WBEB

Radio station


branding = B101 FM
name = WBEB
airdate = May 13, 1963
frequency = 101.1 MHz HD Radio
101.1 HD-2 for All 80's music
city = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
area = Greater Philadelphia (Delaware Valley)
format = Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary
erp = 14,000 watts
haat = 287 meters
class = B
facility_id = 71382
owner = WEAZ-FM Radio, Inc. (Jerry Lee)
webcast = [http://tuner1.dc1.sonixtream.com/playlists/b101radio/b101radioWBEB.asx Listen Live]
website = [http://www.b101radio.com/ www.b101radio.com]

WBEB, known as B101, is a Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary radio station which is broadcast in the Philadelphia area. The station has been a top ranking station in the Philadelphia Arbitron ratings since the early 1990's, and is the only independently owned station in the Philadelphia radio market. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of the city.

WDVR-FM heritage

Previously called WDVR (Delaware Valley Radio) and WEAZ, the station pioneered the Beautiful Music format beginning in 1963.

Original staff included Rich Franklin and Dave Shayer, both broadcast veterans, and were two of the original air staff hired by WDVR/WEAZ/WBEB 101.1 FM when they first went on the air May 13, 1963. Both, later, were Music Directors at 101.1 FM, and are still active in broadcasting today. Also part of the first air staff were Lou Klawansky (air name: Lee Kramer), Frank Goshy (air name: Frank Edwards), and Joaquin Bowman. Working with Jerry Lee, Marlin Taylor, Dave Kurtz, Alan Campbell and others, WDVR skyrocketed to phenomenal success and became a broadcasting legend. 101.1 FM was, and is, one of the most successful independent FM stations in the country.

The station was known for playing Beautiful Music featuring pop tunes reworked in the form of instrumentals. They played two vocalists per hour, as the instrumentals would be based on the works of such artists as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Neil Diamond and The Carpenters. By the 1980s, the station increased the amount of music with vocalists to four per hour as they also added more artists suited to an adult contemporary format. Also in 1980, WDVR changed its call letters to WEAZ, and began using the slogan EAZY 101 with Patrick O'Neal (later Robert Urich) as its spokesperson. By 1984, EAZY 101 became the #1 rated station in Philadelphia.

In 1988, the station dropped Beautiful Music for a soft adult contemporary format. This format change came after research tests showed that people who grew up after the advent of rock and roll didn't like elevator music. With the format change, the station was satellite-delivered, but by the next year, some of the airstaff returned. By 1990, the station's name was shortened to "EZ 101." The station would shift to a mainstream adult contemporary format in 1993, and its call letters would eventually change to WBEB (B 101).

WSNI (now WRFF) "competed" with B101 for 4 years under the name Sunny 104.5. However, unlike B101, Sunny had a gold-based format similar to WCBS-FM in NY. The "Competition" ended on 8/10/08, when Sunny 104.5 was shut down in favor of Spanish, then Modern Rock.

Signal Strength

WBEB's signal reaches north into New Jersey, especially along Interstate 287 south of Morristown, and in northwestern New Jersey. In those areas WBEB interferes with WCBS-FM, an Oldies station in New York City, which also broadcasts on 101.1, and in some spots, WBEB's signal actually seems stronger. This is because both stations are full, non-directional Class B operations that are severely short-spaced under a grandfathered FCC rule.

Philadelphia's Christmas Station

As a yearly tradition, B101 starts to play Christmas music sometime early to mid-November. In 2006, B101 switched to All Christmas Music on November 18, 2006. In previous years, B101 had switched sooner to keep pace with WSNI-FM, but WSNI signed off during the summer of 2006 eliminating the need for this move. The "Stockings for Kids" program went hand in hand with the Christmas music. From 12 Noon on Christmas Eve to Midnight Christmas Night (12 AM sharp on 12/26), B101 played Christmas music without commercial interruption (although, there were frequent messages from the event sponsor). This was known as the 36 Hours of Christmas Music. At 12 AM on 12/26 after the last song, Christmas Cannon by The Trans-Siberian Orchestra had ended, there was a brief silence, a commercial break, and then the words "B101, WBEB Philadelphia". This concluded 38 straight days of Christmas music, and began the transition back to regular programming. For the next couple of days after, B101 played soft rock with a few Christmas songs thrown in.

For 2007, B101 announced via their website that they plan to play all Christmas music once again that year. The station conducted a survey which allowed the listeners to "choose the Christmas music they wanted to hear". The switch to all Christmas music 24/7 happened at 3 PM on November 21, 2007, the day before Thanksgiving. B101 stopped playing all Christmas music at 5 AM on December 26, 2007, however, like the previous year, Christmas music was "sprinkled in" for a week following the holiday season.

Listener Confusion with WWBB

In the last 10 years, many B101 listeners have mistakenly called the request lines of WWBB in Providence, Rhode Island also positioned as "B101" (but located at 101.5 FM). The confusion lies in the fact that the "b101.com" website is owned by WWBB and Clear Channel, not WBEB. WBEB listeners sometimes log on to "b101.com", assume they are on the correct website, find the phone number, and end up calling WWBB. Both stations also used a bumblebee logo, which could add to the confusion (WWBB dropped the bumblebee from their logo a few years ago). Jerry Lee, the owner of WBEB, has made offers to Clear Channel for the "b101.com" domain name. All offers have been rejected. Thus, WBEB uses "b101radio.com". Coincidentally, WBEB's current morning show co-host, Tiffany Hill, was also once the morning co-host at WWBB.

Relaunching as "Fresh"

On September 18, 2007 at 12:00pm, WBEB conducted a special poll, which was broadcast both on-air and online via their website. The poll was 700 songs long and the station would play a 5 to 7 second clip of a song. Liners would encourage listeners to go to the station's website. Once there, a user would then click if they wanted to hear the song often, sometimes, or not at all.

At 2pm, the station relaunched using the "Fresh" concept, becoming the second outlet to add this concept following the launch of WWFS, Fresh 102.7, in New York City by CBS Radio in January 2007 (although their ads use the same exact "cartoon office figures" as WLTW in New York).

Awards

In 2007, the station was nominated for the top 25 markets Adult Contemporary station of the year award by Radio & Records magazine. Other nominees included WMJX in Boston, KOST in Los Angeles, WALK-FM in Nassau, New York, WLTW in New York, and KEZK-FM in St. Louis. cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=2007 Industry Achievement Awards | date=Sept 28, 2008 | publisher= | url =http://www.radioandrecords.com/Conventions/con2007/awards/indexFinal.asp | work =Radio and Records]

References

External links

* [http://www.b101radio.com/ WBEB Website]
*FMQ|WBEB
*FML|WBEB
*FMARB|WBEB