WAWZ

Infobox Radio station


city = Zarephath, New Jersey
area = New York City
name = WAWZ
branding = "Star 99.1 - Family Safe Hits"
frequency = 99.1 (MHz) HD Radio
99.1-2 FM for Teaching and Preaching|
99.1-3 The Energy for Christian Alternative
airdate = 1954
class = B
erp = 50,000 watts
haat = 200 meters
format = Contemporary Christian/Gospel
owner = Pillar Of Fire International
callsign_meaning = W
Alma
White
Zarepath
website = http://www.star991fm.com/|

WAWZ-FM (99.1 FM, "Star 99.1") broadcasts live from Zarephath, New Jersey, and plays contemporary Christian music. They are a commercial radio station owned by Pillar of Fire Church. The station serves the New York City, Northeastern New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania area.

The calls for the station were named after its AM counterpart which went off the air in 1984, and Pillar Of Fire's founder, Alma White.

"Star 99.1" started airing it's current format on February 3, 2003, before then, it was known as WAWZ - Your Voice of Faith and Inspiration, and featured a mix of Christian Teaching and Talk programs as well as Inspirational Contemporary Christian Music.

Its daily on air schedule includes "Johnny Stone In The Morning" with Co-host Stacey Stone(they are now married) and support from David A. Dein "Morning Show Funny Guy and Keeper of the Rubber-Band ball" and producer Dawn Wheeler, followed by middays with Beth Bacall (Married To former WKTU-FM , current WCBS-FM DJ, Broadway Bill Lee), and the Family-Friendly Afternoon Show with Keith Stevens. Shadow Traffic reports air during both the morning and afternoon shows. As of Mid-May 2007; WAWZ has ceased airing most of its Christian talk programs, with the exception of an hour between 10-11pm (featuring "Key Life with Steve Brown", "Focus on the Family", and "Bridging the Gap with Lloyd Pulley"). The former programs have been replaced with "More Music with Dave Moore", an evening music program.

History

WAWZ was founded over 70 years ago by Alma White and the Pillar of Fire Church, International. They were a Denver, Colorado based organization that was given land in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey. The station was on 1380 AM for many years, sharing time with WBNX in New York City, until 1984 when the church sold its AM license to the owner of WBNX. The station began broadcasting on FM in 1954.

For many years WAWZ carried teaching programs, talk shows, church services, and traditional Chistian Music; the schedule ran about 70% programs to 30% music. Most of the programming came from outside ministries with a large amount of it coming from Chicago's Moody Broadcasting service. The station ran "share-a-thons" about twice a year to solict support from listeners. In the 1980s WAWZ began mixing in softer songs by Contemporary Christian artists. By 1990 the music mix was about half traditional and half contemporary, and by 1994 the music was Inspirational Comtemporary Christian. However, non-musical programming still occupied most of the WAWZ schedule in these years.

Major changes began on Thanksgiving day in 2002, as WAWZ began playing wall to wall Christmas music by Contemporary Christian and Traditional Christmas artists. After Christmas, the station started airing Hot Adult Contemporary Christian Music with non-musical elements reduced to 4 hours per day. Finally in February 2003 WAWZ added a new airstaff and reimaged itself as "STAR 99.1". The station started to accept advertising at that time; however, advertising revenues do not completely fund the operation, and WAWZ still has a "Share-a-thon" near the end of each year to encourage listeners to help the station stay on the air.

The National Religious Broadcasters has honored WAWZ with their Station of the Year Awards in 2007 [cite web|url=http://www.radioworld.com/pages/s.0105/t.935.html|title=WAWZ, WAVA Are Honored by NRB |date=1.26.2007 |work=Radio World] and 2008 [cite web|url=http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite/NewsStoryPage.aspx?ContentID=y%2B8OeTqe6yU%3D&|title=WAWZ Wins NRB Award|last=Peterson|first=Kevin |date=Kevin |work=Radio and Records] and the National Association of Broadcasters honored them with the 2008 Crystal Radio Award for community service. [cite news|url=http://www.nab.org/xert/xertimages/corpcomm/pressrel/040408_WAWZ_FM.htm|title=NAB CRYSTAL RADIO AWARD PRESENTED TO WAWZ-FM|last=Jones|first=Kristopher |date=April 15, 2008|work=NAB Press Release]

HD Radio

On April 2006, WAWZ-FM Started HD2 Operations As "Star 99.1-2". The eight hour block of teaching programs mimcs to the old WAWZ in the mid 1990's. Right down to retaining WAWZ old tagline - Your Voice of Faith and Inspiration. In 2007, 991-3 The Energy was launched to coincide with Star 99.1's annual youth festival Autumn Blaze 2007. The Energy is a cutting edge melding of Christian Rock, Pop, Hip Hop and R&B.

References

External links

* [http://www.star991fm.com/ Star 99.1 FM's Official Website]
*FMQ|WAWZ
*FML|WAWZ
* [http://www.991-3Theenergy.com/ The Energy Star 99.1 FM's HD-3 Channel]