City Clinton, Illinois Frequency 95.9 MHz Format Adult Standards | Slogan "America's Best Music" First air date December 15, 1975 ERP 6,000 watts | |
WEZC (95.9 FM) is a radio station licensed to serve Clinton, Illinois, United States. The station, established in 1975 as WHOW-FM, is currently owned the Miller Media Group and the broadcast license is held by Kaskaskia Broadcasting, Inc.
Contents
Programming
WEZC broadcasts an adult standards music format featuring the "America's Best Music" satellite-delivered format from Westwood One, formerly Dial Global.
History
This station began broadcasting as WHOW-FM at 95.9 MHz with 3,000 watts of effective radiated power and licensed to Cornbelt Broadcasting Company. WHOW-FM and its AM sister station broadcast from an office building at their shared tower site, four miles (6 km) south of Clinton, built to resemble a "big red barn".
In 2002, both WHOW and WHOW-FM shut down due to complaints from the FCC about the two stations' main signal tower.
After nearly a quarter-century of ownership by the Livesay family, Cornbelt Broadcasting Company (James R. Livesay II, president) reached an agreement in December 2003 to transfer the broadcast license for this station to WHOW Radio, LLC (William E. Brady, manager/member) along with AM sister station WHOW for a reported combined sale price of $300,000. The deal was approved by the FCC on January 26, 2004, and the transaction was consummated on February 9, 2004. At the time of the sale, both stations were "dark" for reported financial reasons. In September 2004, WHOW-FM adopted a sports radio format while the AM station focused on news and talk programming.
An ice storm, part of the Early Winter 2006 North American Storm Complex, struck the Central Illinois region on November 30, 2006. On December 1, the broadcast tower shared by WHOW-FM and its AM counterpart collapsed under the weight of the accumulated ice. The AM station was able to return to the air at reduced power a few days later using a longwire antenna while WHOW-FM resumed broadcasting from a makeshift 60-foot (18 m) tower on December 8. The station received special temporary authority from the FCC in January 2007 to operate in this manner until a new, permanent tower could be constructed.
The extensive damage and the station combo's struggling finances led the WHOW Radio, LLC, partners, led by Illinois state senator Bill Brady, to sell the station to local media group owner Randy Miller. In October 2007, WHOW Radio, LLC, announced an agreement to sell WHOW-FM to Kaskaskia Broadcasting, Inc. (Randy Miller, president) as part of a two-station deal along with AM sister station WHOW for a reported $400,000. Kaskaskia Broadcasting, Inc., is part of the Miller Media Group. The deal was approved by the FCC on December 7, 2007, and the transaction was consummated on January 4, 2008. At the time of the sale, WHOW-FM broadcast a sports radio format branded as "ESPN Radio 95.9".
WHOW-FM, still broadcasting from a temporary tower while the new tower was being erected, received an extension of its special temporary authorization on January 17, 2008. Both the AM and FM stations returned to full power operation on February 25, 2008.
The station was assigned the current WEZC call letters (which stands for the "easy hits" music the station plays, and "C" for Clinton) by the Federal Communications Commission on December 26, 2008. The new callsign was chosen to reflect the station's current "easy hits" branded adult standards music format.
WHOW now simulcasts on FM at 92.3.