WYDB

WYDB
City Englewood, Ohio
Broadcast area Dayton, Ohio
Branding B945
Slogan Dayton's Hot Country
Frequency 94.5 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date 1992 (as WZJX)
Format Country
ERP 3,600 watts
HAAT 130 meters
Class A
Facility ID 55501
Transmitter coordinates 39°49′3.00″N 84°14′53.00″W / 39.8175000°N 84.2480556°W / 39.8175000; -84.2480556
Former callsigns WZJX (1992-1994)
WDOL (1994-1996)
WBTT (1996-2000)
WDKF (2000-2011)
WLQT (2011-2013)
Owner Aloha Station Trust, LLC
(operated by iHeartMedia)
Sister stations WCHD, WRZX, WMMX, WONE, WTUE, WZDA
Webcast Listen Live
Website B 94.5

WYDB (94.5 FM, "B94.5") is a radio station broadcasting a Country Music format. Licensed to Englewood, Ohio, United States, the station serves the Dayton area. The station is currently owned and operated by Aloha Station Trust. Its studios are located in Kettering, Ohio (with a Dayton address) and its transmitter is in west Dayton.

Early history

WYDB was originally given the call sign WKET in 1962 airing classical music from a basement studio at the former Hills and Dales Shopping Center. The station failed to attract a sizable listening audience (AM was the dominant band at that time) and was later sold to the University of Dayton in 1964 and changed the call letters to WVUD (for the "Voice of the University of Dayton"). The WKET calls are now used at 98.3 FM in Kettering.[1]

FM-100 WVUD "The Radio Station"

In the 1970s WVUD became Dayton's first album oriented rock station, providing an alternative to Top 40-formatted WING. The station leveraged a 50,000-watt transmitter and a 500-foot tower (situated on Stuart Hill, the highest point on the university's campus) allowing the station's signal to reach well into eastern Indiana and northern Kentucky, gaining a wide and extremely loyal listening audience in the tri-state area. While the station's management, programmers and sales staff were all seasoned radio professionals, the air staff consisted solely of University of Dayton students. From the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, WVUD's General Manager was University of Dayton Communication Arts Department Chairman George Biersack. Biersack hired former WVUD staffer and UD grad Chris Cage (Caggiano) from WING as the station's Program Director and Biersack's marching orders for Cage were to "grab the 18- to 34-year-olds" but to "avoid that WING sound". Cage's Music Director was Kevin Carroll, who went on to work for several major record labels. Cage was succeeded by Geoff Vargo, and Carroll was replaced by Dan Covey, who later landed at WING.

In its heyday (the mid-to-late 1970s), WVUD-FM competed with WTUE-FM for dominance of the Dayton market. Utilizing a strategy of first-to-market "breaking" of new songs, a vast collection of record albums, and a lengthy song-rotation schedule (to keep the sound "fresh"), the station competed on its diversity of music and the disc jockeys' knowledge of artists and bands. The station enjoyed stature and cache sufficient that touring major rock acts, such as Jackson Browne, Shawn Phillips, and Billy Joel, were interviewed live in-studio. Students staffed on-air slots and handled news and sports programming content as well. Over the years, WVUD air personalities such as Steve Wendell, Dan Covey, Art Farkas, Alan McConnell, Dan Pugh (later known as Dan Patrick), Bill Andres, Bill Pugh, "Dolby" Joe Reiling, Steve Downes, Lou Chelekis, Rich Wieser (The Weezer), Patty Spittler, Michael Luczak, Mary Kuzan, Steve Kerrigan, Jim Tobin (Yost), Keith Wright, Sandy Huff, Dave McGuire (Vadnais), Jim Biggins, Joe Rittman, Dan Ross, and Mark Zona competed successfully with much more experienced radio pros in the Dayton market. After graduation, many WVUD "alumni" went on to attain significant professional career success in radio nationwide.

On April 1, 1977, the station spoofed listeners, claiming it had, overnight, changed formats to big-band 1940s music. Complaints to station management from loyal, if disgruntled, listeners were counted into the hundreds. So convincing was the transformation, that many did not realize it was an "April Fool's" joke. To listeners' delight, normal operations resumed the next day.

One of WVUD listeners' favorite programs was Wax Museum, where a complete rock album was played from beginning to end without interruption. DJs hosting "Wax" encouraged listeners to record the album off-air and even provided calibration tones ("set your recording levels to minus three db") and signals to begin and pause recording. (The signal was a guitar strum taken from the Yes song "Roundabout".) Popular station jingles included "It's a real nice way to spend a day in Dayton, Ohio" (from Randy Newman) and "Turn on your radio, listen to my song" (from Harry Nilssen).

In addition, the station aired a popular talk program for young married couples called Christian Marriage, moderated by Father Norbert Burns, a popular long-time University of Dayton instructor and professor, now retired. Also, at least through 1982, the station provided Saturday and Sunday morning air time to ethnic music: "Music of Hungary" (with Al Kertez) and "Music of India" (with Parmada Singh Sihoda) were aired for years.

In 1976, WTUE (then owned by Group One Broadcasting) abandoned its Top 40 format in favor of an album-oriented format in order to compete directly with WVUD. Eventually, as the 1980s dawned, WTUE started to win the ratings war (in large part by hiring former WVUD air talent as they graduated and were no longer eligible to work for the university-owned station). In 1982, in an effort to boost lost ratings, WVUD switched to a "Contemporary Hit" format and the "AOR era" at the station was over. While loyal listeners and station personnel mourned the loss, the station continued to garner respectable (though not overwhelming) ratings into the latter part of the 1980s. The university sold WVUD-FM in 1992, and the WVUD call letters were subsequently adopted by another college radio station in Delaware (The University of Delaware).

99.9 LITE FM/Lite 94.5

WVUD was eventually sold by UD in 1992 becoming WLQT (Lite 100) after a brief stint as a contemporary hit station before competitor WGTZ-FM(Z-93) emerged in 1985. It changed its name to Lite 99.9 in 1993 under the direction of programmer Scott Barrett. WLQT subsequently became part of the Jacor Dayton cluster (later merging with Clear Channel.) Aside from its light rock and HD oldies frequency, WLQT has aired Christmas music every year during the holidays since 1993 until its call sign change in 2013. Jacor Regional Programmer Vance Dillard was one of the first to believe in 24/7 Christmas music. WLQT was one of the first stations in the country to take this programming risk, and proved that the format is a ratings-winner.

99.9 LITE FM was awarded the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Crystal Award for Excellence in Public Service in 2002. Over 13,000 stations are eligible for the distinction, and only 10 station per year are awarded at the NAB Radio Show conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dayton's Kim Faris became the morning show host of LITE 99.9 in June 2007. The station was also home to the Delilah After Dark show (save for a brief period in the middle of 2011, where the station moved to 94.5).

On Oct. 5 2009, LITE 99.9 changed its positioner to 99.9 LITE FM.

On May 24, 2011, Clear Channel announced that Top 40/CHR sister station WDKF would swap signals with WLQT, thus giving the former more signal coverage in the Dayton area.[2] With the change, the station shifted its longtime adult contemporary format to that of a more gold-based approach, playing soft hits from artists such as Celine Dion, The Carpenters, Elton John, and Phil Collins. One year later, WLQT backed away from the "MOR" artists and shifted back to a more contemporary AC format with the re-addition of current tracks to the station's playlist.

Country music

At Noon on July 3, 2013, after playing "We Said Hello Goodbye" by Phil Collins, WLQT suddenly terminated its longtime adult contemporary format and flipped to Country as "Hot Country B94.5".[3] "B" launched with "The Only Way I Know" by Jason Aldean. Kim Farris, the morning host, was retained and transferred to afternoons. The call sign changed to WYDB on August 23, 2013.

WYDB relaunched a WLQT-branded HD2 subchannel in September 2015, initially stunting with Christmas music.[4]

(WLQT's logo under previous 99.9 frequency)

References

  1. ↑ http://www.kettering.k12.oh.us/WKET
  2. ↑ Frequency swap in Dayton from Radioinsight.com (May 24, 2011)
  3. ↑ Lite's Off, Country On for Dayton
  4. ↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=58
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