WBZW

:"For the station that was once WBZW, please see WFXN-FM in Loudonville, Ohio":"For the station that took the WRKZ call letters, please see WRKZ in Columbus, Ohio"Infobox Radio Station


name = WBZW-FM
airdate = 1953
frequency = 93.7 MHz HD Radio
93.7 HD-2 for Dance/Party hits
city = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
area = Pittsburgh metropolitan area
format = Contemporary Hit Radio
owner = CBS Radio
erp = 41,000 watts
haat = 167 meters
branding = "B94"
slogan = "Pittsburgh's Hottest Hits"
class = B
facility_id = 20350
webcast = [http://cbsplayer.streamtheworld.com/index.php?CALLSIGN=WTZNFM Listen Live]
website = [http://www.b94.com/ www.b94.com]
affiliations =
sister_stations = KDKA, WDSY, WZPT
"part of CBS Corp. cluster with TV stations KDKA & WPCW"
callsign_meaning = W B(94)Z W (Homage to previous WBZZ calls)

WBZW (93.7 FM), branded as "B94", is a radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Owned by CBS Radio, the station operates at 93.7 MHz with an ERP of 41 kW. Its transmitter is located in Pittsburgh. The station programs a CHR format, which debuted at 5:00 PM on October 5, 2007, a revival of the original "B94" that existed on the frequency from 1981 to 2004. On its HD2 subchannel, the station offers a format that consists of Dance and Party hits.

History

The 93.7 frequency in Pittsburgh began its life as WKJF-FM in the 1950s, an independently-owned FM station. For a brief time, there was a co-owned UHF TV station, WKJF-TV (53), which operated in 1953-54.

During its early incarnations as WKJF, WKOI, and WJOI, the station programmed a beautiful music format.

The first "B94" years

Debuting on Monday April 6, 1981, WBZZ (B94) was the city’s number one Top 40 music station, tailoring their programming to not only a younger audience, but also a Pittsburgh audience. Fact|date=January 2008

B94 featured local morning shows such as “Quinn and Banana" (featuring Jim Quinn and "Banana" Don Jefferson) in the 1980s and “JohnDaveBubbaShelly” (with some minor morning personality changes)in the 1990s through 2004.

In 2000, B94 gained a strong competitorFact|date=January 2008. Clear Channel Communications unveiled a new CHR format, KISS-FM at 96.1 FM. The new station began to take a large chunk out of B94's audience. With more syndicated programming featuring famous national on air talent and focusing more on the younger audience, B94 for the first time, saw itself slipping into second place. Also not helping matters was sister station WZPT switching to a Hot AC format at the same time, which, while it played a mix of 80's and 90's music with current hits, otherwise had a similar format to B94.

Early in 2003, WBZZ tweaked its name by calling itself “93-7 BZZ”. This was done because the station did want any confusion of exactly where they were on the radio dial, especially considering that the only station in Pittsburgh actually "on" the 94 range (WWSW-FM) had an oldies format. It was also done to re-image their station to compete with its new rival WKST “96-1 KISS FM.” Later, in mid-2004, the station would tweak its name again, calling itself this time, B93-7.

The "K-Rock" Years and "The Zone" Experiment

In 2004, Clear Channel yanked Howard Stern from all of their owned stations that aired his show, including the local WXDX-FM. In response, WBZZ operations manager Keith Clark and other station officials decided to flip the station’s format after 23 years, and not only pick up Howard Stern (which they saw as a golden opportunity to improve their ratings) but unveil a new active rock format to compete with Clear Channel’s other rock stations and changed the call signs to WRKZ.

On June 30, 2004, WBZZ’s on-air talent gathered to say goodbye to Pittsburgh, thanking them for their support throughout the years. Listeners that had liked B94 but didn't like the new rock format were encouraged on-air to listen to sister station WZPT. Ratings for 93.7 K-Rock improved initially after the switch, but began to decline before Howard Stern's departure for Sirius Satellite Radio.

To replace Stern, the station carried David Lee Roth's radio show as his replacement. However, due to low ratings, Roth was replaced by Opie and Anthony less than three months after his debut.

The afternoon drive show of Kidd Chris, from co-owned WYSP in Philadelphia, aired on 93.7 from August 28, 2006 until March 19, 2007.

On April 2, 2007, K-Rock became "93.7 The Zone," changing call signs to WTZN in the process. The station, although not carrying the "Free FM" name in its branding, was considered a Free FM station, the only station thus far to affiliate with the network after the initial launch. Joining the lineup were Opie and Anthony, Pittsburgh native Dennis Miller, and former WDVE personality, Scott Paulsen. [ [http://www.scottpaulsen.com/scott/] ,] The station also carried programming from Sporting News Radio. Miller and Paulsen were displaced to KDKA when the format was abandoned.

The Return of B94

On Monday, October 1, 2007, WTZN began stunting with Christmas music, in anticipation of a format flip scheduled for later that week. [ [http://postgazette.com/pg/07274/822052-67.stm Radio station 93.7 dumps talk format after six months ] ] The station made some fairly obvious hints as to the future of the station, advertising "Something's missing in 'Pitts-urgh'," prompting visitors to go to a message board at http://www.pitts-urgh.com/ where there is a message board asking "What do you miss the most about Pittsburgh?," among the choices being "B94 Radio."

The return of B94 at 93.7 FM is apparently part of CBS Radio's current initiative of resurrecting radio stations that had been killed off for other formats, such as WCBS-FM in New York and KFRC in San Francisco. However, unlike those stations, which carry classic hits formats, B94 plays current hits.

B94 returned to Pittsburgh the following Friday at 5 pm, with its first song: Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack."

On November 27, 2007, WTZN switched it's call sign to WBZW to reflect its new format. B94's former call letters, WBZZ, are currently in use by an Adult Contemporary radio station in Malta, New York called Buzz 105.7.

On-Air Personalities

The full-time on-air personalities on WBZW (B94) every Monday thru Friday are:

* Buckhead, Bubba, and Melanie (6a-10a)
* Coop (10a-3p)
* Kobe (3p-7p)
* Flick (7p-12a)

References

* http://www.pbrtv.com/pbrtvn.html - Retrieved on April 10, 2007

External links

*Official|http://www.b94.com/
* http://www.myspace.com/theonlyb94/ - B94's Official MySpace
*FMQ|WBZW
*FML|WBZW
*FMARB|WBZW
* [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/living/events/s_500210.html Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article]
* [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_485493.html Paulsen's Departure from WDVE]
* [http://www.edisonresearch.com/home/archives/2007/10/top_40_reclaims.php Article on B94's return from Edison Media Research (October 10, 2007)]