WHYI-FM

Infobox Radio Station


name = WHYI
airdate = 1960 | frequency = 100.7 MHz
city = Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
area = Miami, Florida
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
format = CHR
owner = Clear Channel Communications
sister_stations = WBGG, WINZ, WIOD, WLVE, WMGE, WMIB
erp = 100,000 watts
haat = 307 meters
branding = Y-100
slogan = Miami 1# Hit Music Channel
class = C
facility_id = 41381
webcast = [http://www.y100.com/cc-common/streaming_new/index.html?refreshed=yes Listen Live]
website = [http://www.y100.com www.y100.com]
callsign_meaning = The Y in WHYI is used in branding: Y100

WHYI-FM, better known as Y-100, is a heritage FM Top 40 CHR (contemporary hit radio) station that broadcasts at 100.7 MHz. Its official city of license is Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Y-100 broadcasts at an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts from its 1,005 foot transmitter, which is located on the Miami-Dade side of the Miami-Dade / Broward County line near U.S. 441 and County Line Road. On a typical day its signal can generally be received north to Fort Pierce, southwest past Key Largo, and west deep into the Everglades. Its signal has even been known at times to go as far east as the Bahamas and as far south as Cuba. Since the spring of 2007, the Y100.com address formerly used by WPLY-FM in Philadelphia is now the station's official web address.

History

Y-100 has been broadcasting continuously with various forms of contemporary hit music since 1973. It signed on August 3, 1973 at 6 a.m. with new call letters WLQY and was originally to be known as "Lucky 100". Roby Yonge was the first morning man. He had once worked for WABC in New York, NY, where he speculated that Paul McCartney had died. [ [http://homepage.mac.com/tikimac/moof/robyyonge/ Roby Yonge! ] ] Legend has it he was fired during his first airshift for leaving the control room to go use the bathroom. Y-100 became the station's new name during a staff meeting with consultant Buzz Bennett at the suggestion of the first airstaff. Y-100 adopted new call letters "WHYI" several months after signing on, because of complaints from crosstown competitor WMYQ at 96.3FM that the call letters were too similar and would create confusion. Y-100 is currently the longest-running Top 40 CHR station in both the United States and North America with the same call letters and nickname.

Pre Y-100

The 100.7 FM frequency was signed-on in early 1960 as a religious station with the call letters WMFP. It was owned by Percy Crawford from 1960 to 1962.

From 1962 to 1973, it was known as a beautiful music station with the call letters of WMJR. During the latter portion of 1966, the station's studios(located in the Kenann building, a round building on the corner of US1 and Oakland Park Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale, FL), tower, and signal coverage were greatly upgraded from 56,000 watts to 100,000 watts by engineering guru and entrepreneur Ron Crider, who would later sell the station in 1973 to former Hawaii congressman Cecil Heftel for $1,500,000 , a record price for a station at the time.

Cecil Heftel was highly respected by the Y-100 programming people. Many say Cecil is the person who really made Y-100 the great station that it was in its early days.

Y-100 Signs-On

The first song ever played on Y-100 was "Diamond Girl" by Seals and Crofts. Y-100 was the first station in the country to have $50,000 big money giveaways (the first winner was Mrs. Jack Bray of Hollywood, FL. When they first went on the air as a Top 40 CHR station, their first major promotion was "When your phone rings don't say hello, just say "I listen to the new sound of Y-100", and you could win $50,000!".

Y-100 - The Early Years

Ronnie Grant became the first PD, the start of Y-100's climb to legendary status. The original line-up included Roby Yonge and John Emm in mornings, Larry McKay (McCabe) in middays (McKay became morning person when Yonge was fired after day one), Don Cox in afternoons, Davey O'Donnell for nights, Eric Rhoads (called HYMN) late nights. Weekends included Bill Christie and Kevin Malloy. John Rook was the second program director. Rook hired midday personality Bill Tanner who was later hired as Assistant Program Director. He became Program Director when Grant was fired. Tanner then moved to the morning show and brought in Jim Reihle, who was Tanner's former partner at WJDX in Jackson, MS. Y-100 ushered in the era of the big money contests and aggressive promotional strategy that made the station one of the fastest-growing FM stations in the country during the 1970s. Two years later in 1975, Y-100 was the first station in South Florida to broadcast live during the world famous street party known as "Calle Ocho". As Program Director, Bill Tanner hired the personalities who became so familiar to South Florida listeners including sports reporter Athlete's Foot (later abbreviated to Footy), newsman Jim Reihle, traffic reporter "Captain Y" (Glen Logan)(who left the station without public explanation in 1976),Logan was replaced by his pilot, Mark Lipof. Lipof was renamed Captain Mark for a few months to avoid confusing the audience and ultimately renamed Captain Y, The "Y" in the sky. Lipof took the traffic reports in studio and Tanner hired him to also produce the show. Eventually he became the News Director and a full time morning show host and stayed with the stations morning show from 1976 to 1993, 17 years. Midday host, Cramer Haas (originally hired for overnights and also from WJDX), The Madame (first hired to write commercials, then to spot bumper stickers in the Y Roller van as the Y-onic Woman, and soon become the first female DJ on Y100. She was later on WXRK/K-Rock as Jo Maeder, The Rock and Roll Madame and WHTZ/Z100 in New York as Jo Maeder), Jay Marks(From WJDX) and later Rick Eliott for afternoons, Robert W. Walker and Don Cox from crosstown WMYQ, Batt Johnson, Tom Birch, Dave Dunaway(From WJDX) and Earl "The Pearl" Lewis(From 13-Q/Pittsburgh), who replaced original late night personality Eric Rhoads (who worked for the station two times), now publisher of Radio Inc, and late night/overnight guy Mark "In The Dark" Shands(From WJDX). Shands also served as music director during part of his time at the Y and was substitute newsman on Tanner's show. John Hartman was music director during the early 70's. Colleen "The Vinyl Queen" Cassidy (Now National Music Director for Jerry Clifton's New World Communications) became music director/research director in 1978, moving in from Bob Pittman's station in Chicago, WMAQ. Cassidy started Y-100's first call-out research department. She now is a music consultant for Miami's Power 96 and about 15 other stations.

That was the time known as Y-100's "#1 Era".

Heftel sold Y-100 to Metroplex Communications in 1976. Metroplex partners Norman Wain, Robert Weiss, and David Ross (media executive) continued the successful operation of the station from 1976 until 1994, when they sold their group of stations to Clear Channel Communications.

On Sunday August 27, 1989, Y-100 celebrated its "Sweet 16th" birthday celebration with an 8-hour concert at the Sunrise Musical Theatre in Sunrise, Florida. The featured acts for the show were Bandera, K.C. & The Sunshine Band, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Michael Damian, and Buster Poindexter.

Former Y-100 Personalities (In Alphabetical Order By Last Name)

A - Jade Alexander, Jackson Armstrong

B - Willie B., Tony Banks, Adam Bomb(WWWQ-FM, All The Hits. Q100! Atlanta, GA), Joey B., Tom Birch, Fast Bobby, Mitch Baker

C - Cami, Captain John (Lodge), "Big Al" Carson (aka Linder), Al Chio, Joanie Ciani, Dennis Constantine, Don Cox, Kid Curry, Cathy Cruise, Joe Cruise, Taylor Cruz, Bill Christie, Steve Czarnecki (aka "Video Steve")

D - Harley Davidson, E. Alvin Davis, Mike Van Driver III, Doug Dunbar, Dave Dunaway, Davey O'Donnell

E - Stuart Elliott, Rick Eliott, John Emm

F - Jay Fraioli, Fay(AKA Fay Calderon), Ferarri, Sonny Fox

H - Cramer Haas, Ron Hersey, DJ Holiday, Hurley (John Hurley), Hymn (the original air name used by Eric Rhoads)

J - Cadillac Jack, Michael Jamrock, Batt Johnson

K - Katie, JoJo Kincaid, Stevie Knox, Kory, Bruce Kelly (96X PD), Shahab Khalilahmadi, John Kross (aka "Footy")

L -Glen Logan(AKA Captain Y), Blake Lawrence, Alan Leininger, Mark Lipof (AKA Captain Mark and then the 2nd Captain Y for the next 17 years) Lourdes Leon, Paco Lopez, Earl "The Pearl" Lewis, Gino Latino, Kent Laturno (aka Bobby Mitchell), Kym Landers, Bob Logan, Victor "Vic Mendez" Lambert

M - The Madame(AKA Jo Maeder, The Rock and Roll Madame), Tina Malave, Tia Maria, Chris Marino, Jay Marks, Larry McKay, Quincy McCoy, Alan Michaels, Donnie Michaels, Bobby Mitchell, Rick Martin(AKA Slim Sosa) Banana Joe Montione, Dean Mitchell, Scott Marker, Dan Mason(DJ and PD), Kevin Malloy, Matt Mills

N - Nikki, Nikki Nite, Tony Novia, Nudge , J Niice

O - Steve Perun (PD)

R - Jim Reihle, Eric Rhoads, Danny Rivera, Rich Rodriguez, Rob Roberts(PD at WWWQ-FM Atlanta, GA), Jake Redman, Larry Rogers

S - Samantha(Sam), Mark "In The Dark" Shands, Rick Stacy (PD), Bill Steadman, Shadow Stevens (aka JoJo Morales)

T - Bill Tanner, Tony Q. Foxx, Jeff Thomas, Johnny Torres

V - Johnny Summer (AKA Johnny Velchoff)

W - J.J. Walker, Kenny Walker, Robert W. Walker (PD and DJ), Tramontte Watts

Y - Roby Yonge, Steve Young

Sonny Fox & Ron Hersey

In 1982 Bill Tanner and Jim Reihle left Y-100 for WASH-FM/Washington, DC.

Sonny Fox and Ron Hersey were recruited for mornings from crosstown WSHE-FM.

Using a blend of parody songs, phoney commercials and impersonations of local and national celebrities and politicians Fox, Hersey, Captain "y" (Lipof) and Footy led the morning show to its highest ratings ever.

In 1987 Hersey moved on to mornings at WNVZ-FM/Norfolk, WAPW-FM/Atlanta and KKFR-FM/Phoenix where he worked with Danny Bonaduce.

Fox left the following year and moved to mornings at KHYI-FM/Dallas (Y95) with Bill Murphy and Joannie Ciani.

Fox and Hersey reunited in 1991 for mornings at WMXJ-FM and in 1998 took over mornings atWKIS-FM, both in Miami.

Sonny is now the Program Director for XM Satellite Radio's two comedy channels; XM Comedy (Channel 150), and Laugh USA (Channel 151). He is also the on-air host of XM Comedy.

Ron owns his own production company. Hersey's voice can be heard on Radio and TV commercials. Hersey is also Creative Director for James Crystal Radio Group.

Bill Tanner returned to South Florida in the mid-eighties as Program Director and Morning Show Host at WHQT-FM and later WPOW-FM.

Footy

(real name John Kross; previously known on-air as "Athlete's Foot") was a presence on the locally produced morning show for a record 32 years running from 1974 to 2006, thus holding the record of longest Top 40 CHR DJ in North America. He was well known for hosting the "Y-100 Wing Ding" , a charity event where all of the proceeds went to help fight drug abuse. This weekend event was held at various parks and fairgrounds around South Florida, including Hollywood's Young Circle. It brought local and national musical acts to the local stage.

Bobby & Footy

From 1988 to 1998 Footy was teamed-up with Bobby Mitchell for the "Y-100 Morning Zoo" (later renamed the "Y-100 Morning Show"). Popular contributors during this highly-rated show included "Video-Steve", "Captain Y" (Mark Lipof) and "Mike Van Driver III" (Mike Woods). Bobby and Footy and Captain Y co-hosted a very traditional type of "Morning Zoo" show for South Florida as they incorporated the news, sports, weather, and traffic of the morning with prize giveaways, guest interviews, funny phone calls, wacky comedy bits, song parodies, background sound effects, and the current hit music of the time. Some of the more popular phone bits on the show included impersonations of President George H.W. Bush, Roseanne, and Sean Connery calling in on a regular basis to offer their take on the current events of the day. "President Bush" opened all of his telephone calls with, "Hello Bobby? You've got Bush on the line!". "Roseanne" opened all of her telephone calls with, "Is This The Zoo? Hi Bobby Mitchell!". "Sean Connery" had great difficulties pronouncing any word with the letter "S" in it. Those words would suddenly become "SH". Captain Y (Mark Lipof) left the show in 1993 after 17 years on-air, and now runs a successful advertising agency called Lipof Advertising, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The show's 5 year Producer and Wacky Assistant; "Video-Steve" (Czarnecki) departed the show in 1998 to pursue a career as a local television producer, he also launched Radio Disney in South Florida and eventually moved to Los Angeles California to continue producing TV and eventually working in Motion Picture Marketing for the Walt Disney Studios. For a brief period of time during the run of this show, it was simulcast on both video and audio on then TV station WHYS-TV Channel 69 in Miami (changed to WAMI during the Barry Diller USA Broadcasting-era, now known as Telefutura 69). Bobby (whose real name is Kent Laturno) left Footy and South Florida in 1998 to head back home to Texas. He joined the on-air staff of KPLX-FM "99.5 The Wolf" , a country music station in Dallas , as their new morning show host. Its a position that he would hold until his contract was not renewed in May of 2006.

Footy & The Chix @ Six

In 1998, the morning show was renamed "Footy & The Chix @ Six", and Footy co-hosted the show with several female personalities, including Jade Alexander (who later left Y-100 for an on-air reporter and anchor position at WFOR-TV CBS-4), Tina Malave and Elaine Turner.

Kenny & Footy

On Monday June 18, 2001 ,a new era in the morning show began as Footy was paired-up with popular afternoon drive time deejay Kenny Walker for "The Y-100 Early Morning Show". A few months later, in January 2002, the show was renamed "Kenny & Footy In The Morning". Kenny brought his popular "Candid Phone" routine over from afternoon drive to the morning show. Later during the run of the show "War Of The Roses" emerged as one of the most popular and most talked-about features. It was done on Thursday mornings, and it was a variation of "Candid Phone" in which Kenny would call the husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend of a Y-100 listener, disguise his voice as the owner of a start-up flower shop or restaurant and offer that person a dozen roses or a free meal to the one person in his or her life that he or she wanted to give them to. The person usually did not make the right choice, and this would usually begin an argument back-and-forth on the telephone with all of Y-100's listeners listening in on it over the air. Kenny and Footy's executive producer was Froggy. He joined the show from WFLZ-FM in Tampa. Froggy's assistant producer was stunt guy and parody song guy Hurley.

On Tuesday January 31, 2006 after 10 years with the station, Kenny Walker was released from Y-100, at the expiration of his contract which was not renewed. [WTVJ NBC-6 article - http://www.nbc6.net/news/6632533/detail.html]

On Thursday, August 24, 2006 ,it was announced that Kenny Walker would start a new morning show in Miami on Sports Radio 560 WQAM, along with Kim "Bo" Bokamper starting Monday, August 28,2006.

Kenny Walker now hosts Afternoons on 97.3 The Coast WFLC-FM.

Footy - The Final Months

In February, March, and April 2006 Footy co-hosted the show with two popular afternoon and evening deejays - first Adam Bomb and then Michael Yo.

On Monday "May Day" of 2006 Footy announced his retirement from Y-100. It was actually his last in-studio show. He then took the show on the road for the next four days to Miami Lakes (Tuesday), Ft. Lauderdale (Wednesday), Coral Gables (Thursday), and Weston (Friday). The final weeks worth of shows included special guests and former co-workers calling in or visiting Footy in person, classic highlights and comedy bits, and Y-100 jingles from the past. His retirement was official as of the end of his Friday May 5, 2006 broadcast. A year later Footy came back out of retirement and landed a home back on the airwaves of South Florida on Fox News Radio affiliate 610 AM (WIOD) where he now hosts "the Footy Show" and takes calls from local listeners on various topics and heated issues. R.I.P the Footy show was finally cancelled due to poor ratings on 09/26/2008

Current Programming

*Elvis Duran & The Y100 Morning Show (simulcast from sister station WHTZ Z100 in New York City) currently airs weekday mornings from 6 to 10 AM. It began airing on Y-100 on Monday May 22, 2006, just 17 days after legendary morning show host "Footy" retired. Froggy, Footy's morning show co-host and producer during his last four years on the air is currently the only live and local South Florida voice of Y-100 during the show.

*Currently, Rodney P. broadcasts mid-mornings from 10am until 12pm.

*Madison is currently the midday talent from 12pm to 3pm. Madison's first day was Monday, June 25, 2007. Madison is voicetracked from WQEN Q 103.7 in Birmingham, Alabama. She loves to talk about the latest celebrity news and gossip.

*Michael Yo is the afternoon DJ from 3pm-7pm (he has been with the station since 2002 and originally started out as the night jock). Yo is joined by Miami co-hosts Nina, and producer Nick who came from The Adam Bomb Show now at Q100 in Atlanta. The Michael Yo Show features "The World Famous Yes/No Game" everyday at 5PM. You can also hear the "Phone Tap Replay" every night at 6:20p.m. Michael also calls his "Mama Yo" frequently.

(As of March 26, 2007 Michael Yo also can be heard on the E! Entertainment Network Channel on XM and Sirius Satellite Radio with his new show "Yo on E!" from 4PM to 7PM. Michael talks about the latest Entertainment news, music, gossip and takes listeners calls. Michael Yo hosts his show from Voice-tracked from Los Angeles as he is no longer residing in South Florida).

*The nighttime DJ is Mack. Mack @ Nite is the new night time show. Everyday the show begins at 7pm when Y100 welcomes you to the Top20 coundown.

Late Nights Y100 is Sex with DJ Cato K. with from Midnight to 4am playing the latest Dance music as well as popular song mixes.

Every day at 10AM, 3PM, & 7PM, Y-100 presents the Top 20 Countdown, the most-requested songs based on the listeners votes, either by phone calls or text messages. The Top 20 also has two rewinds, which are top hits songs from the past.

The weekend DJ's vary on Y-100. Weekends include Suzy Tavarez (who was originally with Y-100 from 1995-2000), Eddie E.(Saturdays 12-6p), Dimas Martinez, "Your Chica" Yanesita, Nick & Nina from the Yo Show (Saturdays 6p-10p), Chris Cruz (Sundays 11am-3pm), and Buster (Sunday nights) play the hits.

The Best of Elvis Duran and the "Y" Morning Zoo can be heard Saturday mornings from 6AM to 10AM..

American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest currently airs on Sunday mornings from 7AM to 11AM.

Dawson McAllister Live currently airs on Sunday nights from 10PM to 12AM.

References

External links

* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Vintage_SoFla_Radio/ Contains photos from the early days of Y-100]
* [http://www.y100online.com WHYI website]
*FMQ|WHYI
*FML|WHYI
*FMARB|WHYI
* [http://radiopages.net/radio/2006may.html#1 Footy "Retires" From Y-100 After 32 Years, from South Florida Radio News, May, 2006]