Branding Lite Rock 105 | Frequency 105.1 MHz | |
City Providence, Rhode Island Broadcast area Providence metropolitan area Slogan Today's Hits & Yesterday's Favorites First air date July 11, 1948 (as WPJB) | ||
WWLI (105.1 FM) is a radio station in Providence, Rhode Island that under ownership of Cumulus Media. This station is better known as "Lite Rock 105" and plays the adult contemporary format. Its transmitter is located in Johnston, Rhode Island, while its studios are located in East Providence.
Contents
History
The station began broadcasting July 11, 1948 as WPJB, owned by The Providence Journal. WPJB was initially one of the few FM stations to not be co-owned with an AM station, but in 1951 the Journal purchased WFCI (1420 AM) and changed its call letters to WPJB; this resulted in the FM station changing to WPJB-FM. The Journal would shut down WPJB on October 9, 1954 after purchasing WEAN (790 AM; now WPRV) from General Teleradio; as WEAN did not operate an FM station, WPJB-FM remained on the air with classical music, though both stations retained their existing call letters. The station subsequently incorporated beautiful music into its programming as well.
WPJB-FM became a top 40 station, "JB 105", on August 1, 1975, a change promoted in The Providence Journal the week before; the station's classical music library was donated to the Providence College radio station, WDOM, a year later. The station initially used an early version of a format developed by Mike Joseph that eventually became known as Hot Hits (branded as "Big Hits" on WPJB), though it phased out most aspects of this format by 1977. WPJB saw some ratings success when rival WPRO-FM began taking a more adult-focused approach in 1980, boosting its teen listenership; however, by the end of the year, WPRO-FM's ratings began to recover, and WPJB began making changes to its format. Initially, at the start of 1981, the station moved to more of a rock-based direction, but after WHJY adopted an album rock format in September, WPJB abruptly backed away from this emphasis. The following year, the station began shifting to an adult contemporary format; that November, WPJB stopped including a top-35 chart in The Providence Journal, and in 1983 the "JB 105" branding was dropped. WPJB again shifted closer to top 40 in August 1984.
The Providence Journal sold WPJB-FM and WEAN to Eastern Broadcasting Corporation in 1985. Eastern placed less emphasis on the WPJB call letters that April; on June 13, the station began to announce that "WPJB is dead!", and after a period of stunting, it adopted a soft adult contemporary format, "Lite 105", on June 14, with the call letters changing to WWLI. Eastern Broadcasting was bought by Tele-Media in 1989; four years later, Tele-Media bought former rival WPRO-FM and its AM sister station. Tele-Media, in turn, sold its stations to Citadel Broadcasting in 1997. WWLI soon moved to a mainstream adult contemporary format, and changed its branding to "Lite Rock 105" in 2001.
In 2007, the format was freshened to include more 1980s, 1990s and current songs, while dropping some songs from the 1970s. By the end of 2008, longtime afternoon host Charlie Jefferds left the station and live weekend hosts were eliminated in a cost cutting measure. In November 2010, mid-day host Tanya Cruise left the station in light of personal affairs. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011. On November 4, 2011, NiteLite host Art Spencer was released after 18 years as the station's evening host, per budget cuts ordered by new owner, Cumulus. Since 2012, the format has leaned more in the direction of Hot Adult Contemporary.
n December 2013, the new "Heather and Steve" morning show debuted (former host David Jones exited in November 2013), and in February 2014, "Intelligence for Your Life with John Tesh" was added.
In October 2014, Lite Rock's "2 Lite Chicks" (Heather Gersten and Amy Pontes) debuted the "Wicked Awesome 80's (sic) Show." It airs on Saturday nights.
Lite Rock 105 is also known as "The Christmas Station," going all Christmas music November thru the end of the year.
Personalities
Current air personalities include morning show hosts Heather and Steve (Heather Gersten and Stephen Donovan), mid-day host Amy Pontes, afternoon host Paul Giammarco, and evening host John Tesh.
Notable former personnel include inaugural Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame member Charlie Jefferds, Former Program Director Brian Demay, former Program Director Tony Bristol, former morning show host David Jones, former Nite Lite host Art Spencer, former morning show host Gary Degraide, former Assistant Program Director Mike Rovin (a.k.a. "JT"), Heidi West, Peter Clark, Linda Liese, Tom Holt, Bonnie, Donna Mac, Sue Wilson, Rebecca Morse Whitten (a.k.a. Kim Wakefield), Scott Cook, Lori Sergiacomi (a.k.a. "Tanya Cruise"), Larry Kruger, Rick Cabral (a.k.a. "RJ"), Michael Bernz (deceased) and Cruisin' Bruce Palmer.