WLDI

WLDI
City Juno Beach, Florida
Broadcast area Treasure Coast
West Palm Beach, Florida
Branding Wild 95.5
Slogan The Palm Beaches' #1 Hit Music Station
Frequency 95.5 MHz
First air date 1961 (as WIRA-FM)
Format Top 40 (CHR)
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 282 meters
Class C1
Facility ID 2680
Callsign meaning Wild
Former callsigns WIRA-FM (1961-1968)
WOVV (1968-1995)
WCLB-FM (1995-1998)
WXFG (2/1998-10/1998)
Owner iHeartMedia
(Clear Channel Broadcasting Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stations WQOL, WAVW, WKGR, WZZR, WCZR, WRLX
Webcast Listen Live
Website wild955.com

WLDI, on-air known as Wild 95.5, is a radio station licensed to Juno Beach, Florida and broadcasting in the Treasure Coast and West Palm Beach, Florida markets. The station airs a Top 40 (CHR) format. It is owned by iHeartMedia, and broadcasts at 95.5 FM. Its studios are in West Palm Beach and its transmitter is located west of Interstate 95 near Palm City, Florida.

Timeline

as WOVV

Before its move to West Palm Beach, WOVV was one of the first FM outlets on the Treasure Coast and operated beside WIRA in Fort Pierce, Florida. For many years, both stations broadcast from a downtown riverfront location on Melody Lane.[1]

December 1985: -- Program Director Bill James is replaced by Bobby Magic from Cleveland as station ends four years of "live assist automation." Linda Hendry moved from evenings to midday, replaced in that slot by Mike Schneider. Dr. John Leeder left to manage a Port St. Lucie video store, and was replaced by Nick Caplan of Buffalo, New York.[2]

July 1987: -- WZZR joins the Ft. Pierce market after dropping Easy Listening music for Contemporary Hit Radio.[3]

1989: -- Jon Howe and Kris Klaus host the Breakfast Club show.[4]

as Star 95.5

October 1992 -- WOVV drops CHR music and becomes an AC station called Star 95.5.[5]

February 1993 -- Station moved 60 miles south from Ft. Pierce to Northpoint Corporate Park on Northpoint Parkway in West Palm Beach. New Program Director Kurt Kelly gave the Palm Beach Post his home telephone number and invited listeners to call to comment on their likes and dislikes of the station's format. [5]

1993: -- M.J. Kelli and Robin Lambert take over morning show from Jon Howe and Kris Klaus. Klaus becomes a weekend weather person for WPBF Channel 25. Howe returns within months to do midday and later afternoons.

April 1993: -- Program director Kurt Kelly is gone after barely four months. WOVV management said Kelly was let go because his vision of a regional super station did not fit its signal strength and Palm Beach County listener base. The station becomes a CHR station again.[6]

March 17, 1994: -- Neil Sullivan of WKDD in Akron, Ohio is named Program Director. He replaces M.J. Kelli, who left for Tampa. Kelli also hosted the morning show.

April 23, 1994: -- Lindy Rome from oldies WOLL-FM and Lane London from England host what station boss Steve Lapa says is the area's first all-female morning drive show. ``Lindy will be doing some things she never dreamed she was capable of, Lapa added. ``But we're known for doing wild things.[7] Rome was fired after three months.[8]

As WCLB

November 22, 1995 at 4:40 p.m. -- Station abruptly becomes Country WCLB (the Country Club) with Alan Jackson's "Gone Country" as the first song, after signing a joint sales agreement with Fairbanks Communications, the owners of WRMF.[9]

The station ran the syndicated Howard Stern Show in the morning from September 1996 until December 1997.[10] [11]

The station was briefly known as country "The Frog" and "Thunder Country" with call letters WXFG in 1998.[12]

As Wild 95.5/WLDI

The station dropped Country and returned to Mainstream CHR as Wild 95.5 (with new call letters WLDI) on August 14, 1998 shortly after 5 p.m., with a 9,550 song marathon. The first song was Quad City DJ's' "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)". The station gave away a $25,000 cash prize at the conclusion of the music marathon.[13]The station was the birthplace and the home of the successful morning show The KVJ Show (originally known as Kevin and Virginia in the Morning and later The Wild Morning Show with Kevin and Virginia, from 1999 until its departure to 97.3 The Coast (now known as Hits 97.3) in Miami on Monday August 5, 2013.[14] The show has since resurfaced in the area on rival 97.9 WRMF.

Station ratings

Spring 1990: 4.6 share, #5 in market [15]

Fall 1989: Sun-Sentinel reported the station "down .8," so the share was likely 3.8.[16]

Summer 1989: -- 3.6 share, 6th in West Palm Beach market.[17]

Spring 1989: -- 3.9 share, 6th in West Palm Beach market.[17]

Spring 1988: -- 4.9 share, 4th in West Palm Beach market.[18]

Spring 1995: -- 2.9 share, #8 in market. Last full rating period as Contemporary Hit station. [19]

Fall 1995: -- 2.9 share, #8 in market. Changed to Country WCLB during the rating period. [19]

References

  1. ↑ Bob Betcher (November 1, 1995). "FM Stations WOVV, WRMF Sign Ad Time Sales Agreement". Stuart News.In the late 60s, the station stopped simulcasting WIRA and broadcast an automated contemporary format known as "Sold Gold Music." At that time solid gold did not refer to older music.
  2. ↑ Michelle Genz (December 17, 1985). "Music Stops For Disc Jockey as WOVV Tunes Up For Future". Miami Herald.
  3. ↑ Lisa Gibbs (July 19, 1987). "Radio Station Says New Format Will Attract Younger Listeners". Miami Herald.
  4. ↑ "Stood Up Prom Date To Get Night Out". Palm Beach Post. May 25, 1989.
  5. 1 2 Kathy Tarrant (February 4, 1993). "WOVV Drops Rap and Moves South". Palm Beach Post.
  6. ↑ Pat Curry (May 8, 1993). "Zeta Listeners Get Their Shot Behind The Mike; Take A Bite; Liddy's Talk Show; Kudos For Morley; Just Passing Through". Sun-Sentinel.
  7. ↑ Thom Smith (April 1, 1994). "Trash Films May Means Cash for Palm Beach County". Palm Beach Post.
  8. ↑ "'Entertainment Tonight' Beacons For Former Anchor". Palm Beach Post. April 19, 1994.
  9. ↑ Bob Betcher (November 1, 1995). "FM Stations WOVV, WRMF Sign Ad Time Sales Agreement". Stuart News.
  10. ↑ Jeff Rusnak (September 20, 1996). "Country Station WCLB Welcomes Howard Stern". Sun-Sentinel.
  11. ↑ Bob Betcher (December 20, 1997). "WCLB Listeners Pull Plug On Howard Stern". Stuart News.
  12. ↑ Bob Betcher (October 25, 1998). "'Treasure Coast Magazine' Returns to Television". Stuart News.
  13. ↑ Bob Betcher (August 30, 1998). "Listener Not Wild About 95.5". Stuart News.
  14. ↑ http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_c_palm_beach_county/west_palm_beach/kvj-show-wild-955s-morning-show-kevin-virginia-and-jason-moving-to-miamis-973-the-coast
  15. ↑ Tom Jicha (August 2, 1990). "Radio Ratings". Sun-Sentinel.
  16. ↑ Tom Jicha (January 12, 1990). "WDZL Film a Non-Commercial Venture, Status Quo". Sun-Sentinel.
  17. 1 2 Tom Jicha (October 18, 1989). "World Series Helps Abc End Nbc's Ratings Reign, Palm Beach Radio Survey". Sun-Sentinel.
  18. ↑ Ed Lopez (September 5, 1988). "South Florida Radio A Sound Business". Miami Herald.
  19. 1 2 "WEAT-FM Tops Fall Ratings". Palm Beach Post. January 17, 1996.

Coordinates: 27°07′19″N 80°23′20″W / 27.122°N 80.389°W / 27.122; -80.389

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