WOLI-FM

Infobox Radio station
name = WOLI-FM


city = Easley, South Carolina
area = Upstate South Carolina
branding = "103.9 WOLI-FM"
slogan =
airdate = 1964
frequency = 103.9 FM
format = Spanish
power =
erp = 6000 Watts
class = A
callsign_meaning = "OL"d"I"es (old format)
former_callsigns =
owner = Davidson Media Group
sister_stations =
webcast = ] http://www.woli-amfm.com/woli.m3u Listen Live]
website = http://www.woli-fm.com/woli-fm.html
affiliations =

WOLI-FM, also known as "La Lider 103.9", is a Regional Mexican radio station located in Greenville, South Carolina. The station is licensed by the FCC to the town of Easley and broadcasts on 103.9 FM with a ERP of 6000 Watts. It simulcasts much of its programming with WNOW-FM in Bessemer City, NC (Charlotte) and WNOW-AM in Charlotte, NC.

tation History

103.9 FM signed on in 1964 as WELP-FM in Easley, simulcasting much of their sister station, WELP 1360 AM. By the early 80's, WELP-FM tower was moved to a new location and the station's wattage was increased from 2.3kW to 3kW in order to get a better signal into nearby Greenville. The station at the time was known as WTLT "Lite 104", sporting a Light Adult Contemporary format.

Both WTLT and WELP were sold to new ownership by 1987. In December of that year, WTLT changed to Urban Contemporary as WLWZ, adopting the "Z-104" nickname. After 2 months of cold segues and promos, a new airstaff debuted in February of 1988, consisting of Greg Darden (from KRNB/Memphis, Tennessee) for mornings, Maxx Myrick (from WCIN/Cincinnati, Ohio) for middays as well as programming duties, Dave Hendricks (a holdover from the station's previous format) for afternoons, Tori Turner (also from WCIN) for nights as well as the station's music director, and "Brother" Bill Prater (from WJKC/Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands) for overnights. Ratings increased almost overnight from a 1.1 to a 9.4, despite having a limited signal that covered half of the Greenville-Spartanburg radio market. ["PD Of The Week: Maxx Myrick", "Billboard" magazine, July 23rd, 1988]

In 1989, the Voyager broadcasting group purchased the radio station, and utilized Don Kelly & JC Floyd as consultants. Wayne Walker (from WFXC-FM/FOXY107Raleigh/Durham,North Carolina & WHYZ-AM Greenville,South Carolina, was brought in as Program Director & Operations Manager, and the station was renamed MUSIC POWER Z-104. The successful lineup for a number of years included "Smooth Talker" Wayne Walker & Vince Davis on the Z-104 Wake-Up Patrol, also Rocky Valentine, Al Sullystone and Janice Henderson.

In January of 1993, WLWZ added a simulcast partner as 103.3 FM from nearby Greer signed on, becoming WLYZ, which helped the station to be heard in the Spartanburg part of the market. By that time, both stations were billed as "Double Z", but continued with the Urban format.

Emerald City Broadcasting, purchased WWMM 107.3 and added an Urban format which became a direct competitor. WWMM was relaunched as WJMZ "107.3 Jamz". Emerald City purchased Double Z in 1994, and began programming Double Z with an Urban AC/Oldies format. Eventually the Double Z 103 simulcast became Alternative rock "103-X" with 103.3 picking up the WXWZ call sign and 103.9 picking up the WXWX call sign in early 1995. All the Double Z Urban staff we fired with the exception of Wayne Walker who did a short stint as midday personality on "107.3 Jamz", until March of 1995. 103-X was the first Alternative Rock station in the market, but the same signal problems that the station(s) had remained.

On January 1, 1996, 103-X added Howard Stern's radio show for mornings, but was faced with a backlash from both radio listeners and advertisers that lasted for weeks. During that time Emerald City decided to sell out to Entercom, so 103-X changed formats to Oldies in February, 1996, with the call letters WOLI (103.9) and WOLT (103.3) added a few months later. The station(s) were on satellite for the next few years and in late 1999, a local airstaff was finally added.

In November, 2000 the station jumped on the 80's Oldies bandwagon that was going on at the time, becoming "Star 103", but retained the call letters for both stations. The syndicated Bob & Sheri radio show was added as well as a new airstaff. Over time, the station slowly evolved toward Classic Hits, but kept the Star 103 handle. In late 2003, the station changed its format to a Contemporary Christian/ Country hybrid as "The Walk". In 2005, Entercom sold WOLT-FM 103.3, WOLI-FM 103.9, & WSPA AM 910 stations to Davidson Media Group, while retaining "The Walk" and placing it on its newly acquired 106.3 WGVC-FM signal, which lasted a little over a year until the unsuccessful format was dropped.

WOLI-FM originally simulcasted with WOLI-AM 910 starting in October of 2005. However, when WNOW-FM, located in Gaffney, South Carolina began airing much of the same programming in 2007, WOLI-AM began playing Spanish Religious programming, like sister station WBZK-AM in Charlotte. The 910 simulcast was originally intended to better cover Spartanburg with the programming heard on 103.9, which primarily covers the Greenville area; however, WNOW-FM now serves this purpose.

References

[1] . "PD Of The Week: Maxx Myrick", "Billboard" magazine, July 23rd, 1988

WOLI-FM were the call letters of a station in Ottawa, Illinois in the 1960s and 1970's that I worked at. It was originally at 98.3 then moved to 95.3 FM. It was FM mono, not even stereo but was the only rocker in town and quite polular. It is now WRKK.

External links

* [http://www.woli-fm.com/woli-fm.html WOLI's official website]
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