WWSZ

Last updated
WWSZ
Streetz-945-logo.png
Broadcast area Atlanta metropolitan area
Frequency 1420 kHz
BrandingStreetz 94.5
Programming
Format Mainstream urban
Ownership
OwnerJDJ Communications, LLC
OperatorCore Communicators Broadcasting, LLC
History
First air date
July 19, 1958(65 years ago) (1958-07-19)
Former call signs
  • WAVO (1958–1992)
  • WWEV (1992–1995)
  • WATB (1995–2018)
Call sign meaning
W W StreetZ
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 14745
Class D
Power
  • 1,000 watts day
  • 51 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
 33°47′13″N84°14′53″W / 33.78694°N 84.24806°W / 33.78694; -84.24806
Translator(s)
Repeater(s)
Links
Public license information
Webcast Listen Live
Website streetz945atl.com

WWSZ (1420 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Decatur, Georgia, and serving the Atlanta metropolitan area. It is owned by JDJ Communications, LLC, and airs a mainstream urban radio format. The station calls itself "Streetz 94.5, Atlanta's New Hip Hop Station." WWSZ is simulcast on FM translator station 94.5 W233BF in Atlanta, which forms the middle leg of a three-transmitter simulcast of Streetz on 94.5 MHz. The station competes along with WHTA and WVEE-FM.

Contents

WWSZ broadcasts with 1,000 watts of power during the daytime, and 51 watts at night, using a directional antenna. The radio station is considered a Class D station by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The radio station's transmitter is located on North Decatur Road, near Interstate 285 in Scottdale, Georgia. [2]

History

Religious WAVO

1420 kHz in Decatur launched as WAVO on July 19, 1958. [3] Owned by the Great Commission Gospel Association, Inc., it was a 1,000-watt daytime-only outlet, licensed for its first two years to Avondale Estates. [4] Bob Jones University acquired WAVO—and WAVQ (94.9 FM), an Atlanta-licensed FM station that signed on in October 1962—in 1963.

The WAVO stations were sold to their first secular interests when Sudbrink Broadcasting of Georgia acquired them in 1971; Bob Jones sold the pair for $682,750. [5] Four years later, however, Sudbrink bought another Atlanta-area AM outlet and donated WAVO AM to the Bible Broadcasting Network of Norfolk, Virginia. [6] The new owners installed their own Christian format. [7]

WWEV and WATB

BBN first attempted to sell WAVO in late 1988 to the Fiduciary Broadcasting Corporation, controlled by the Thigpen family. [8] That sale failed to materialize, and it would not be until the station was sold in 1992 to the Curriculum Development Foundation, owner of Christian station WWEV-FM 91.5 at Cumming, that BBN shed itself of the facility. [9] The call letters were changed to WWEV, and the AM began to simulcast the contemporary Christian station.

Three years later, the station flipped to gospel music and changed its call letters to WATB. WWEV sold WATB in 1998 to the Freedom Network. [10] Two years later, Freedom sold WATB and stations in other major markets to Multicultural Broadcasting in a $12 million transaction. [11] Under Multicultural, the station aired an eclectic mix of brokered programs, from Christian hip hop shows to Spanish-language coverage of the Atlanta Braves.

On January 28, 2016, the station was granted an FCC construction permit to move to 1430 kHz, increase daytime power to 15,000 watts and increase night power to 158 watts. At night, the antenna pattern would change from directional to nondirectional. [12]

By 2017, the station was airing brokered talk programming under the "Rainbow 1420" name.

Streetz 94.5

On June 23, 2012, W233BF, an FM translator at 94.5 MHz that had previously broadcast a Christian format known as "The Spirit 94.5" and which had moved slowly west from Social Circle to the WUPA tower east of downtown, launched a separate hip hop format as "Streetz 94.5". It was the second time that Steve Hegwood, a former Radio One operations manager, had attempted to start a station in Atlanta with that name. It had briefly appeared at a translator he had bought in 2009 without the company's knowledge; Radio One, which owned WAMJ (107.5 FM), contested, and in a settlement, that company acquired the translator. [13]

The 94.5 translator was wedged in between two unrelated stations: WIPK, broadcasting from Calhoun to the north, and WFDR-FM in Woodbury. Complaints from the latter station prompted W233BF to modify its facility and reduce power.

In 2014 and 2015, Hegwood bought WIPK and WFDR-FM, with the stations flipped to Streetz in January and April, respectively. [14] [15] That October, WIPK broke off from the trimulcast as contemporary hit radio outlet "i94.5"; [16] it returned to Streetz in early 2019.

Since launch, W233BF had been fed by a leased HD Radio subchannel of Entercom-owned WSTR (94.1 FM). However, in late 2017, Entercom acquired competing WVEE (103.3 FM) as part of its purchase of CBS Radio. In order to secure a new originating signal, Hegwood worked with JDJ Communications, which had acquired WATB from Way Broadcasting—a subsidiary of Multicultural—in a $960,000 transaction. [17] On January 30, 2018, WATB became WWSZ, and by April, WWSZ had begun broadcasting Streetz, replacing WSTR as the program source for W233BF.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WVFJ-FM</span> Radio station in Greenville, Georgia

WVFJ-FM is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Greenville, Georgia, and serving West-Central Georgia, including portions of Metro Atlanta and the Columbus-Auburn-Opelika area. It is owned by the Radio Training Network with studios and offices in Tyrone. WVFJ broadcasts a Contemporary Christian radio format. It is currently silent after a tornado destroyed its tower in Greenville, off Forest Road. The station is constructing a new tower and continues to broadcast on line and on a network of rebroadcasters and FM translators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WVEE</span> Radio station in Atlanta, Georgia

WVEE – branded as V-103 – is a commercial radio station in Atlanta, Georgia. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs an urban contemporary radio format. WVEE is one of the highest-rated stations in the Atlanta radio market according to Nielsen Audio, reaching number one on many reports. Its studios and offices are located in Colony Square on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta, along with its sister stations WAOK, WSTR and WZGC.

KZFS is a commercial radio station in Spokane, Washington. It broadcasts a classic hip hop radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. Its branding originates from its 250 watt FM translator K268DL at 101.5 MHz.

WVCW is a non-commercial FM radio station licensed to Wilmington, Delaware. Owned by VCY America, the station serves the Delaware Valley, including Philadelphia. The WVCW transmitter is located 8 miles north of downtown Wilmington on Bellows Drive, less than 1/4 mile from the Pennsylvania state line. Besides a standard analog transmission, WVCW broadcasts over HD Radio. The station is best known for its 67-year legacy as WJBR and WJBR-FM, a Delaware-targeted adult contemporary station, which was consistently rated as one of the top stations in the Wilmington area, even amidst competition from Philadelphia stations.

WBCN was the call sign assigned from 2009 until 2021, and the last call sign used on the air, for radio station WJBX in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. The station, while silent, was assigned the call letters WJBX by the Federal Communications Commission on February 5, 2021. The license was deleted on August 24, 2022, before any broadcasts under the WJBX call letters.

The following is a list of media in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WDWD</span> Radio station in Atlanta, Georgia

WDWD is a Christian talk station serving the metro Atlanta market. It airs "The Eric Metaxas Show", "Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson", "Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah" and "The Narrow Path" hosted by Steve Gregg. It is owned by Salem Media Group.

WGIV is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Pineville, North Carolina, and serving the Charlotte metropolitan area. It airs an mainstream urban radio format. WGIV is owned by Frank Neely, but the station is operated by Steve Hedgwood's Core Communications, which owns a similar trimulcast in Atlanta of W233BF, WIPK and WFDR.

WWRK is a classic rock radio station located in Florence, South Carolina, United States. The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast on 970 AM with power of 10,000 watts during the day and 31 watts at night, non-directionally. WWRK is owned by iHeartMedia.

WKEG is a non-commercial Catholic radio station in Sterling Heights, Michigan, serving Metro Detroit. It is a daytimer which must go off the air at night. WKEG is a Class D station operating on the clear-channel frequency of 1030 AM; WBZ in Boston is the dominant Class A station on this frequency.

WKVG is a radio station in Greenville, South Carolina, serving Upstate South Carolina including the Greenville-Spartanburg radio market. WKVG is owned and operated by the Educational Media Foundation, and is an affiliate of K-Love.

WXKG is a commercial radio station in Atlanta, Georgia, known as "105.5 The King". It is owned by Danny Wilson, through licensee Light Media Holdings, Inc., and airs an urban and inspirational format.

WMDG is a radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to East Point, Georgia, the station serves the Atlanta metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WJLG</span> Radio station in Savannah, Georgia

WJLG was a radio station broadcasting a sports radio format. Licensed to Savannah, Georgia, United States, the station served the Savannah area. The station was last owned by Cumulus Media and featured programming from Fox Sports Radio and Premiere Radio Networks. Its studios were located on Television Circle in Savannah; its transmitter was located east of historic downtown at the interchange of President Street and Harry S. Truman Parkway.

WLZX-FM is a radio station in Northampton, Massachusetts. The station has an active rock format, and is owned by Saga Communications. The station is also simulcast on WLZX and translator station W253CD, both in East Longmeadow, as well as the HD2 channel of WAQY in Springfield.

W275BK is a radio station translator in Decatur, Georgia. Owned by Urban One, the station simulcasts an urban oldies music format branded as Classix 102.9, as a relay from HD Radio subchannel WAMJ-HD2 in Roswell, Georgia. WAMJ-HD2 is also simulcast on HD Radio subchannel WUMJ-HD2 in Fayetteville, Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WBZW</span> Radio station in Union City–Atlanta, Georgia

WBZW is an Atlanta radio station broadcasting a Regional Mexican radio format. It is owned by iHeartMedia and is licensed to serve Union City, Georgia. It operates from studios located at the Peachtree Palisades building in the Brookwood Hills district of Atlanta, and the transmitter is located in Tyrone.

W258CB is a radio station translator in Greenville, South Carolina. Owned by Tower Above Media, the station simulcasts an urban contemporary music format branded as Streetz 99.5 from an HD Radio subchannel of SummitMedia's WJMZ-FM.

WIPK is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Calhoun, Georgia. The station's broadcast is held C. Steve Hegwood, through licensee Core Communicators North LLC.

W233BF – branded as Streetz 94.5 – is a radio station in metro Atlanta, now licensed to serve Atlanta owned by Edgewater Broadcasting. After a series of moves, the station now transmits from the WUPA tower east of downtown, just north of Interstate 20. The station competes with WHTA and WVEE-FM.

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WWSZ". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ Radio-Locator.com/WWSZ
  3. ↑ "WAVO" (PDF). Broadcasting Yearbook. 1968. p. B-42 (190). Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  4. ↑ FCC History Cards for WWSZ
  5. ↑ "Sudbrink radio family to increase by three" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 22, 1971. p. 33. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 3, 1975. p. 36. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  7. ↑ Tribble, Plu (September 13, 1979). "Christian WAVO Broadcasts the Holy Word". Atlanta Constitution. pp. DeKalb Extra 43, 51 . Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Transactions" (PDF). Radio & Records. November 25, 1988. p. 10. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Ownership Changes" (PDF). Broadcasting. March 2, 1992. p. 61. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Transactions" (PDF). Radio & Records. March 13, 1998. p. 6. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Multi-Cultural Radio Broadcasting Makes Multistation Deal For $12 Million" (PDF). Radio & Records. March 24, 2000. p. 6.
  12. ↑ Application for Construction Permit for Commercial Broadcast Station - Federal Communications Commission
  13. ↑ Venta, Lance (June 25, 2012). "Streetz 94.5 Atlanta Debuts". RadioInsight. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  14. ↑ Venta, Lance (April 7, 2015). "Streetz 94.5 Adds Central Georgia Signal". RadioInsight. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  15. ↑ Venta, Lance (January 13, 2015). "Streetz Expands In North Georgia". RadioInsight. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  16. ↑ Venta, Lance (October 6, 2015). "WIPK Brings CHR To Northwest Georgia". RadioInsight. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  17. ↑ Venta, Lance (November 3, 2017). "Station Sales Week Of 11/3". RadioInsight. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.