WCZX

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WCZX
City of license	Hyde Park, New York
Broadcast area	Mid-Hudson Valley
Branding	Mix 97.7
Slogan	"The Hudson Valley's Best Music Mix"
First air date	1966
Frequency	97.7 MHz
Format	Adult Contemporary
Power	300 watts
ERP	6 kW
Class	A
Callsign meaning	W CZX=Phonetic spelling of "Classics" (former slogan)
Former callsigns	WHVW-FM (1966-76) WHVS (1976-78) WJJB (1978-87)
Owner	Cumulus Media
Website	www.mix97fm.com

WCZX (Mix 97.7) is an adult contemporary radio station licensed to Hyde Park, New York and serving the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York state. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts on 97.7 MHz at 6kW ERP from the Illinois Mountain master tower in Marlborough, New York with studios on Pendell Road in the Town of Poughkeepsie.

Contents 1 History (to 1991) 2 Oldies 97.7 (97.3)/Oldies 97 3 Mix 97(.7) 4 Current Air Personalities 5 External links

[edit] History (to 1991)

The 97.7 frequency first signed on in 1966 as WHVW-FM, sister station to WHVW (then a Top 40 station that was #1 in the Poughkeepsie market). For the first several years of its existence, it simulcasted WHVW's Top 40 programming during that station's operating hours and aired automated easy listening music during the nighttime hours when WHVW was not on the air.

Around 1972, WHVW-FM moved from a tower adjacent to WHVW's site (now used by WPKF) to the new Illinois Mountain tower erected by WPDH. With this move came a upgrade to stereo programming and the easy listening format becoming full-time. This format would remain until 1976 when WHVW-FM evolved to Soft Adult Contemporary and took on the WHVS calls, a format which two years later would be replaced by an automated Top 40 format as WJJB.

When the owners of WHVW and WJJB went bankrupt in 1982, WJJB was sold to the Sillerman-Morrow Group, a Middletown-based partnership headed by investor Robert F.X. Sillerman and New York City radio legend Bruce Morrow ("Cousin Brucie"). The Morrow half of the group would take over programming of the station and relaunched it as 98 Fame, a CHR/oldies hybrid. A mild ratings success (part out of Morrow, widely known in the market, doing a regular weekend show), the format would last until 1987 when the Sillerman/Morrow partnership was dissolved.

Under new ownership, the 98 Fame format was tweaked to a Classic Hits approach under the new calls WCZX and the name being modified to 'CZX Classics 98 Fame with WKIP morning host Van Risthie programming the station. When Risthie left for the newly launched WRNQ in 1989, the station lost most of its audience and in 1991 evolved to oldies as 97-7 'CZX. Shortly after this evolution, WCZX was sold to locally based Beehive Entertainment which picked up many personalities formerly of WEOK which had previously been the oldies station in the market.

[edit] Oldies 97.7 (97.3)/Oldies 97

In 1993, the Crystal Radio Group (owners of WPDH and WEOK) began controlling WCZX via a local marketing agreement. With this change came a modified name (Oldies 97.7) and a move into the recently upgraded WPDH/WEOK studios (reuniting much of the staff) and ended the last vestiges of automated programming at the station. Crystal would purchase WCZX outright in 1995 and in February 1996 would purchase 97.3 WZAD in Wurtsboro (which had been a locally-run oldies station) and combine its operations with WCZX with some of its personalities being retained. The simulcast would rebrand itself as Oldies 97-7/Oldies 97-3. The expanded station also would reach the the Port Jervis/Middletown area plus reaching Sussex County, New Jersey, and Pike County, Pennsylvania.

The air personalities during this period would stay stable for several years: Morning host Bob Miller, Program Director and morning sidekick Brian Jones, midday hist Beth Christie, PM drive host Randy Turner, night host Nick Robbins, and weekend talent Marty Allen, Ken Elder (host of "The All Request Saturday Night Oldies Party") and Rick McCafferey (host of the "Solid Gold Jukebox" on Friday nights, formerly of WEOK, a show focused on pre-1964 music). Max Kinkel formerly of WCBS-FM hosted the morning show for a couple months in 1996.

1999 some some subtle changes at the station, with the moniker being simplified to Oldies 97, Jones becoming news director for the cluster, and Freddie Coleman (now of ESPN Radio) taking over as program director. The playlist was tweaked to an end date of 1979 with some 1980s music by relevant artists. This approach would last through the sale of Crystal Radio to Aurora Communications in 2000 and Freddie Coleman's departure in late 2000 with Randy Turner replacing him as program director. All of this work paid off as in the Spring 2001 ratings WCZX finished #1 in the Poughkeepsie market for the first time ever.

[edit] Mix 97(.7)

When Aurora Communications was purchased by Cumulus Media in fall of 2001, the effect of the potential of new ownership was felt prior to actual takeover when Aurora refused to fill the vacant overnight air position at Oldies 97. Though minor, this change would be foreshadowing for future changes.

Chuck Benfer, a former Crystal/Aurora executive promoted to General Manager by Cumulus to operate the Hudson Valley and Danbury clusters, saw the oldies format as being beyond its time and began to move the station to an adult contemporary format. In the spring of 2002, Oldies 97 phased out most pre-1964 music outside of special programming and began adding late 70's-early 80's material. The pre 1964 material was completely gone by the summer of 2002 and the station began to call themselves "Oldies 97 - The Hudson valley's Best Music Mix". By then the station now played music spanning from 1964 to 1989. To kick off Labor Day weekend that year, Oldies 97 relaunched as Mix 97. Initially, the music stayed the same playing only music from the 1964-89 timeframe. The next month, WAXB in the Danbury area would fall victim to Benfer's mandate and would drop oldies. In the winter of 2003, Mix 97 added big hits from the 1990's and shifted focus of the station to the 70's and 80's. Cumulus had acquired the LMA of Concord Media's WBPM from Clear Channel Communications at the same time. That station had been satellite oldies as "Kool 94.3". The Oldies format was kept initially (focusing on the 1964-69 time period mixed in with 1955-64 oldies as well as 1970-72 oldies) and Nick Robbins, Rick McCaffery's Solid Gold Jukebox, and several other Mix 97 personalities moved to "Kool 94.3". This station though would be shut down that Fall and would switch to Country. The Kool Staff exited, but Beth Christie would transfer from "Mix 97" to "94.3 Kix".

During the Fall of 2003, Mix 97 added recurrent songs as well as a few current hits. The 60's music was almost completely gone, but the station now focused on the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's. In January of 2004, the station began to play more current product and evolved into a Mainstream AC leaning toward 80's and 90's music. In March of that year, Mix 97 added John Tesh's syndicated nightly program to go against the popular Delilah After Dark program heard on rivals WRNQ and WHUD. Musically, the station is a cross of the two being more upbeat than WRNQ and tighter formated than WHUD.

The mid-2000s saw other changes with Randy Turner leaving the station (after a conflict with management) in early 2006 to take a position at WHUD. In March 2006, WZAD's simulcast with WCZX would be discontinued as they began to simulcast WKXP; with this move came a modification of the on air name to Mix 97.7. Joe Limardi, a Cumulus veteran whose regional work included WDBY in the Danbury area, supplanted Turner afternoon drive host and program director in April 2006 though his arrival has not helped the station's fortunes initially.

[edit] Current Air Personalities

Bob Miller - mornings since 1995 (5am-9am)

Suzy Garcia - middays (9am-2pm)

Joe Limardi - program director (2pm-7pm)

John Tesh (7pm-12am)

Brian Jones - news since 1989 (afternoons)

Jimmy D

Bob Reynolds

Therese Quinn

[edit] External links

• Mix 97.7 Homepage
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WCZX