO call letters, on August 1, 2016. Concurrently, the station changed its call letters to WEZR-FM and began simulcasting the hot adult contemporary format of Lewiston sister station WEZR, expanding that station's reach to serve the entirety of the Western Maine Mountains tourism region and parts of Carroll County, New Hampshire, and the WOXO-FM call letters were transferred to WTBM, which continues to air WOXO's country music programming.[11][12] The format change also brings the Hot AC format back to the North Conway, New Hampshire and Fryeburg, Maine areas, which have been without such a station since 2014, when WVMJ tweaked its format to an Adult CHR, and eventually to a Mainstream CHR with a slight adult lean.

References

  1. 1 2 Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1999 (PDF). 1999. p. D-200. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ "WEZR-FM Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1972 (PDF). 1972. p. B-93. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Broadcasting Yearbook 1975 (PDF). 1975. p. C-84. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Fybush, Scott. "Maine Radio History, 1971–1996". The Archives at BostonRadio.org. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 11, 1975. p. 30. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 Marois, Dan (2016–2017). "Hitting the Airwaves For Over 40 Years". Oxford Hills Magazine. pp. 28–9. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Call letters" (PDF). Broadcasting. March 8, 1976. p. 68. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  9. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1978 (PDF). 1978. pp. C–96–7. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 8, 1990. p. 64. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  11. ↑ Crosby, Christopher (August 1, 2016). "Radio station WOXO changes frequencies". Sun Journal. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  12. ↑ Venta, Lance (July 29, 2016). "WEZR & WOXO Lewiston On The Move". RadioInsight. Retrieved August 27, 2016.


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