Miami/Fort Lauderdale AUDIO: 96X Signs Off After Losing Its License (1981)

[DToTheJ]

Does anyone here know what the format was in its final years? Could be CHR, could be AC.

 

[RadioGuy2004]

Definitely Top 40.

A sad aircheck from South Florida's radio past. The late (frequent RI/RD board member and well-known South Florida personality) Stuart Elliott was the one tasked with signing the station off. Forced off the air by the FCC because of phony contests, news and other things discussed on these boards.

Once MOR/B-EZ WJHR flipped to Top 40 in 1971, WMYQ/WMJX was Top 40, the brief segue to all-disco as Disco 96 included, until the signoff in 1981. The 96.3 frequency was auctioned and brought back on air ironically as 96X in 1985 and became WPOW, POWER 96 in August 1986. Sometime in the late '80s, WPOW moved to 96.5 in order to make room for now-WRMA on 95.7. POWER 96 today as a Classic Hip-Hop/Top 40.

Interesting to speculate what 96X in its original incarnation would have sounded like further into the '80s against Y-100 had they not been forced off the air. Would there have been an I-95 (WINZ-FM)? What about K-102 flipping to AC Magic 102? 97A1A flipping to GTR?

 

[4dude]

Don't even THINK about quoting this post

Thats very sad hearing... Any station made to go off air isnt good!!

 

[seattlesarchiebunker]

Definitely Top 40.

A sad aircheck from South Florida's radio past. The late (frequent RI/RD board member and well-known South Florida personality) Stuart Elliott was the one tasked with signing the station off. Forced off the air by the FCC because of phony contests, news and other things discussed on these boards.

Once MOR/B-EZ WJHR flipped to Top 40 in 1971, WMYQ/WMJX was Top 40, the brief segue to all-disco as Disco 96 included, until the signoff in 1981. The 96.3 frequency was auctioned and brought back on air ironically as 96X in 1985 and became WPOW, POWER 96 in August 1986. Sometime in the late '80s, WPOW moved to 96.5 in order to make room for now-WRMA on 95.7. POWER 96 today as a Classic Hip-Hop/Top 40.

Interesting to speculate what 96X in its original incarnation would have sounded like further into the '80s against Y-100 had they not been forced off the air. Would there have been an I-95 (WINZ-FM)? What about K-102 flipping to AC Magic 102? 97A1A flipping to GTR?

Would’ve certainly not been an I-95…they flipped, what, 1-2 months before/after 96X signed off from AOR…once 96X signed back on in (I think) ‘85 or so, Zeta4 came back with a similar (but more classic based) AOR format. At the time, it reminded me a lot of 80s-early 90s WNEW-FM. Definitely toned down a lot of the hair bands and heavy metal that SHE played.

Now, whether WINZ/WZTA would’ve been considered easy enough pickings for WGTR to even bother starting up would be another thing entirely. I still think you’d have WGTR on the air, still stealing WSHE’s AM drive show, and at the end of the day, Zeta would’ve still been the last station of the three to end the rock format…probably right around 2005. And just like our timeline, Cox goes right back at the rock format in SoFla for round 2 with 93Rock.

Unless that rift in time that kept 96X on for those 4 years prevented Bud Paxson from purchasing all those legendary AOR stations in Florida and flipping the format to something more “family friendly” when he became born again in the mid 90’s. Or kept Ron and Ron from breaking up…

One last thing: the person who basically bought out the other applicants for the “new” 96.3/96.5, Constance Wodlinger, seems to be a fascinating character. She held on to the (then) WCJX for less than a year before selling it to Beasley-Reed, sold for about 4x the multiple of what it cost her to buy out the applicants and get the station on the air, then used that money to start up a MTV-like competitor on several UHF stations in major markets known as “The Box”. It was Beasley-Reed who switched the name from 96X to Power96…couldn’t have been more than a couple months after buying it. Then about 6 months after that, they moved to 96.5 (which was mandated by the FCC as part of the new license).

Now, had she not bought all those other applicants out, they’d have had a competitive hearing process at the time which would’ve likely delayed 96.3/96.5 signing on until at least ‘88-89 or so, but likely not until the early 90’s. And at that point, they wouldn’t have even temporarily signed on at 96.3.

Who knows if she’d have still won the license, but the FCC gave credit to women/minority owned businesses in a competitive hearing back then. However, she was competing against a company managed and partially owned by Dwight Lauderdale (yes…that Dwight Lauderdale from WPLG) in addition to a corporation set up by several influential Cuban businessmen who were very insistent the COL was to be Hialeah (just like now, FCC gave credit to a first “local service” and this was before 95.7 signed on with a Hialeah COL)

The whole saga from WMJX’s license revocation over 6 years, their attempts to sell the station, and the new license competitive tender seems to be a fascinating one…However, I still am impressed with the little I know about Constance Wodlinger…maybe those who knew of her will set me straight…though Stuart Elliot is no longer with us sadly to give his perspective as the guy who both signed off WMJX and signed on WCJX.

 

[Bongwater]

That was one of the saddest moments in radio history.