WSTO (FM)

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WSTO (FM) is a heritage FM radio station licensed in Owensboro, KY.

[edit] History

Founded by Virgil J. Steele, the owner of WVJS, WSTO broadcasts from a 1000-foot tower in Hebbardsville, KY and is listenable in 33 counties in 3 states. Studio request lines were known to ring from as far away as Louisville, KY and St. Louis, MO. The station was among the first FM stations in the region to transform from easy listening music to pop music, having done so in 1982.

It instantly became a huge success in the Evansville IN/Owensboro KY area; by 1987 the station had well over a 33 share 12+. The station had been sold by the original owner's family to Century Communications (a cable TV company) in the mid-1980s, and was later acquired by Sentry Insurance when that company bought Century.

In 1995, WSTO and its sister AM station were acquired by the former Brill Media Corporation of Evansville, Indiana which also acquired WOMI and WBKR also of Owensboro. After the Brill takeover, the numbers began to decline for a variety of reasons. In 1996 came The Telecommunications Act that eventually led to bigger clusters, which ultimately meant fewer shares for individual stations. WSTO had it's own problems as well; growing commercial inventory, alienation of the younger demo; the removal of morning personality Brian Jackson (who had been with the station for 14 years) in March of 1997 is considered by many the watershed event.

WSTO's ratings plummeted. In the late 90s, the heritage WSTO calls were all-but-eliminated, in favor of the moniker "Mix 96," and the slogan "the Best Mix of the 90s, 80s, and Today". The format; a hybrid of the Hot AC and CHR/Top 40 format, playing music from the 80s alongside Eminem and Will Smith.

Ratings under this marketing plan actually increased and in the Fall 1999 ratings book WSTO found itself within 2 points of beating WIKY. There was already competition in the market, though, as around that same time Evansville birthed a Class A station, WDKS, doing a variant of Hot AC.

The conservative Hot AC format on WDKS didn't get very far, WDKS was never a serious threat to WSTO until Clear Channel took the station over and put it's Kiss FM brand on it in the fall of 2000. It appeared that might be the end of a long reign for WSTO, as once that happened, WDKS soared into the Evansville market's number 2 position, essentially flip-flopping positions with WSTO.

The WSTO numbers fell to the 6 share range, something that had never happened prior. To make matters worse, their owner Brill Media fell into financial ruin and went bankrupt, forcing the sale of all four stations.

WSTO FM was acquired by South Central Communications Corporation of Evansville, Indiana, and co-located the station with WIKY 104.1. Rumors immediately began to abound that South Central would dump CHR/Pop altogether to go Hot AC as a complimentary sales package with WIKY, but thorough research suggested otherwise.

In 2004, WSTO launched a new moniker, "Hot 96 Today's Hit Music," and refocused on it's CHR/Top 40 roots, eliminating the gold product.

While "Hot 96" ratings remain in the single digits, generally falling between 7 and 9, the station has re-emerged as a market leader, finding itself on top of WDKS almost immediately after the relaunch. The number 1 station in the market regularly has a 15 share, a far cry from the WSTO 33 share of day's gone by.

[edit] External links

Radio stations in the Evansville, Indiana market (Arbitron #162)

By Frequency: | (FM) | 88.3 | 89.5 | 90.7 | 91.5 | 92.5 | 93.5 | 93.9 | 94.9 | 95.3 | 96.1 | 97.3 | 98.1 | 99.5 | 101.5 | 101.9 | 102.7 | 103.1 | 104.1 | 105.3 | 106.1 | 107.1 | 107.5