WODE-FM

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This article is about radio station WODE-FM in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. For the dye plant, see Woad.

WODE-FM

Broadcast area	Easton, Pennsylvania
Branding	99.9 The Hawk
Frequency	99.9 FM (MHz)
Format	classic hits
Owner	Nassau Broadcasting
Website	999thehawk.com

WODE is a radio station located in Easton, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania, in the United States. The station broadcasts on 99.9 FM, and is popularly known as "99.9 FM, The Hawk".

The station is owned by Nassau Broadcasting and offers a classic rock format, playing mostly pop rock hits of the 1970s and 1980s along with some rock hits from the 1960s and 1990s. The station is known as "99.9 FM The Hawk".

Contents 1 On-air Schedule 2 History 2.1 1983: Contemporary Hit radio format 2.2 1992: Oldies format 2.3 2000: Classic rock music 3 External link

[edit] On-air Schedule

5am - 9am Michaels & Layne, 9am - 2pm Kara Curry, 2pm - 7pm Blake Dannen, 7pm - 11pm Bill Sheridan, Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Weekends - Todd Heft, Weekends - Bill Marvin, Dan Donatelli, Mitch, Doug Hanley.

[edit] History

The station began operation as WQQQ in 1950. The station was locally owned and offered an instrumental-based easy listening format, playing instrumental cover versions of pop songs. A few times per hour a soft vocalist was mixed in. This format was known as "beautiful music". For decades, the station was owned by Roth Broadcasting.

Since its 1950 founding, the station has gone numerous format changes, as a result of ownership changes and the competitive nature of the regional Lehigh Valley music radio marketplace.

[edit] 1983: Contemporary Hit radio format

In April 1983, WQQQ swapped formats with its AM Sister station, WEEX 1230. WEEX had offered a Top 40 format for many years that had evolved by 1981 into more of an Adult Contemporary format. WEEX's airstaff and intellectual unit was moved to 99.9 FM. WQQQ's Easy Listening format was moved to 1230 WEEX but would be more vocally-oriented than on FM.

The former WEEX format were modified on FM into Mainstream CHR/Top 40. The station kept the WQQQ call letters but became known as "Q 100". Initially, the station focused on current pop music, but also played a moderate amount of 60s and 70s oldies until about 1985. Still throughout the 80s, they played oldies on Saturday evenings from the mid 60s mostly. But by 1986, their regular rotation was mostly current and recent product.

Sometime in 1989 Q100 switched names to Hot 99.9. The station continued with the CHR format, but by early 1991 was leaning towards more dance music.

[edit] 1992: Oldies format

In Fall 1992, WHXT dropped its Rhythmic CHR format for Oldies. The format played the Hits of the 1950s, 1960s, and a few from the very early 1970's. The call letters became WODE and the station became known as "Oldies 99.9". The station was sold to Patterson Broadcasting in the mid 1990s. In 1997, Captsar would buy WODE and WEEX but would spin the stations off to Clear Channel Communications. They had to do this because the Lehigh Valley has only five FM stations and no one company can own more than half. As a result, a company can only have 2 FM stations in the market. Capstar was already buying WZZO and WAEB-FM. Under Clear Channel ownership, WODE continued its oldies format.

Q100 switched to Hot 99.9 sometime in 1989, not the fall of 1991. The oldies format was prevalent by April 1992

[edit] 2000: Classic rock music

In 2000, however, Clear Channel announced a major merger with AM/FM Broadcasters (this company was created as a result of a merger with Capstar and Chancellor). AM/FM already had WZZO and WAEB FM. Clear Channel would not be allowed to keep all three stations upon the merger, so they decided to sell WODE and WEEX to Nassau Broadcast Partners. Nassau was given cash plus WODE and WEEX. Clear Channel though would obtain stations in New Jersey, including WNNJ, WNNJ-FM, WSUS, WHCY, and management agreements for WDLC and WTSX. Clear Channel would also keep the former Capstar/AM-FM stations.

In October 2001, despite being the highest-rated oldies music station in the country, the station switched names and formats. The station is now known as "The Hawk," and plays classic rock hits. Its slogan is "Classic Hits without the Hard Rock", presumably to distinguish it from the highly popular hard rock station WZZO, also based in the Lehigh Valley.

[edit] External link

• 99.9FM "The Hawk" Official Web Site