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1280 WEXI NEWS RADIO

T

thebeach33445

Hey Guys:

I saw on some posts here that WEXI was once a all news station. In the 1978 and 1985 yearbooks the format was listed as All News. Would anybody know if WEXI became All news in 1976 when Hayes Broadcasting bought the station in that same year?

Thanks for your help guys!!

T.J.
 
WEXI-AM 1280 has had several formats, including all news... In fact, the AM 1280 frequency has had several call letters as well as format changes over the years before it finally went dark as black gospel formatted WSVE...I do know that WEXI had other formats other than all news between 1978 and 1985. One of them was adult contemporary/oldies in the early 80s...

Mark Tillery
General Manager
WELE-AM 1380
Ormond Beach - Daytona
[email protected]
 
In early 1977, WEXI was advertised as the radio station that would make newspapers obsolete in Jacksonville. Jacksonville's first all-news station was formerly WIVY-AM 1280. It was purchased by Pat Hayes, former sales manager for WIVY.

Pat chose WEXI because a station that he was familiar with in Chicago previously had used that call.

The WEXI studio was on Commerce St. near University Blvd and Arlington Rd. For a year or so, it was all news. Then talk shows were added and news programming diminished.

The most controversial WEXI host was Doctor X. He lasted until 1982 or so before being fired on the air one day by Pat Hayes and program manager Wayne Mashburn. Tirades against the First Baptist Church and local Catholic churches triggered his replacement by Woody Cooper.
 
jiminy cricket said:
In early 1977, WEXI was advertised as the radio station that would make newspapers obsolete in Jacksonville. Jacksonville's first all-news station was formerly WIVY-AM 1280. It was purchased by Pat Hayes, former sales manager for WIVY.

Pat chose WEXI because a station that he was familiar with in Chicago previously had used that call.

The WEXI studio was on Commerce St. near University Blvd and Arlington Rd. For a year or so, it was all news. Then talk shows were added and news programming diminished.

The most controversial WEXI host was Doctor X. He lasted until 1982 or so before being fired on the air one day by Pat Hayes and program manager Wayne Mashburn. Tirades against the First Baptist Church and local Catholic churches triggered his replacement by Woody Cooper.
Click to expand...

I thought 1280 was once WIVY-AM. Thanks for verifying that bit of trivia. Also, wasn't WEXI an All News station once again sometime in the '80s? It also seems to me that I heard an oldies based adult contemporary music format on WEXI sometime in the mid to late '80s as well... Do you happen to remember which Chicago station formerly possessed the WEXI call letters?

Mark Tillery
General Manager
WELE-AM 1380
Ormond Beach - Daytona
[email protected]
 
Mostly talk shows and network news/features through the mid 1980s. Also local sports talk hosted by Chris Russo. College football and other play-by-play sports events.

Toward the end, music programming increased and there could have been another brief all-news period.

Not sure of the frequency of the Chicago area WEXI but Pat referred to it several times.

During transition from WIVY to WEXI, there was a top 40 style format separate from WIVY-FM.
 
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