| City of license | Robertsdale, Alabama |
|---|---|
| Branding | The Buzz |
| Frequency | 1000 AM (kHz) |
| First air date | 1985 |
| Format | News/Talk |
| Power | 1,000 watts (day only) |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 50377 |
| Former callsigns | WXWY (1984-1999) WDXZ (1999-2004) WNSI (2004-2010)[1] |
| Affiliations | CBS News |
| Owner | Gulf Coast Broadcasting Co., Inc. |
| Sister stations | WABF, WBZR-FM, WCSN-FM |
WBZR (1000 AM) is a daytime-only American radio station licensed to serve the community of Robertsdale, Alabama, USA. The station's broadcast license is held by Gulf Coast Broadcasting Company, Inc. The majority of WBZR's programming is simulcast on sister station WBZR-FM.
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WBZR broadcasts a news/talk radio format.[2] Local programming includes "The Morning Buzz" with Dale Jones weekday mornings. Other local programming includes The Sports Table hosted by Scott Moore. Notable syndicated programming includes Glenn Beck, Fred Thompson, Dave Ramsey, Dennis Miller, Dr. Dean Edell, Jim Bohannon, At Home with Gary Sullivan, Leo Laporte The Tech Guy, and Phil Valentine.
In addition to the AM and FM broadcasts of WBZR programming, it is available on the web via streaming audio to listeners around the world.
This station received its original construction permit for a new 1,000 watt AM station broadcasting at 1000 kHz from the Federal Communications Commission on July 25, 1984.[3] The new station was assigned the call letters WXWY by the FCC.[1] WXWY received its license to cover from the FCC on April 30, 1985.[4]
In December 1993, Opal Carrol Coley reached an agreement to sell this station to Bowen Broadcasting, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on January 19, 1994, and the transaction was eventually consummated on August 2, 1994.[5] However, a complication arose and the license reverted back to Coley. In June 1995, Opal Carrol Coley reached another agreement to sell this station, this time to JTL Broadcasting. The deal was approved by the FCC on October 26, 1995, and the transaction was consummated on November 15, 1995.[6]
In March 1999, JTL Broadcasting reached an agreement to sell this station to Gulf Coast Broadcasting Company, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on May 19, 1999, and the transaction was consummated on June 9, 1999.[7] On November 16, 1999, the new owners had the FCC assign new call letters WDXZ for "Dixie" to match the station's country music format.[1]
In February 2001, Gulf Coast Broadcasting Company, Inc. (R. Lee Hagan, principal) reached an agreement to sell this station to Great American Radio Network, Inc. (Walter J. Bowen, owner) for a reported sale price of $180,000.[8] The deal was approved by the FCC on March 16, 2001, and the transaction was consummated on August 24, 2001.[9]
The station was assigned the WNSI call letters by the FCC on April 6, 2004, after a swap with a sister station in preparation for a switch from country music to news/talk on June 4, 2004.[1][10]
In March 2006, Great American Radio Network, Inc. (Walter Bowen, president) announced an agreement to sell WNSI along with sister stations WNSI-FM and WBCA to Gulf Coast Broadcasting Inc. (R. Lee Hagan, president) for a reported combined sale price of $550,001.[11] At the time of the announcement, WNSI aired a sports/talk radio format.[11] The deal was dismissed at the request of the applicants on May 17, 2006, and the transaction was never consummated so the license remained with Great American Radio Network Inc.[12]
In March 2010, the broadcast license for WNSI was involuntarily transferred from Great American Radio Network, Inc., to Lonnie L. Mixon, acting as the Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee.[13] The station was assigned new call letters WBZR by the FCC on May 4, 2010.[1] In July 2010, the trustee reached an agreement to sell WBZR to Gulf Coast Broadcasting Company, Inc., for $190,000 in settlement of the owner's debts.[14] This bankruptcy sale, along with sister station WBZR-FM, for a combined price of $410,000 is at a significantly reduced from the March 2006 agreement with Gulf Coast for $550,001.[15] The sale was formally consummated on September 27, 2010.[14]
Former owner Walter Bowen made national headlines in 2008 due to a dispute over music licensing with the performance rights organization known as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.[10] The WNSI and WNSI-FM combo does not itself play music—the clips at issue were played during the syndicated Dave Ramsey Show—and hasn't since a June 2004 switch from country music to talk radio. Bowen, upset by ASCAP's refusal to reduce his licensing fee from about $80 per month to the talk radio rate of $17 per month, stopped paying the fee altogether. Citing the airing of two song clips in September 2006 on the Ramsey program, ASCAP sued Bowen's Great American Radio Network, Inc., for damages. Bowen's attorneys and ASCAP reached a $15,000 settlement with a payment plan but Bowen refused to pay, calling the settlement "legal extortion".[10]
In September, 2010, Bowen was again in the headlines when he was convicted of sex abuse in 2009 with a child under the age of 12. He was sentenced to 10 years in an Alabama state penitentiary[16].
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