WKRZ

WKRZ, "98.5 KRZ", is a radio station licensed to Freeland, Pennsylvania serving the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton radio market at 98.5 MHz FM. The station radio format is Top 40 which it has broadcast in the market since 1980. The station has always used some branding of "KRZ", a shortened form of its call letters, for its on air promotion. The present owners of WKRZ, Entercom Communications, received FCC approval in 2003 to move WAMT (103.1 MHz FM) from Freeland to Avoca, Pennsylvania which required Entercom to change the city of license of WKRZ from Wilkes-Barre to Freeland due to the FCC rules about the "loss of local service" to Freeland because of the WAMT move [ [http://www.fybush.com/nerw-031006.html#pa NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush ] ] .

WKRZ is broadcasting in IBOC digital radio, using the HD Radio system from iBiquity [ [http://www.hdradio.com HD Digital Radio | DISCOVER IT! | HD Digital Radio ] ] . The main program is simulcast on 98.5 HD-1 in digital [ [http://www.hdradio.com HD Digital Radio | DISCOVER IT! | HD Digital Radio ] ] . Comedy programming can be heard on 98.5 HD-2 on the secondary digital multicasting stream [ [http://www.hdradio.com HD Digital Radio | DISCOVER IT! | HD Digital Radio ] ] .

History

The radio station now known as WKRZ, first signed on the air in 1948 [ [http://members.aol.com/jeff560/1948fm.html U. S. FM Stations as of 1948 ] ] as WBRE-FM from Wilkes-Barre. It was the FM sister station to then WBRE AM at 1340 kHz [ [http://members.aol.com/jeff560/1946am.html U. S. AM stations as of 1946 ] ] also located in Wilkes-Barre. WBRE-FM evolved through a number of radio formats ending up with an all News format during the 1970s [ [http://www.geocities.com/strippens/radio_answers.html Northeastern Pennsylvania Radio Answers ] ] . The station, up to that point, broadcast in FM mono since its start in 1948. Due to consistently low audience ratings in the area [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=WB&s_site=timesleader&p_multi=WB&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB71AE85C56FAB0&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM (Originally Published on April 8, 2001, Page 1B, The Times Leader, Wilkes Barre, PA)] , WBRE-FM made a big change in 1980 when it switched to FM Stereo, a dramatic format switch to Top 40 music, along with the call sign change to the present WKRZ. WKRZ-FM has been broadcasting a Top 40 music format since 1980.

WKRF Simulcast

WKRF is a simulcast of WKRZ on 107.9 MHz FM. WKRF's city of license is Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, and can be heard throughout extreme eastern sections of Pennsylvania and some sections of extreme northwestern New Jersey. These are areas where the signal from WKRZ 98.5 MHz cannot reach.

References

External References

* [http://www.wkrz.com/ WKRZ Official Website]
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* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=FM983314.html WKRZ's Signal Coverage Map from the FCC Database]

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* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=FM265646.html WKRF's Signal Coverage Map from the FCC Database]