WZBY

Infobox Radio Station
name = WZBY-FM


city = Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
area = Northeastern Wisconsin
airdate = February 24, 1989
frequency = 99.7 (MHz)
format = classic hits
owner = Midwest Communications
erp = 46,000 watts
haat = 156 meters
class = C2
facility_id = 42090
branding = "99.7 The Bay"
slogan =
website = [http://www.997thebay.com www.997thebay.com]
former_callsigns = WQZZ-FM, WHET-FM, WGEE-FM, WLTM-FM, WLYD-FM

WZBY, a radio station branded as 99.7 The Bay, carries a classic hits format. WZBY is licensed to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and serves the Green Bay, Wisconsin radio market. The station's frequency is 99.7 MHz on the FM dial, with an effective radiated power of 46 kW. The station is owned by Wausau, Wisconsin-based Midwest Communications. WZBY's studios are located at 1420 Bellevue St., adjacent to the WNFL tower site in the Green Bay suburb of Bellevue.

History

The station originally signed on with the call letters WQZZ, licensed to Sturgeon Bay.

Later after an ownership change, it became WHET, a CHR station with the branding "99.7 The Heat"; the 99.7 frequency has carried many different formats over the years.

After Midwest Communications bought the station in the early 1990s, the format was flipped to current country. WHET's call-letters were changed to WGEE-FM to coincide with the market's heritage country station, WGEE-AM (now WTAQ). The station's moniker was "99 Country" until 1996, when Midwest bought WNCY, which was, by then, the dominant country station in the market.

In 1996, the call-letters were once again changed, this time to WLTM, and the station began to simulcast with WROE in Appleton, which was running a Light AC format at the time.

In 2001, the station ended its simulcast with WROE and the format was switched to Hot AC as "Magic 99.7", with syndicated Rick Dees in the morning. In March 2002, it switched once again, this time to Rhythmic CHR as WLYD "Wild 99-7" At this time their sister CHR station WIXX took a more adult lean. The rhythmic CHR format proved popular and Wild soon became one of Green Bay's top rated stations.

In fall 2004, Wausau sister station WOFM switched to Rhythmic CHR as "Wild 94-7". The 2 stations initially shared the same automation logs. At the time of WOFM's flip, all of WLYD's air-staff was removed.

Both WLYD and WOFM ran the Wild format without air-staff until February 2006, when WLYD flipped to adult hits, under the call-letters WZBY. About a month later, WOFM flipped to the same format under the name "94.7 The Peak". WOFM later became "The Valley" and the format made a gradual shift to classic hits in 2008. On September 20, 2008, WZBY also flipped to a classic hits format.

External links

* [http://www.997thebay.com Station website]
* [http://www.mci.fm Midwest Communications]
* [http://www.prarch.com/workarea/showcontent.aspx?id=1392 Click here to view a virtual tour of Midwest Communications' new building]
*FMQ|WZBY
*FML|WZBY
*FMARB|WZBY