WEDR

WEDR
City Miami
Broadcast area South Florida and some of the Caribbean
Branding 99 Jamz
Slogan "South Florida's Only Station for Hip Hop and R&B"
Frequency 99.1 MHz
First air date May 18, 1963
Format Mainstream Urban
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 280 meters
Class C1
Facility ID 71418
Callsign meaning Eurith D. Rivers (former Georgia Governor, same person WGOV-FM Valdosta, Georgia is named for)
Owner Cox Media Group
(Cox Radio, Inc.)
Sister stations WFLC, WFEZ, WHQT
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.wedr.com

WEDR (99.1 FM, "99 Jamz") is an urban-formatted radio station serving the South Florida region and licensed to Miami, Florida. WEDR has an unusually wide music selection for a mainstream urban-formatted radio station that ranges from typical hip-hop and R&B to reggaeton. This is because South Florida is a very diversified region that has various music tastes. WEDR is owned by Cox Media Group alongside sister stations WHQT, WFEZ and WFLC, and has their studios located in Hollywood, Florida.

WEDR has an unusually shaped coverage area due to the station moving its antenna from a class C to a class C1 on a new tower (based near Miami Gardens. The main reasoning behind this so that the station's signal doesn't interfere with the close frequencies that serve southwestern Florida. It also began broadcasting in IBOC digital radio, using the HD Radio system from iBiquity in Summer 2005.[1]

History

1963 – The WEDR call letters have been in South Florida since 1963 when the station's then owner Ed Rivers acquired them from an AM radio station in Birmingham, Alabama. WEDR-FM had rock and country music formats.[2]

1970 – WEDR adopts a black format. The station had a weak signal that couldn't cover all of Dade county, but it fared well because it was the only black station in the market.[2]

1988 – WHQT drops its pop/dance format and adopts an Urban Contemporary format. According to the Miami Herald, "WEDR dipped to a low ranking of 24th in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, and was eulogized as an outmoded, black-run David squashed beneath the foot of a corporate white Goliath."[2]

1990 – WEDR changed slogans from "Starforce 99" to "99 JAMZ", an Urban Contemporary with a notoriously wide variety playlist that ranged from R&B, Soul, and rap to Reggae on the weekends.[3]

April 21, 1990 – The station's signal was increased from 16,000 watts to 100,000 watts. 99 Jamz becomes a factor in the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton market. The signal reaches as far as the Caribbean.[2]

1992 – 99 Jamz becomes the top rated station in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market.[4] Traffic Reporting for WEDR was handled by George Sheldon from 1990-1997.

2003 – Program Director and morning drive host, James T, migrates to sister station WHQT. James T. had been at WEDR for twenty years. WEDR began to skew more towards current format being a Mainstream Urban with the slogan "99 JAMZ, South Florida's Number One For All of Today's Hip Hop and R&B", then to "99 JAMZ, South Florida's Number One For More Of Today's Hip Hop and R&B" to compete with it new crosstown rival, Clear Channel-owned WMIB, "103.5 the Beat" (now an adult-hits format radio station). However, they do still play slower R&B and Classic Soul songs during Night JAMZ show in the overnight hours, despite most of them played on sister station WHQT. As a result of the change, Cedric Hollywood then hired radio Veteran Lorenzo "Ice-Tea" Thomas from the Washington, DC Market to do the Afternoon Jump-Off. Today, WEDR is exclusively rivaled at WPOW (Power 96).

July 2004 – 99 Jamz launches the Big Lip Bandit Morning Show featuring Supa Cindy and Benji Brown (produced by Marcus "Wiiz" Johnson)

2005 – 99 Jamz kicks-off the highly anticipated, number one night show in South Florida "The Take Over" with K. Foxx and DJ Khaled. In July 2009, K. Foxx left to do Morning's for New York's Hot 97.

October 2006 – WEDR's General Manager announces, Derrick Baker as Program Director of 99 Jamz

March 2008 – 99 Jamz is NOW known as 99Jamz South Florida's ONLY Station for Hip Hop and R&B. WEDR continues to dominant the South Florida Market, with format changes from former competitor WMIB, what is now a Spanish station.

July 2008 – 99 Jamz launches the nationally syndicated "Rickey Smiley Morning Show" with Ebony Steele, HeadKrack, Gary, Rock T and Special K, with Miss Kimmy, Benji Brown and Marcus E. Johnson still producing on the local end. Big Lip Bandit was fired and no longer with the station.[5] He is now with rival radio station Power 96 and the Power 96 Morning Show.

2009 – WEDR's General Manager, Jerry Rushin moves to Cox Media Groups "Market Manager"

As of 2015, 99 JAMZ is #1 in the South Florida Market and continues to dominate the competition in PPM.

Programming

Notable programming includes The Rickey Smiley Morning Show with Gary with the Tea, Headkrack, Rock T, and Special K, along with Supa Cindy on the local front, weekday mornings. Other notable weekday programming includes mid-days with Shelby Rushin, DJ E Feezy & DJ Hercules, The Afternoon Hustle with Felisha & DJ Entice, The #PacJam with Big Mack & DJ Nasty on nights, and an early-morning "Gospel JAMZ" hour.

Special Friday night programming includes The Bashment Explosion with King Waggy Tee and Demetrius. Notable weekend programming includes The Rickey Smiley Weekend Jump off on Saturday Mornings. Community Matters with Shelby Rushin on Sunday Mornings, Sunday Morning Gospel with Maestro Powell & Wendell Ford

Current Programming Schedule Weekdays

References

  1. ↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=12 HD Radio Guide for Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood
  2. 1 2 3 4 Due, Tananarive (1993-04-11). "Call WEDR Black—And Successful". Miami Herald.
  3. ↑ Andrews, Sharony (1990-07-08). "More Listeners Dial WEDR; Station Making Gains Among Blacks". Miami Herald.
  4. ↑ Jicha, Tom (1992-04-29). "WEDR Takes Over Top Spot In Radio". Sun-Sentinel.
  5. ↑ http://24hourhiphop.com/2008/07/17/big-lip-bandit-radio-does-not-define-me/&sa=U&ei=9Tu2UaX8HZPh0AHX8YGgCg&ved=0CBgQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNE3cCPXGq_p3VvWx06m1Kqi8zX4sw

Coordinates: 25°58′05″N 80°12′32″W / 25.968°N 80.209°W / 25.968; -80.209

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