WEZV

WEZV
City North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Broadcast area Grand Strand
Branding Easy 105.9 & 100.7
Slogan Your Relaxation Station
Frequency 105.9 MHz
First air date August 15, 1972[1]
Format Easy Listening
ERP 17,000 watts
HAAT 110 meters
Class C3
Facility ID 49986
Transmitter coordinates 33°51′16.00″N 78°43′0.00″W / 33.8544444°N 78.7166667°W / 33.8544444; -78.7166667
Former callsigns WNMB[2]
Owner John and Blake Byrne
(Byrne Acquisition Group MB, LLC)
Webcast Listen Live
Website wezv.com

WEZV (105.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting an Easy listening format. Licensed to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA, the station serves the Myrtle Beach and Wilmington areas. The station is currently owned by Byrne Acquisition Group MB, LLC and is branded as Easy 105.9.[3][4]

History

WNMB signed on on August 15, 1972 in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. For much of its history the station played an adult contemporary and oldies mix. Air-personalities in the late 1970s and early 1980s included Program Director Bill Norman, Billy Smith, Dick Biondi, Bill Campbell, Jay Charland and Calvin Hicks. Calvin Hicks and Billy Smith were DJs in 1985.[5]

In 1997, after listening to a consultant in Cleveland, WNMB switched from adult contemporary to hot adult contemporary, with a sound more like modern rock or adult alternative than fans were used to. Bob and Sheri were also added in the morning. Vice president of operations and midday host Phil Thompson said people thought they were hearing Surf 107.5 in nearby Wilmington and ratings dropped. By 1999 WNMB returned to mainstream adult contemporary with such artists as Dan Hartman, Bill Medley, Jennifer Warnes, Kenny Loggins, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, Backstreet Boys, Eric Clapton and Sarah McLachlan, but not Kenny G. Alanis Morissette, Citizen King, Collective Soul, Pearl Jam, Lit, Train, and Len were out, though Bob and Sheri remained.[6]

B-105.9 once had a bee as its symbol. Former B105/B105.9 employees include but are not limited to: Mitch Adams, Steve McClung, Barry Ballard, Phil Thompson, Dave Dobson, Steve Chapman and Tyler Watkins. Scott Richards continues to work at the station today.

At one time the studios were located on Pine Avenue in North Myrtle Beach,[7] but new owners moved to Wesley Drive in Myrtle Beach and WNMB, a simulcast partner during part of its history, took the old studios after it went out on its own.[8]

With ratings down and the other easy listening station having changed format in 2000, WNMB changed to its current call letters and the easy listening format, dropping Bob and Sheri.[9] The 94.5 WYEZ frequency was added later in the year.[8] Over the next few years, the two stations evolved, reducing the number of instrumentals until eventually the stations' format crossed the line to what most radio stations would call adult standards. WYEZ dropped its simulcast in July 2007.[10] In 2008, WEZV began simulcasting on WGTN-FM.

As of 2014, Diane DeVaughn Stokes has hosted "Diane at Six" weekdays from 6 to 7 PM for nearly five years. After another station dropped him, John Tesh returned to Grand Strand radio on WEZV and WGTN-FM during the evening, a time when the stations had never had a person on the air.[11] Tesh moved to WYEZ late in 2016.[12]

Another WEZV was previously owned by Holt Broadcasting, broadcasting over the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania from 1973 to 1978 on 95.1 FM. Kalamusic Corporation out of Kalamazoo, Michigan picked up the call sign in 1979. It was operated as an Easy Listening station in Fort Wayne, Indiana (101.7 FM) with its sister station of WEZR on the AM side. The call letters were dropped when the station changed formats around 1990. A year later, Bomar Broadcasting would assume the call letters and broadcast on 95.3 FM out of Lafayette, Indaiana until 1998.

References

  1. ↑ Broadcasting and Cable Marketplace. New Providence, NJ: Bowker. 1992. p. A-312. ISSN 0000-1384.
  2. ↑ "Call Sign History". Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  3. ↑ "WEZV Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  4. ↑ "WEZV Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  5. ↑ Toby Eddings, "WYAK changes its lineup and image," The Sun News, April 25, 1999.
  6. ↑ Toby Eddings, "WJXY-AM silent thanks to Floyd," The Sun News, October 3, 1999.
  7. ↑ Toby Eddings, "A digital cable converter for Taz," The Sun News, June 6, 1999.
  8. 1 2 Kathleen Vereen Dayton, "NMB to Get AM Radio Station All Its Own," The Sun News, December 16, 2000.
  9. ↑ Kathleen Dayton, "WNMB-FM Changing Its Format to Easy Listening," The Sun News, August 26, 2000.
  10. ↑ Steve Palisin, "Bob Gets Sibling ... Station, That Is," The Sun News, July 27, 2007.
  11. ↑ Palisin, Steve (September 27, 2014). "Tesh happy to return to Myrtle Beach airwaves". The Sun News.
  12. ↑ Palisin, Steve (November 4, 2016). "'Brooke & Jubal' spark weekday mornings for Energy 92.1". The Sun News.
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