WZMX
Encyclopedia
WZMX, better known as "Hot 93.7" is a Rhythmic Contemporary
station licensed to Hartford, Connecticut
. The CBS Radio
owned outlet broadcasts at 93.7 megahertz. The station's current slogan is Hartford's #1 Station For Hip-Hop and R&B. Its transmitter is located in Meriden, Connecticut
.
format by PD Herb Crowe (Max on KIIM FM Tucson AZ) and Ron O - Midday DJ, the first on air announcer on Mix 93.7 WZMX Hartford. The "Mix" format promised listeners a mix of different varieties of music with little talk or DJ chatter, a directive reflected in the slogan "Four Songs in a row - No talk".
Other DJs included Monk & Kelly-Mornings, Jonathan Monk of WTIC FM Hartford, WERI FM 'RI-104' Westerly RI alumni, Diana Kelly, Jon's wife also WTIC Hartford alumni, Ron O-Middays and Production Coordinator, later, Donna Rose-Middays, Neil Jackson-Afternoons, Ted Dalaku-Nights. Danny Wright did live overnights. After Spanish-language WLVH-FM ended its format, management fed the air signal with a portable NOAA weather radio in an attempt to 'clear the air' of the former listeners. For 24 hours, seven days a week and for about a month, the NOAA weather signal was all that was heard before the official sign on of "Mix 93.7".
In spite of being a "new" station for the majority of the market's listeners, the Mix format began well; though the format started to flounder. The purchase of rival WTIC-FM
by ARS in 1994 and its subsequent conversion to a Hot AC format led ARS to flip the younger WZMX to an all-70s format in the middle of that year. To boost the station's listenership, WZMX hired popular morning drive host Sebastian away from WCCC in February 1995, engaged well-known announcer Chuck Reilly to be the station's voiceover talent. After a downturn in 1996, the station added 1960s and 1980s music and reimaged itself as Classic Hits 93-7.
The Classic Hits period produced lot of creative programming, such as "Saturday specials" which followed a theme (i.e., all disco music, music of the 80's, management staff hosting shows), ran countdowns that at times featured hundreds of songs, and was the Connecticut home of New England Patriots
football games and an overflow home of Hartford Whalers
hockey games.
By 1998, Classic Hits ran its course and rumors of a format change circulated. After CBS Radio
took over the ARS stations that Spring, WZMX's format evolved into a broad-based, classic-leaning, rock format as The Point. This format never had any sort of success and in April 1999 WZMX flipped to a "Jammin' Oldies"-style format as Dancin' Oldies Z93.7. As with other stations in that format (and as with past formats of 93.7's existence), the format had early success but soon dropped in the ratings and was still the lowest rated station in the Hartford market.
On March 16, 2001, WZMX flipped to an urban-leaning Rhythmic format as Hot 93.7, based on that of sister station WPGC-FM
in Washington, DC. The first station playing such a format on FM in the Hartford, New Haven and Springfield, Massachusetts
markets, WZMX would soon become a regular Top 5 station and often has been the #1 station in the market. Coincidentally, that same format had been proposed as a replacement twice before but was rejected for fear that it would not work in Hartford. The success of Hot 93.7 led to the launch of rival WPHH
(Power 104.1) in 2003 which had a limited effect on WZMX's success. WPHH was also the sister station of Top 40 Mainstream WKSS
, whose once-dominant hold on Hartford's Top 40 scene would take a major beating in the wake of WZMX's arrival, which in turn may have served as one of the reason behind WPHH's debut. In addition, WZMX also has competition with WKSS and WPHH's sister station in New Haven, Top 40 WKCI, who has also seen its listener base erode slightly after Hot 93.7's debut.
In August 2006, R&R
moved WZMX from the Rhythmic Airplay panel to the Urban Contemporary Airplay panel, but in May 2007 placed the station back on the Rhythmic panel due to a shift in its direction which now favors a more broader Rhythmic playlist. This format redirection was done to protect from excessive competition with then-Urban formatted WPHH anyway, thus giving the market two Hip Hop/R&B stations with partially different formats per se at the time. But even with the shift WZMX continued to lead the competition in the Hartford Arbitrons. On October 25, 2007, WPHH flipped formats to Alternative, thus leaving WZMX as the area's only outlet for Hip-Hop and R&B. The station also compete with an urban adult contemporary
formated station, WYBC-FM
, from New Haven
by airing contemporary R&B and classic soul
slow jams Sunday through Thursday nights from 10pm to 1am.
The hosts are currently Jenny Boom Boom, DJ Buck.
Rhythmic Contemporary
Rhythmic contemporary, also known as rhythmic top 40, rhythmic contemporary hit radio or rhythmic crossover, is a music radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary rarely uses rock music or country music in its airplay, but it may...
station licensed to Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
. The CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
owned outlet broadcasts at 93.7 megahertz. The station's current slogan is Hartford's #1 Station For Hip-Hop and R&B. Its transmitter is located in Meriden, Connecticut
Meriden, Connecticut
Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 59,653.-History:...
.
History
The 93.7 frequency first signed on in the late 1960s as WLVH, the first Spanish language radio station in the state of Connecticut. Though the station had a loyal audience, the concept of a Spanish-language FM station in an area with a (then) relatively small Hispanic population was seen as being ahead of its time. With FM prices rising, WLVH later bought 1550 kHz (today's WSDK) and in 1991 sold 93.7 to American Radio Systems with WLVH moving to AM. With ARS's takeover came the change to a new format, Hot Adult Contemporary, and new calls, WZMX, chosen for the station's MixMix FM
Mix FM is a radio name and format. It is given to certain radio stations around the world with that name, while having the "mix" format. Although some stations don't have the name "Mix FM", they can still have the format of Mixed Hits - a variety of established songs, from old to new.Radio formats...
format by PD Herb Crowe (Max on KIIM FM Tucson AZ) and Ron O - Midday DJ, the first on air announcer on Mix 93.7 WZMX Hartford. The "Mix" format promised listeners a mix of different varieties of music with little talk or DJ chatter, a directive reflected in the slogan "Four Songs in a row - No talk".
Other DJs included Monk & Kelly-Mornings, Jonathan Monk of WTIC FM Hartford, WERI FM 'RI-104' Westerly RI alumni, Diana Kelly, Jon's wife also WTIC Hartford alumni, Ron O-Middays and Production Coordinator, later, Donna Rose-Middays, Neil Jackson-Afternoons, Ted Dalaku-Nights. Danny Wright did live overnights. After Spanish-language WLVH-FM ended its format, management fed the air signal with a portable NOAA weather radio in an attempt to 'clear the air' of the former listeners. For 24 hours, seven days a week and for about a month, the NOAA weather signal was all that was heard before the official sign on of "Mix 93.7".
In spite of being a "new" station for the majority of the market's listeners, the Mix format began well; though the format started to flounder. The purchase of rival WTIC-FM
WTIC-FM
WTIC-FM is a radio station primarily serving the Hartford, Connecticut market, though its signal can be picked up throughout most of Connecticut and into Springfield, Massachusetts. It currently broadcasts a Hot Adult Contemporary format. It is located on the dial at 96.5 MHz...
by ARS in 1994 and its subsequent conversion to a Hot AC format led ARS to flip the younger WZMX to an all-70s format in the middle of that year. To boost the station's listenership, WZMX hired popular morning drive host Sebastian away from WCCC in February 1995, engaged well-known announcer Chuck Reilly to be the station's voiceover talent. After a downturn in 1996, the station added 1960s and 1980s music and reimaged itself as Classic Hits 93-7.
The Classic Hits period produced lot of creative programming, such as "Saturday specials" which followed a theme (i.e., all disco music, music of the 80's, management staff hosting shows), ran countdowns that at times featured hundreds of songs, and was the Connecticut home of New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
football games and an overflow home of Hartford Whalers
Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.. The club played in the World Hockey Association from 1972–79 and in the National Hockey League from 1979–97...
hockey games.
By 1998, Classic Hits ran its course and rumors of a format change circulated. After CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
took over the ARS stations that Spring, WZMX's format evolved into a broad-based, classic-leaning, rock format as The Point. This format never had any sort of success and in April 1999 WZMX flipped to a "Jammin' Oldies"-style format as Dancin' Oldies Z93.7. As with other stations in that format (and as with past formats of 93.7's existence), the format had early success but soon dropped in the ratings and was still the lowest rated station in the Hartford market.
On March 16, 2001, WZMX flipped to an urban-leaning Rhythmic format as Hot 93.7, based on that of sister station WPGC-FM
WPGC-FM
WPGC-FM is one of the most popular among Washington, D.C.'s urban format radio station's, and has been ranked as one of its top rated radio stations for over 20 years, according to the Arbitron ratings. It has a city of license of Morningside at the 95.5 MHz frequency on the FM dial...
in Washington, DC. The first station playing such a format on FM in the Hartford, New Haven and Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
markets, WZMX would soon become a regular Top 5 station and often has been the #1 station in the market. Coincidentally, that same format had been proposed as a replacement twice before but was rejected for fear that it would not work in Hartford. The success of Hot 93.7 led to the launch of rival WPHH
WPHH
WMRQ is an alternative rock station based in Hartford, Connecticut. The city of license is Waterbury, Connecticut. WMRQ-FM broadcasts at 104.1 MHz with an effective radiated power of 18 kW from West Peak in Meriden, Connecticut...
(Power 104.1) in 2003 which had a limited effect on WZMX's success. WPHH was also the sister station of Top 40 Mainstream WKSS
WKSS
WKSS is a Top 40 Mainstream station based in Hartford, Connecticut.The city of license is Hartford-Meriden, Connecticut, a unique two-city legal identifier.The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications Their motto is All the Hits....
, whose once-dominant hold on Hartford's Top 40 scene would take a major beating in the wake of WZMX's arrival, which in turn may have served as one of the reason behind WPHH's debut. In addition, WZMX also has competition with WKSS and WPHH's sister station in New Haven, Top 40 WKCI, who has also seen its listener base erode slightly after Hot 93.7's debut.
In August 2006, R&R
R&R (magazine)
R&R was a weekly music trade publication that followed the radio industry and tracked the monitoring of current songs by format, station and audience cumes...
moved WZMX from the Rhythmic Airplay panel to the Urban Contemporary Airplay panel, but in May 2007 placed the station back on the Rhythmic panel due to a shift in its direction which now favors a more broader Rhythmic playlist. This format redirection was done to protect from excessive competition with then-Urban formatted WPHH anyway, thus giving the market two Hip Hop/R&B stations with partially different formats per se at the time. But even with the shift WZMX continued to lead the competition in the Hartford Arbitrons. On October 25, 2007, WPHH flipped formats to Alternative, thus leaving WZMX as the area's only outlet for Hip-Hop and R&B. The station also compete with an urban adult contemporary
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...
formated station, WYBC-FM
WYBC-FM
WYBC-FM is an Urban Adult Contemporary music formatted radio station in New Haven, Connecticut, on the campus of Yale University. The station is operated through Cox Radio....
, from New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
by airing contemporary R&B and classic soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
slow jams Sunday through Thursday nights from 10pm to 1am.
The hosts are currently Jenny Boom Boom, DJ Buck.