Month: October 1999
103.1 WHRL flips from Smooth Jazz to Modern Rock “Channel 103.1”
WHRL had a long heritage as a station playing instrumental music in Albany, first as Beautiful Music, then as one of the first Smooth Jazz stations. In early 1999, Clear Channel purchased WHRL in their acquisition of Dame Media with no major on-air change. However, when modern rock WQBK-FM “The Edge” flipped suddenly to Active Rock in late September, a hole existed for modern rock. With Clear Channel flipping Smooth Jazz stations in smaller markets, WHRL was fair game for a change, and on October 2, 1999 became Modern Rock “Channel 103-1” quietly (with an outcry from the Smooth Jazz listeners). Those listeners would not have to worry, as Modern AC WZMR flipped to Smooth Jazz 16 days later
“Z104.9” WZMR flips from Modern AC to Smooth Jazz
WZMR was a fairly new station in the Albany market, having moved in from Johnstown (oldies WSRD) in March 1999 after a purchase by Albany Broadcasting. The station began as Modern AC “The Point”, but was forced to change the name to “Z104.9” on the request of Infinity Broadcasting (representing rival owner Tele-Media, which had the right to use the name in Albany; launching Modern AC WCPT that May). After WCPT’s launch, “Z104.9” failed part due to a poorer signal than WCPT, part due to a contract to carry New York Yankees baseball placed there prior to the format launch. Having never broken the 2 share barrier, WZMR decided to fill the Smooth Jazz hole left by WHRL’s flip two weeks earlier (see above). The below switch is the end of Modern AC...
810 WHB flips to All-Sports, assuming the programming of 1510 KCTE
As the country field in the market became larger, WHB (which, after 77 years on the 710 frequency, moved to 810 in 1997) had a tough time competing (see the earlier WHB flip, above, for details.) Also, a void existed for a full-market sports station. On October 2, 1999, WHB ended its longtime country format for Sports.
