WKRZ

WKRZ
City Freeland, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area Northeastern Pennsylvania
Branding 98.5 KRZ
Slogan Today's Best Music
Frequency 98.5 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date 1948 (as WBRE-FM)
Format Analog/HD1: CHR
HD2: Rock ("The Mountain")
Language(s) English
ERP 8,700 watts (analog)
348 watts (digital)[1]
HAAT 357 meters (1,171 ft)
Class B
Facility ID 34379
Callsign meaning W KRaZy
Former callsigns WBRE-FM (1948-1980)
Owner Entercom Communications
(Entercom Wilkes-Barre Scranton, LLC)
Sister stations WGGY, WILK, WILK-FM, WKZN, WBZU, WMQX
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.985krz.com

WKRZ (98.5 FM, "98.5 KRZ") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Freeland, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Entercom Communications, through licensee Entercom Wilkes-Barre Scranton, LLC, and broadcasts a contemporary hit radio format. Its broadcast tower is located southeast of Wilkes-Barre in Bear Creek Township at (41°11′56.0″N 75°49′5.0″W / 41.198889°N 75.818056°W / 41.198889; -75.818056).[2]

WKRZ uses HD Radio, and broadcasts a rock format on its HD2 subchannel branded as "The Mountain".

History

The station first signed on in 1948[3] with the WBRE-FM call sign, licensed to serve Wilkes-Barre. It was the FM sister station to then WBRE AM at 1340 kHz[4] also licensed to serve Wilkes-Barre. WBRE-FM evolved through a number of radio formats and by the 1970s was all-news.[5] The station, up to that point, broadcast in FM mono since its start in 1948. Due to consistently low audience ratings in the area,[6] WBRE-FM made a big change in 1980 when it was sold with the new owners adding FM stereo, a format switch to Top 40 music, along with the call sign change to the present WKRZ. WKRZ has been broadcasting a CHR/Top 40 format since 1980, branded at first as 98½ KRZ-FM.

The present owners of WKRZ, Entercom Communications, received FCC approval in 2003 to move WAMT (103.1 MHz FM, now WILK-FM) from Freeland to Avoca. As a condition of the move, Entercom was required to change the city of license of WKRZ from Wilkes-Barre to Freeland due to FCC concerns about the "loss of local service" to Freeland because of the WAMT move. In practice, the only change was the legal ID.[7]

Stations

One full-power station is licensed to simulcast the programming of WKRZ:

Call sign Frequency City of license Facility ID ERP
W		 Height
m (ft)		 Class Transmitter coordinates Service contour
WKRF 107.9 FM Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania 14643 830 267.7 meters (878 ft) A 41°02′39.30″N 75°22′39.10″W / 41.0442500°N 75.3775278°W / 41.0442500; -75.3775278 (WKRF) (NAD27) Covers Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

This station was originally assigned the WPMR call sign on November 29, 1989. The call sign was changed to WPMR-FM on March 11, 1992[8] and was off the air but began a simulcast of WKRZ in 1995.[9] Its call sign was changed to WKRF on May 15, 1995.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "FCC 335-FM Digital Notification [WKRZ]". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. April 9, 2014. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  2. ↑ "FM Query Results for WKRZ". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  3. ↑ U. S. FM Stations as of 1948
  4. ↑ U. S. AM stations as of 1946
  5. ↑ Northeastern Pennsylvania Radio Answers
  6. ↑ "ROCKING LOCAL AIRWAVES MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO, A TEAM OF WACKY RADIO PERSONALITIES LED WKRZ-FM TO BECOME THE AREA'S MOST SUCCESSFUL FM STATION.". The Times Leader. Wilkes-Barre, PA. April 8, 2001. p. 1B. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  7. ↑ NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush
  8. 1 2 "Call Sign History [WKRZ]". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  9. ↑ Stark, Phyllis (April 29, 1995). "Vox Jox". Billboard. 107 (17): 92.

Coordinates: 41°11′56″N 75°49′05″W / 41.199°N 75.818°W / 41.199; -75.818

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