Broadcast area Grand Strand Frequency 94.5 MHz | Branding 94.5 The Tide | |
City Murrells Inlet, South Carolina Slogan Today's Best & Yesterday's Favorites First air date February 1991 (as WKOA) | ||
WYEZ is an adult contemporary radio station licensed to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and serves the Grand Strand area. The Byrne Acquisition Group outlet is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast at 94.5 MHz with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 12 kW. The station uses the name "94.5 The Tide".
History
In February 1991, WKOA-FM (Oldies) first went on the air on 94.5. The station had been programmed as an all-Oldies station after listener questionnaires appeared in local newspapers asking readers what type of format was needed for a new radio station that was going to be coming in Feb. of 1991. The winning format was Oldies. Even though former Top-40 Outlet WSYN-FM Sunny 106.5 had just gone all-Oldies in May 1990. The new Koast 94.5 played an odd sort of Oldies, many of which were not heard on Sunny 106.5. The playlist was somewhat small. "Dancing Queen" by ABBA, "Torn Between Two Lovers", and "Tom Dooley" by The Kingston Trio were some of the Oldies played over and over again on WKOA-FM. By late 2002, Koast 94.5 was dead and WRNN-FM All Talk took over. The Tom Snyder Radio Show was one of their early shows. The format lasted for almost 8 years on 94.5 FM.
In 2000, WRNN-FM "Hot Talk 94.5", a 6,000-watt station, traded frequencies with WMYB "Star 99.5", a 25,000-Watt station, for a few weeks. WMYB soon moved to 92.1, leaving the frequency vacant. WEZV needed better coverage of the south end of the market, so a simulcast began. The simulcast ended on July 26, 2007 when WYEZ switched to a soft AC format as "Yes 94.5". On March 17, 2008 the format was tweaked to a Mainstream AC format.
The switch to rhythmic AC took place on September 2, 2008. While the station was consulted by Alan Burns and used the "Movin" name, it was not a rhythmic adult contemporary, to which the Movin' name usually refers. WYEZ was the second rhythmic oldies station that used the slogan, the first being KMVN/Los Angeles, California, which has since changed. The slogan was "Picks You Up and Makes You Feel Good."
Wally B., program director and morning host, said that in Fall 2013 on "Vinally Fridays", the station gave away vinyl albums in listener contests as part of the vinyl revival. These included artists heard on the station that included Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates, Earth, Wind & Fire and Prince.
On April 21, 2015, WYEZ changed their format to adult contemporary, branded as "94.5 The Tide". WYEZ added John Tesh late in 2016.