| City of license | Syracuse, New York |
|---|---|
| Branding | Z89 |
| Slogan | "The Beat Of Syracuse" |
| Frequency | 89.1 MHz |
| Format | Rhythmic Contemporary |
| ERP | 100 watts |
| HAAT | 37.0 meters (121.4 ft) |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 73148 |
| Owner | Wjpz Radio |
| Website | Official website |
WJPZ-FM is a student run college radio station at Syracuse University in New York. It broadcasts at 89.1 FM at an effective radiated power of 100 watts and can be heard throughout Syracuse, the rest of Onondaga County, and beyond to the north and east. WJPZ programs a Contemporary Hit Radio, Top 40 radio format. Although operated by students, it is an independent organization which is incorporated and licensed by the FCC as WJPZ Radio, Inc and leases studio and transmitter facilities on Syracuse University property.
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The station was established in 1974 as an alternative to the Syracuse University-owned FM station, WAER, which at that time programmed a freeform radio format and was operated by students. The call letters were selected for their similarity in sound to those of New York's WABC, at that time the nation's premier Top-40 station. WJPZ first broadcast on a frequency of 1200 kHz in the AM band with 100 milliwatts (1/10 watt) of power which had good coverage of the university campus and nearby residential areas of Syracuse. The station's AM antenna was located atop Day Hall, the same site that WJPZ (FM) currently utilizes. The station's radio format was Top 40 music, and served a dual purpose of providing programming to the student community and giving vocational training in the radio broadcasting field to students at the University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The station later also broadcast its audio over campus television monitors through the facilities of CitrusTV, then UUTV, as well as a channel on the citywide cable television system with a blank screen. This arrangement continued for some time after WJPZ moved to the FM dial.
In 1983, after operations of WAER were taken over by the university administration and the radio format was changed to jazz and NPR News, the management of WJPZ endeavored to move the station to the FM band, where it could broadcast with more power. At 6:00 p.m. on February 2, 1985, WJPZ began broadcasting at 89.1 FM. At that time, the radio format was Top 40 with a heavy emphasis on imported and domestic dance music. The first "official" song played on the station was a 45 rpm record of "Why" by Bronski Beat. However, several other records were played several days earlier during brief transmitter test broadcasts.
Since that time, the station has experimented with playing different genres of music. The station played "modern rock" for a few years in the 1990s as 89.1 the Pulse, which began in December 1995. During the Pulse period, WJPZ stayed within a Top 40 style of a limited playlist of frequently rotated songs. In 1997, WJPZ reverted back to a CHR radio format.
On January 22, 2008, after two days of stunting, WJPZ underwent a shift toward a Rhythmic CHR radio format and adopted the slogan "The Beat Of Syracuse". Today, the station continues the "Beat of Syracuse" Top-40 format with a slightly rhythmic lean. Despite being a Rhythmic, it does have competition with WWHT, who had debuted with a Rhythmic-leaning Mainstream Top 40 direction in 1996 until it went Rhythmic Top 40 fulltime in 2011.
Monday through Friday, WJPZ features a tightly-formatted Top-40 playlist with DJs working two- or three-hour shifts. The station's morning show is known as the "Z Morning Zoo," and features a rotating slate of hosts Monday through Friday from 6-10 am, including "Mondays with Fran" and the "Hump Day Zoo" with Grant Ryan and V Ripson. A staple of Z89's afternoon drive programming is known as the "Drive @ 5" with DJ Maestro. Z89 features the MyPod all request hour at noon, and the "Z8 @ 9," a countdown of the eight most-requested songs of the day Monday through Friday at 9:00 pm.
WJPZ features a very active sports department, led by Sports Director Eric Silverman. The station presents live play-by-play broadcasts of high school football, Syracuse University Women's Basketball, and Syracuse University Women's Lacrosse, in addition to 14 hours of weekend sports talk.
The "Friday Night Football" broadcast package features one to two high school games of the week, as well as live reports from other games around the Central New York region. This, in addition to its real-time high school football blog at syracuse.com, provides listeners and viewers with the most comprehensive high school football coverage in Central New York.
WJPZ has broadcast Syracuse University Women's basketball since the station's move to the FM dial in 1985. WJPZ currently broadcasts every regular-season and postseason game, home or away. In 2008-2009, WJPZ celebrated the 25th season of Orange Women's Basketball on Z89.
WJPZ has also broadcast Syracuse Women's Lacrosse since 2000. It has been the flagship station for SU women's lacrosse since 2007, meaning it is the team's official broadcaster. WJPZ is the only station to broadcast SU women's lacrosse, and the only media outlet to cover every game, home or away.
In 2008-2009, WJPZ broadcast a select slate of games from the inaugural season of Syracuse Women's Ice Hockey.
In addition to its real-time Friday Night Football blog on syracuse.com, WJPZ also posts game recaps on syracuse.com from every SU women's basketball and women's lacrosse game. It also provides in-game updates and information from all its broadcasts on its Twitter and Facebook, Z89Sports. WJPZ also posts its game highlights from every broadcast on Twitter after every game.
WJPZ's news department produces "89 Second News Updates" which air every afternoon at 5:00 pm. The department also produces "Orange State," a weekly news talk show which airs every Friday from Noon to 1:00 pm. The department also produces a second talk show on Tuesdays from 7 pm- 8 pm called the Red Carpet Report Blog which focuses on entertainment news.
WJPZ has a very active alumni association that meets annually in Syracuse each spring. On February 28, 2009, WJPZ held its 24th annual Birthday Banquet, featuring syndicated morning show host Elvis Duran as its keynote speaker. Its keynote speaker for 2010 was Kid Kelly from Backtrax USA. In 2011, its keynote speaker was ESPN Fantasy Sports Analyst and WJPZ alum Matthew Berry '92.
Notable alumni include:
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