In this week’s issue… Rumba launches in Philly, expands in Boston – New jocks on The Block – Throwbacks launch in Hartford – Forever says “neigh” to Wilbur – Remembering Jack Mindy
By SCOTT FYBUSH
*When iHeart turned off the soft AC “Breeze” on its WISX (106.1 Philadelphia) on Tuesday, ending the format’s run after just over three years in favor of a temporary simulcast of top-40 WIOQ (Q102), the speculation ramped up in earnest about what might show up next on this oft-flipped frequency. Over the last few decades, 106.1 segued from smooth jazz to rhythmic AC to hot AC and back to rhythmic AC before the Breeze blew in late in 2018.
In an overcrowded market where iHeart already had winning top-40, hip-hop and R&B stations, where else could 106.1 go – country against Beasley’s WXTU, classic rock against Beasley’s WMGK and WMMR?
As the simulcast ended on Thursday at noon, the answer became clear: a 24-hour stunt loop of Bad Bunny songs pointed the way towards 106.1’s relaunch on Friday as “Rumba 106.1, #1 Para Reggaetón Y Variedad.”
The new Spanish-language station, which launches with 10,000 commercial-free songs, brings back the Rumba brand that Clear Channel had used in 2006-2007 on WUBA-FM 104.5 (now “Alt” WRFF) and then from 2007-2011 on WUBA (1480). Unlike that version of Rumba, which was more of a Spanish tropical format, the new “Rumba” is a higher-energy format aimed at a market that’s now considerably more Hispanic than it was a decade and a half ago.
The new Rumba brings a full-market class B signal to bear against the existing Spanish-language stations in town with similar formats, the AM/translator combinations of “Mega” (WEMG 1310/105.7) and “La Kalle” (WHAT 1340/99.9). It also provides the potential for sales pairings with other nearby iHeart formats, including the existing “Rumba” in Reading (WRFY-HD2/92.3) and the growing “Rumba” in Boston, WZRM (97.7). The Boston station has just added a local midday shift to its schedule, hosted by Sergio “Chocolate” Toribio, who joins PD Tony Banana in afternoons and the syndicated Enrique Santos in mornings.
As for the Breeze, it had only one local voice at the end, morning host Valerie Knight, who was let go as part of the format change.
And if you don’t have your Tower Site Calendar, now’s the time!
If you’ve been waiting for the price to come down, it’s now 30 percent off!
This year’s cover is a beauty — the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. Both the towers and the landscape are gorgeous.
And did you see? Tower Site of the Week is back, featuring this VOA site as it faces an uncertain future.
Other months feature some of our favorite images from years past, including some Canadian stations and several stations celebrating their centennials (buy the calendar to find out which ones!).
We still have a few of our own calendars left – as well as a handful of Radio Historian Calendars – and we are still shipping regularly.
The proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here – and if that matters to you, now’s the time to show that support with an order of the Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025, too. Why not order both?)
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the new calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!
In this week’s issue… After NAB, hope and confusion - WZLX, WBEB relaunch morning shows - WJTO, WLAM stay alive for now - MBC takes over Bell stations - Remembering Mimi Griswold, Herb Squire By SCOTT FYBUSH Jump to: ME...
In this week’s issue… Fear and Uncertainty in Las Vegas - Memory Stations to sign off - WNED, WBFO rebrand - Najman out at WDEV - Zoomer expands in Ontario By SCOTT FYBUSH Jump to: ME - NH - VT...
A visit to many of the sites in Pennsylvania's Poconos, plus Bold Gold's stations in Scranton
In this week’s issue… Remembering Pittsburgh's Quinn - Seven Mountains enters Harrisburg - My launches new brands - Ryan out at B101 - More cuts at Radio Vermont - Another AM deleted
