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
Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada
*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?
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.
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We chose the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. This picture has everything we like in our covers — blue skies, greenery, water, and of course, towers! The history behind this site is a draw, too.
Other months feature some of our favorite images from years past, including some Canadian stations and several stations celebrating their centennials (can you guess? you don’t have to if you buy the calendar!).
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This will be the 24th edition of the world-famous Tower Site Calendar, and your support will determine whether it will be the final edition.
It’s been a complicated few years here, and as we finish up production of the new edition, we’re considering the future of this staple of radio walls everywhere as we evaluate our workload going forward.
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 new Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the new Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025 ready to ship, too. Why not order both?)
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