WWWM
Encyclopedia
WWWM-FM 105.5 FM is an American
radio station
licensed to Sylvania, Ohio
and broadcasting as part of the Toledo
market.
"Star 105.5", as the station is known, carries a hot adult contemporary format.
and broadcast live performances.
Later the format shifted to oldies
("Golden 105") and then album-oriented rock in 1971. It was Toledo's first so-called underground FM station playing the songs and deep album cuts that no one else in the market was playing at the time. Many of the these DJs later became the backbone of the staff at WIOT
. The station, however, was later sold in 1972 to Midwest Broadcasting and by spring of that year, 105.5 FM became a beautiful music
station with the callsign of WXEZ. In response to the format change, a citizens' group known as the Citizens' Committee to Keep Progressive Rock filed an objection with the FCC on the basis that Toledo already had several other middle-of-the-road/easy listening-type format stations and did not need another; the FCC rejected the appeal, and the committee continued to appeal the rejection until the Reams family changed WCWA-FM 104.7 to WIOT in December of 1972, after which the objection was withdrawn.
At this time 105.5 FM was still located in its tiny studio in the rural cornfield setting at its transmitter site in Berkey, Ohio. It later was moved into the newly remodeled garage at the Pickle Road studios of WOHO. By the late 70s it had transformed into an automated "Z-Rock" (current hot hits, no relation to Satellite Music Network
's later satellite-delivered format of heavy metal music also called "Z-Rock") station known as "Z-105".
In 1979/1980 the station had a simulcast of big-sister station WOHO
1470 AM for morning drive time as well as for weekend broadcasts of "American Top 40
". In 1980 the station went on its own with live local on-air talent. As the format changed from rock to oldies to adult contemporary, it was known as "Z-105", "3WM", and "Magic 105", respectively. After dumping the WXEZ calls (to a Chicago station
) they obtained WWWM-FM (From a Cleveland station who went by "M105"), hence the "3WM". The station rebranded as "Star 105" in 1998, keeping its calls and Hot AC format.
Their AM sister station on 1470, WOHO, then also changed their calls to WWWM (AM) from 1990-1995. The format was urban contemporary
music at the time.
The Toledo duopoly of 1470AM/105.5FM has always been owned by the Lew Dickey family, first as Midwestern Broadcasting, then as Cumulus Broadcasting/Media.
In April 2008, WWWM-FM began continuous HD Radio
digital radio broadcasts, but without any HD2 service at this time.
's syndicated love-songs program, which competes with the John Tesh
show on Clear Channel
's WRVF
. WWWM had previously aired Delilah for a time during the late 1990s. At the same time, the station became known as "Star 105.5" rather than simply "Star 105" and modified its playlist in a more mainstream AC direction, adding more music from the 1970s. However, since Star 105.5 dropped Delilah, and replaced her with the Billy Bush show, the station has returned to hot AC (actually now closer to Adult Top 40), and no longer plays pre-1980's music. Star 105.5 does not play some of the harder rock music featured on many other Hot AC stations.
Star 105.5 features music of the 1980s from 6 p.m. to midnight on Saturday nights. The station airs an '80s program on late Friday afternoons (5 p.m. to 7 p.m), and was formerly an all-evening program, prior to Delilah and the Billy Bush show.
Prior to their current use, the WWWM call sign was previously used on the 105.7 MHz facility in Cleveland, Ohio
from 1972 to 1982; using the moniker "M105", the station was a sister station to the 50,000 watt 1100 AM station "3WE" - WWWE (now WTAM
). The FM station operates today as WMJI
.
, Essex County
, and Detroit
; however, the station may become inaudible in this area when a rebroadcaster of CBEF, also on 105.5, signs on.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed to Sylvania, Ohio
Sylvania, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 18,670 people, 7,151 households, and 5,070 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,223.2 people per square mile . There were 7,392 housing units at an average density of 1,276.2 per square mile...
and broadcasting as part of the Toledo
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
market.
"Star 105.5", as the station is known, carries a hot adult contemporary format.
History
The 105.5 MHz spot on the radio dial in the Toledo area began in the late 1960s as WGLN, located in a cornfield in western Lucas County, the remote studio-transmitter location was the home of the "Jones Boys", a concept introduced for the first time in Toledo by station manager and native Toledoan Michael Drew Shaw. Like WTRX AM in Flint, Michigan where Shaw had been program director several years before being named manager at WGLN, every DJ used the last name Jones. Among the more notable, Davy Jones, Casey Jones, Tom Jones, and John Paul Jones. More notable D.Js' sporting the name JONES were Joe Hood, Rick Wright, Earl Sharninghouse, and Klaus Helfers, The station featured country musicCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and broadcast live performances.
Later the format shifted to oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
("Golden 105") and then album-oriented rock in 1971. It was Toledo's first so-called underground FM station playing the songs and deep album cuts that no one else in the market was playing at the time. Many of the these DJs later became the backbone of the staff at WIOT
WIOT
WIOT is a FM radio station in Toledo, Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts at 104.7 MHz.WIOT was Toledo's first FM rock station when it went on the air December 25, 1972, replacing a beautiful music/classical format. The call letters stood for "In Our Time"...
. The station, however, was later sold in 1972 to Midwest Broadcasting and by spring of that year, 105.5 FM became a beautiful music
Beautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
station with the callsign of WXEZ. In response to the format change, a citizens' group known as the Citizens' Committee to Keep Progressive Rock filed an objection with the FCC on the basis that Toledo already had several other middle-of-the-road/easy listening-type format stations and did not need another; the FCC rejected the appeal, and the committee continued to appeal the rejection until the Reams family changed WCWA-FM 104.7 to WIOT in December of 1972, after which the objection was withdrawn.
At this time 105.5 FM was still located in its tiny studio in the rural cornfield setting at its transmitter site in Berkey, Ohio. It later was moved into the newly remodeled garage at the Pickle Road studios of WOHO. By the late 70s it had transformed into an automated "Z-Rock" (current hot hits, no relation to Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered network to provide complete live 24-hour a day music programming to local stations, under several different formats...
's later satellite-delivered format of heavy metal music also called "Z-Rock") station known as "Z-105".
In 1979/1980 the station had a simulcast of big-sister station WOHO
WLQR
WLQR is a sports/talk radio station on 1470 kHz in Toledo, Ohio. It is the Toledo affiliate of ESPN Radio and is owned by Cumulus Media. Since June 2009 the station has been simulcast on 106.5 MHz as WLQR-FM, calling itself "106-5 The Ticket"....
1470 AM for morning drive time as well as for weekend broadcasts of "American Top 40
American Top 40
American Top 40 is an internationally syndicated, independent radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs. Originally a production of Watermark Inc...
". In 1980 the station went on its own with live local on-air talent. As the format changed from rock to oldies to adult contemporary, it was known as "Z-105", "3WM", and "Magic 105", respectively. After dumping the WXEZ calls (to a Chicago station
WILV
WILV is a radio station broadcasting an Adult Hits format. Licensed to Chicago, Illinois, USA, the station serves the Chicago area. The station is currently owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. The station is also broadcast on HD radio....
) they obtained WWWM-FM (From a Cleveland station who went by "M105"), hence the "3WM". The station rebranded as "Star 105" in 1998, keeping its calls and Hot AC format.
Their AM sister station on 1470, WOHO, then also changed their calls to WWWM (AM) from 1990-1995. The format was urban contemporary
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
music at the time.
The Toledo duopoly of 1470AM/105.5FM has always been owned by the Lew Dickey family, first as Midwestern Broadcasting, then as Cumulus Broadcasting/Media.
In April 2008, WWWM-FM began continuous HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
digital radio broadcasts, but without any HD2 service at this time.
Trivia
In April 2007, Star 105.5 became Toledo's home for DelilahDelilah Rene
Delilah Rene Luke , almost always known mononymously as Delilah, is an American radio personality, author, and songwriter, best known as the host of a nationally syndicated nightly U.S...
's syndicated love-songs program, which competes with the John Tesh
John Tesh
John Frank Tesh is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. His 10-year-old 'Intelligence for Your Life Radio Show' reaches 14.2 Million listeners/week, and is syndicated by Teshmedia on 400 stations in US, Canada, and the UK...
show on Clear Channel
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...
's WRVF
WRVF
WRVF is an American soft adult contemporary music formatted radio station in Toledo, Ohio, owned by Clear Channel Communications...
. WWWM had previously aired Delilah for a time during the late 1990s. At the same time, the station became known as "Star 105.5" rather than simply "Star 105" and modified its playlist in a more mainstream AC direction, adding more music from the 1970s. However, since Star 105.5 dropped Delilah, and replaced her with the Billy Bush show, the station has returned to hot AC (actually now closer to Adult Top 40), and no longer plays pre-1980's music. Star 105.5 does not play some of the harder rock music featured on many other Hot AC stations.
Star 105.5 features music of the 1980s from 6 p.m. to midnight on Saturday nights. The station airs an '80s program on late Friday afternoons (5 p.m. to 7 p.m), and was formerly an all-evening program, prior to Delilah and the Billy Bush show.
Prior to their current use, the WWWM call sign was previously used on the 105.7 MHz facility in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
from 1972 to 1982; using the moniker "M105", the station was a sister station to the 50,000 watt 1100 AM station "3WE" - WWWE (now WTAM
WTAM
WTAM — branded Newsradio WTAM 1100 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts primarily a news/talk format...
). The FM station operates today as WMJI
WMJI
WMJI — branded Majic 105.7 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio broadcasting a classic hits format. The station serves Cleveland, Akron and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio....
.
Broadcast area
Though the station broadcasts out of Toledo and covers Northwest Ohio, the station's signal also currently reaches WindsorWindsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
, Essex County
Essex County, Ontario
Essex County is a county and census division located in Southwestern Ontario and covers an area at the southernmost tip of Canada. The administrative seat is Essex...
, and Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
; however, the station may become inaudible in this area when a rebroadcaster of CBEF, also on 105.5, signs on.