WXTU

WXTU
City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area Delaware Valley
Branding 92-5 XTU
Slogan "Philadelphia's Country Station"
Frequency 92.5 MHz (also on HD Radio)
92.5 HD-2 for Future Country
92.5 HD-3: Radio Disney
First air date 1948 (as KYW-FM)
Format Country
ERP 11,000 watts
HAAT 279 meters
Class B
Facility ID 74213
Transmitter coordinates 40°02′21.00″N 75°14′13.00″W / 40.0391667°N 75.2369444°W / 40.0391667; -75.2369444
Former callsigns KYW-FM (1948-1955)
off the air (1955-1958)
WIFI (1958-1983)
Owner CBS Radio
(WXTU License Limited Partnership)
Sister stations KYW, WIP-FM, WOGL, WPHT, WZMP, KYW-TV, WPSG
Webcast Listen Live
Website 925xtu.com

WXTU (92.5 FM, "92-5 XTU") is a Country music formatted radio station which is broadcast in the Philadelphia area. It is the largest country radio station in the United States based on listener cume (WUSN in Chicago is the second largest). The station plays a variety of country music, including current hits, as well as older hits. WXTU is owned by CBS Radio, and is Philadelphia's only country radio station. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of the city. WXTU also broadcasts commercial free country music on one of its HD Radio channels, which is separate from the main programming. The WXTU studios and offices are located in the "555 Building" in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Since the advent of the Portable People Meter by Arbitron in Philadelphia, WXTU has become the most listened to country station in the United States (based on listener cume). This distinction was formerly held by WUSN in Chicago, owned by CBS Radio. Although, since PPM service is not yet available in Chicago, this is in dispute.

History

WIFI/Hit Parade '70

The first Philadelphia station on 92.5 was Westinghouse's KYW-FM. Westinghouse ultimately decided not to continue operating this station and relinquished its license. The original call sign of the current 92.5 was WIFI. Although it was always licensed as a Philadelphia station, WIFI in its early years was essentially a local station serving Norristown, Pennsylvania and neighboring communities in Montgomery County, broadcasting MOR music and talk along with some specialty music shows and local high school sports. WIFI at the end of the 1960s brought some of the first "progressive" or "underground" rock programming to the airwaves with Johnny Devereaux and other hosts. By 1970, WIFI had been acquired by General Cinema Corporation and had dropped locally originated programming in favor of the syndicated automated format "Hit Parade '70".

I-92/Studio 92

After two or three years of Hit Parade, its companion oldies format "Solid Gold Rock and Roll" and other automated programming, WIFI instituted a high-energy Top 40 format. For a couple of years, WIFI was the only true Top 40 station in Philadelphia following WFIL's evolution into an Adult Contemporary format in the late 1970s. After WCAU-FM debuted its Hot Hits format in October 1981, WIFI's ratings fell as WCAU-FM quickly grabbed most of the teen audience. A move to a new-wave rock format, branded as "I-92" and "Rock of the Eighties" (1982), attracted more press attention than listenership. A flip to an Urban Contemporary format as "Studio 92", with a call sign change to WXTU (reminiscent of New York City's WKTU), followed. That format failed to find an audience and was gone in a matter of months.

92.5 WXTU

On March 1, 1984, at 1 PM, the station switched to their current country format. The very first country song on WXTU was "Are You Ready For The Country" by Waylon Jennings.

In 2007, the station was nominated for the top 25 markets Country music Radio & Records magazine station of the year award . Other nominees included WUSN Chicago, KYGO-FM Denver, WYCD Detroit, KEEY-FM Minneapolis, and KSON-FM San Diego.[1]

On October 2, 2014, Beasley Broadcast Group announced that it would trade 5 radio stations located in Philadelphia (including WXTU) and Miami to CBS Radio in exchange for 14 stations located in Tampa, Charlotte and Philadelphia (which Beasley will acquire 610 AM from CBS).[2] The swap was completed on December 1, 2014.[3]

Awards and nominations

CMA Awards

ACM Awards

Industry Achievement Awards

References

  1. ↑ "2007 Industry Achievement Awards". Radio and Records. Sep 28, 2008.
  2. ↑ CBS And Beasley Swap Philadelphia/Miami For Charlotte/Tampa from Radio Insight (October 2, 2014)
  3. ↑ Venta, Lance (December 1, 2014). "CBS Beasley Deal Closes". RadioInsight. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
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