WODE-FM
Encyclopedia
WODE-FM is a radio station located in Easton, Pennsylvania
, in the Lehigh Valley
area of Pennsylvania
, in the United States
. The station broadcasts on 99.9 FM
, and is popularly known as 99-9 The Hawk.
The station is owned by Nassau Broadcasting and offers a Classic rock-leaning Classic Hits format, playing rock hits from the 1960s into the early 1990s, and is consistently at the top of the ratings in the Allentown-Easton-Bethlehem market.
WEEX then moved to 99.9 FM as WEEX-FM in the 1950s while putting an AM station on the air at 1230 AM under the WEEX
call sign. WEEX eventually switched to Top 40
during that time and used their FM to simulcast much of their programming to areas where the AM could not be heard.
In the early 1970s, WEEX-FM's simulcast with the AM was broken off under Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) changes which forbid full-time AM/FM simulcasts. The station switched to Beautiful Music
under the WQQQ call-letters. The calls were chosen because the lower-case Q closely resembled the number 9, hence the station's frequency 99.9. The station offered an instrumental-based easy listening format, playing instrumental cover versions of pop songs. A few times per hour a soft vocalist was mixed in.
On April 4, 1983, WQQQ swapped formats with its AM sister station, WEEX 1230. WEEX had evolved by 1981 from Top 40 into more of an Adult Contemporary format. WEEX's airstaff and intellectual unit was moved to 99.9 FM. WQQQ's Easy Listening format was moved to 1230 WEEX but would be more vocally-oriented than on FM.
The former WEEX format were modified on FM into Mainstream CHR
/Top 40. The station kept the WQQQ call letters but became known as "Q 100". Initially, the station focused on current pop music, but also played a moderate amount of 60s and 70s oldies until about 1985. Still throughout the 80s, they played oldies on Saturday evenings from the mid 60s mostly. But by 1986, their regular rotation was mostly current and recent product.
Q100 was at the time the only Top 40/CHR in the Allentown/Easton/Bethlehem radio market, competing with then-dominate Album Rocker WZZO
for first place in the ratings. However, on January 26, 1987, former Adult Contemporary outlet WAEB-FM
switched to CHR as "Laser 104.1". While the change didn't have an immediate impact on Q100's ratings, a burnt-out transmission line in the Summer of 1988 forced the station to broadcast on low-power for a period of 2 weeks. This caused Q100's ratings to slip, allowing WAEB-FM to beat them in the ratings.
In 1989, Roth Broadcasting acquired WQQQ (and sister WEEX) from Wilkes-Schwartz. That September, Q100 switched to a Dance-Leaning CHR format as "Hot 99.9" under the WHXT call letters. The format lasted about a year before evolving to Mainstream CHR.
After an uphill ratings battle with its rival WAEB-FM that lasted over a period of almost 2 years, Hot 99.9 was unable to make any significant gains due to budget and signal issues. However, in its final ratings trend as a CHR, WHXT had beat WAEB-FM by two-tenths of a point.
The station was sold to Patterson Broadcasting and became "Oldies 99.9" in the mid 1990s. In 1997, Capstar would buy WODE and WEEX but would spin the stations off to Clear Channel Communications
. They had to do this because the Lehigh Valley has only five FM stations and no one company can own more than half. As a result, a company can only have 2 FM stations in the market. Capstar was already buying WZZO
and WAEB-FM.
Under Clear Channel ownership, WODE continued its oldies format.
, including WNNJ
, WNNJ-FM
, WSUS, WHCY
, and management agreements for WDLC and WTSX
. Clear Channel also kept the former Capstar/AM-FM stations.
In September 2001, the station switched names and formats, debuting in the Fall 2001 Arbitrons as the #1 station in the Allentown market. The station is now known as "99-9 The Hawk," and plays classic rock hits. Its slogan is "The Valley's Classic Hits Station." The station's ratings generally lead the market with the key 25-54 audience.
The station's transmitter is located north of Easton.
9am-3pm: Kara Curry / commercial-free "99 at 9" and "1 O'Clock Back to Work Perk"
3pm-7pm: Bill Sheridan / "4:45 Movie Clip Challenge" and "6 O'Clock Class Reunion"
7pm-10pm: Todd Heft
Easton, Pennsylvania
Easton is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 26,800 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Northampton County....
, in the Lehigh Valley
Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley, known officially by the United States Census Bureau as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area and referred to locally as The Valley and A-B-E, is a metropolitan region consisting of Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, and Carbon counties in eastern Pennsylvania and...
area of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The station broadcasts on 99.9 FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
, and is popularly known as 99-9 The Hawk.
The station is owned by Nassau Broadcasting and offers a Classic rock-leaning Classic Hits format, playing rock hits from the 1960s into the early 1990s, and is consistently at the top of the ratings in the Allentown-Easton-Bethlehem market.
History
WEEX began operations on 98.7 FM as a stand-alone FM in 1948 with the call-letters stood for "E"aston "E""X"press, Easton's newspaper as well as the station's then-owner.WEEX then moved to 99.9 FM as WEEX-FM in the 1950s while putting an AM station on the air at 1230 AM under the WEEX
WEEX
WEEX is a sports radio station in Easton, Pennsylvania branded as "ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320" and is owned by Nassau Broadcasting. Their programming is simulcast on co-owned WTKZ , licensed to nearby Allentown, Pennsylvania....
call sign. WEEX eventually switched to Top 40
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
during that time and used their FM to simulcast much of their programming to areas where the AM could not be heard.
In the early 1970s, WEEX-FM's simulcast with the AM was broken off under Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) changes which forbid full-time AM/FM simulcasts. The station switched to Beautiful Music
Beautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
under the WQQQ call-letters. The calls were chosen because the lower-case Q closely resembled the number 9, hence the station's frequency 99.9. The station offered an instrumental-based easy listening format, playing instrumental cover versions of pop songs. A few times per hour a soft vocalist was mixed in.
1983: Contemporary Hit radio format
In late 1982, longtime station owner Easton Express acquired The Globe Times, a newspaper in nearby Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. To satisfy media ownership rules, both WQQQ and WEEX were sold off to Wilkes-Schwartz Broadcasting.On April 4, 1983, WQQQ swapped formats with its AM sister station, WEEX 1230. WEEX had evolved by 1981 from Top 40 into more of an Adult Contemporary format. WEEX's airstaff and intellectual unit was moved to 99.9 FM. WQQQ's Easy Listening format was moved to 1230 WEEX but would be more vocally-oriented than on FM.
The former WEEX format were modified on FM into Mainstream CHR
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
/Top 40. The station kept the WQQQ call letters but became known as "Q 100". Initially, the station focused on current pop music, but also played a moderate amount of 60s and 70s oldies until about 1985. Still throughout the 80s, they played oldies on Saturday evenings from the mid 60s mostly. But by 1986, their regular rotation was mostly current and recent product.
Q100 was at the time the only Top 40/CHR in the Allentown/Easton/Bethlehem radio market, competing with then-dominate Album Rocker WZZO
WZZO
WZZO, popularly known as "95.1 WZZO", is a popular rock radio station located in Whitehall Township, outside of Allentown, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, in the United States.WZZO broadcasts locally at 95.1 MHz FM...
for first place in the ratings. However, on January 26, 1987, former Adult Contemporary outlet WAEB-FM
WAEB-FM
WAEB-FM, commonly known as "B104", is a CHR/Pop radio station located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, in the United States and owned by Clear Channel Communications. WAEB-FM broadcasts at 104.1 MHz FM.-History:...
switched to CHR as "Laser 104.1". While the change didn't have an immediate impact on Q100's ratings, a burnt-out transmission line in the Summer of 1988 forced the station to broadcast on low-power for a period of 2 weeks. This caused Q100's ratings to slip, allowing WAEB-FM to beat them in the ratings.
In 1989, Roth Broadcasting acquired WQQQ (and sister WEEX) from Wilkes-Schwartz. That September, Q100 switched to a Dance-Leaning CHR format as "Hot 99.9" under the WHXT call letters. The format lasted about a year before evolving to Mainstream CHR.
After an uphill ratings battle with its rival WAEB-FM that lasted over a period of almost 2 years, Hot 99.9 was unable to make any significant gains due to budget and signal issues. However, in its final ratings trend as a CHR, WHXT had beat WAEB-FM by two-tenths of a point.
1991: Oldies format
On August 23, 1991, WHXT dropped its CHR format for Oldies. The format played the Hits of the 1950s, 1960s, and a few from the very early 1970s. The call letters became WODE and the station became known as "Oldies 99" under programing consultant Pete Salant.The station was sold to Patterson Broadcasting and became "Oldies 99.9" in the mid 1990s. In 1997, Capstar would buy WODE and WEEX but would spin the stations off to Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
. They had to do this because the Lehigh Valley has only five FM stations and no one company can own more than half. As a result, a company can only have 2 FM stations in the market. Capstar was already buying WZZO
WZZO
WZZO, popularly known as "95.1 WZZO", is a popular rock radio station located in Whitehall Township, outside of Allentown, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, in the United States.WZZO broadcasts locally at 95.1 MHz FM...
and WAEB-FM.
Under Clear Channel ownership, WODE continued its oldies format.
2000: Classic Hits
In 2000, however, Clear Channel announced a major merger with AM/FM Broadcasters (this company was created as a result of a merger with Capstar and Chancellor). AM/FM already had WZZO and WAEB FM. Clear Channel would not be allowed to keep all three stations upon the merger, so they decided to sell WODE and WEEX to Nassau Broadcast Partners. Nassau was given cash plus WODE and WEEX. Clear Channel though would obtain stations in New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, including WNNJ
WTOC (AM)
WTOC was a radio station licensed to Newton, New Jersey. They offered an oldies music format with songs from the 1960s and 1970s along with a small amount oldies from 1955 to 1964 and a small amount of hits from the 1980's. They were a full-time affiliate of Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel...
, WNNJ-FM
WNNJ
WNNJ is a Class B FM radio station licensed to Newton, New Jersey broadcasting on 103.7 FM. They serve the Sussex County, New Jersey radio market while also reaching northeastern Pennsylvania and Orange County, New York. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications. WNNJ offers a Rock...
, WSUS, WHCY
WHCY
WHCY, known as Max 106.3, is a hot adult contemporary class A FM radio station broadcasting on 106.3 FM. The format is now satellite programming along with some syndicated shows. The station is licensed to Blairstown, New Jersey and serves Sussex County and Warren County in western New Jersey, and...
, and management agreements for WDLC and WTSX
WTSX
WTSX is a radio station in Lehman Township, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Port Jervis Broadcasting, but operated under a local management agreement by Sunrise Broadcasting. They now offer a simulcast of Fox 103.1 WJGK playing an AC format.-History:...
. Clear Channel also kept the former Capstar/AM-FM stations.
In September 2001, the station switched names and formats, debuting in the Fall 2001 Arbitrons as the #1 station in the Allentown market. The station is now known as "99-9 The Hawk," and plays classic rock hits. Its slogan is "The Valley's Classic Hits Station." The station's ratings generally lead the market with the key 25-54 audience.
The station's transmitter is located north of Easton.
Schedule
5:30-9am: The HAWK Morning Show with Michaels and Layne9am-3pm: Kara Curry / commercial-free "99 at 9" and "1 O'Clock Back to Work Perk"
3pm-7pm: Bill Sheridan / "4:45 Movie Clip Challenge" and "6 O'Clock Class Reunion"
7pm-10pm: Todd Heft