WJZX

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WJZX (106.9 FM) is a smooth jazz radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, licensed to the suburb of Brookfield, with transmitter facilities in suburban Menomonee Falls. The station is owned by Saga Communications.

[edit] History

The 106.9 frequency came into being in Milwaukee when it was licensed as WLJU on February 10, 1993. The new station was owned by Harris Classical Broadcasting, which also owned Milwaukee's heritage classical station, WFMR. It formally signed on for the first time in August 1995 as WFMI, playing a satellite-fed smooth jazz format. A more powerful and resourceful station, WJZI, signed on with its own smooth jazz format in 1996, giving WFMI stiff competition.

Both stations were sold to Saga Communications and WFMI was quickly switched to a modern AC format, becoming WXPT on May 14, 1997. They were known on the air as "106.9 The Point". When Chicago's WPNT changed formats a few months later, 106.9 picked up the WPNT call sign. They had modest success for a small station, but a few of the bigger stations in the market took notice and adjusted their playlists to fight off the young suburban upstart.

Again, due to stiff competition, the format was changed again in April 1999, this time to a trendy new format known as Jammin' Oldies, and the call letters became WMJO (Milwaukee's Jammin' Oldies). The calls were changed a month later to WJMR and tag line to "Jammin' Hits" due to legal issues. The call sign for 106.9 became WFMR on December 12, 2000, after an in-house frequency swap with WJMR-FM.

Saga Communications moved WFMR to the 106.9 FM dial position, and WJMR-FM's urban AC format and call letters to 98.3 on December 12, 2000. This was done primarily to boost WJMR-FM's signal in the urban areas of Milwaukee, and to target WFMR toward the Western and Northern suburbs. Saga moved the studios to Milwaukee the year before, in 1999.

At midnight on June 26, 2007, ironically on the 51st anniversary of its original sign-on, WFMR ended its classical music format when it flipped to a smooth jazz format. The decision was made when a rival station, WJZI, dropped the format a week earlier for light adult contemporary music. On July 15, 2007, the station changed its call sign to WJZX.^[1]

On April 24, 2007, the FCC granted WFMR (now WJZX) a construction permit to move its transmitter from its current site in Menomonee Falls to the WJYI tower in Milwaukee. This move to a more central location in the market should improve WJZX's coverage in the area. While the station's power will be reduced to 4.4 kW, the antenna will be higher on its new tower, with about the same reach as its current signal.

[edit] See also

• WKLH
• WJMR-FM
• WFMR (defunct)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• WJZX website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WJZX
• Radio Locator information on WJZX
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WJZX
• Milwaukee radio: a retrospective
• History of WFMR (from the Internet Archive)
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on flip to smooth jazz

Template:Milwaukee Radio