Broadcast area Southern Connecticut HAAT 204 meters (669 ft) Facility ID 48721 City of license Bridgeport Owner Connoisseur Media Branding Star 99.9 | ERP 27,500 watts Class B Frequency 99.9 MHz Format Adult contemporary music Area Bridgeport Slogan Today's Best Mix! | |
First air date October 24, 1960 (as WJZZ) | ||
WEZN-FM (99.9 MHz, "Star 99.9") is a commercial FM radio station, licensed to Bridgeport, Connecticut and serving Southern Connecticut. The station is owned by Connoisseur Media and it airs a hot adult contemporary radio format. The studios and offices are located at 440 Wheelers Farms Road Suite 302 in Milford, Connecticut and the transmitter is off Video Lane in Shelton, Connecticut.
WEZN has a strong signal which reaches north of Hartford, Connecticut as well as into Suffolk County, New York on Long Island to the south and into Westchester County, New York to the west. It has a strong signal in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
History
On October 24, 1960, the station first signed on the air as WJZZ, the FM sister station of WICC. As the call letters imply, the station started out as a Jazz outlet. It was the first station to be assigned the WJZZ call sign followed by 105.9 FM in Detroit, Michigan (now WDMK) and 107.5 FM in Atlanta, Georgia (now WAMJ). There were few FM radios in the 1960s and the all-Jazz format was not financially viable. For a time, WICC simulcast the programming from AM 600 on FM 99.9. WICC sold the station after several years.
The station was later bought by Williams Broadcasting, carrying a beautiful music format and changing its call letters to WEZN to reflect its easy listening sound. While WEZN was a popular and profitable station, the audience wanting to hear mostly orchestras and instrumental music was aging. So in the 1990s, WEZN gradually added more soft adult contemporary vocals until it made the switch to full-time adult contemporary. At the same time, 107.9 WDJF in nearby Westport, Connecticut also moved to an adult contemporary format, so WEZN went a step further, implementing a hot adult contemporary format.
Despite the format changes, the station has kept its WEZN call sign, although it rarely says those call letters on the air, preferring the handle "Star 99.9."
The station was purchased from Cox Radio by Connoisseur Media along with sister stations WFOX and WPLR, at a purchase price of $40 million. Connoisseur Media took ownership on May 10, 2013.
Past radio hosts have included Randye Kaye.