Key West Radio History

[Groove1670]

Hi yall'

Since Key West is now a rated market (#239) yeah!! and my hometown. I have decided to write a brief history of the town radio and add it to WIKIpedia. Yes I know there are other stations down there. But these are the Key Players. Feel free to add dialog or discuss.

Here is my entry:

Key West with a population of 30,000 has numerous commerical radio stations. Since most of the Miami metro stations fail to reach the island. Key west has a captive local radio audience. There are other stations located in the Florida Keys. The stations covered are the signals that city grade Key West Florida.


AM Stations:

WKWF 1600 - A fulltime 500 watt station.In 1945 this station signed on the air. It featured a variety of progamming including variety in the 1950 and 1960's. Country and rock in the 1970's. Big Band and showtunes in the 1980's, and now the current format sports.

WKIZ 1500 - A fulltime 250 watt station. The second oldest statio on the island. Started in the late 50's the station played top 40 music till 1990 when it was sold. The format was spanish for a brief period, and now is a Air America affiliate.

WFFG 1300 - A fulltime 2500 watt station. This station is located in Marathon Florida (about 50 miles away). It still reaches Key West with a strong signal. It was a top 40 station in the 1970's Country in the 1980's. It currently has a talk format.

FM Stations:

WEOW 92.3 FM - The first FM station in Key West. Originally WFYN FM with a beautiful music format till 1982. Format changed to Adult Contemporary, and finally Top 40 in 1990.

WKEY 93.5 FM - Originally a 3,000 watt station. Was the original frequency for WWUS FM. Boosted power to 33,000 watts in the 1990's. Has had the original light AC format since sign on. Call letters changed from WKRY.

WCNK 98.7 FM - Originally a rock station WOZN. Sold to the owners of WWUS FM and changed to jazz. The station now has a country format.

WAIL 99.5 FM - This station was originally on 95.5 FM WVFK with a eclectic format. That transmitter site burned in the 1980's and was returned to the original owner. The station signed on with a country format. It was sold in the 1980's and was change to a electic rock format. The tower was destroyed in a hurricane, and once again was returned to the original owners which switched the station a top 40 format. The station was sold once again and went bankrupt and was repossed by the original owners once again. I the 1990's the station was sold to Clear Channel, and is classic rock.

WPIK 102.5 FM - This station signed on in 1991 with a hot country format. In 2003 it was was changed to a Hot AC format through a LMA.
In 2005 the station was sold again. The current format is spanish.

WWUS 104.1 FM- Originally at 104.7 US1 radio has always been a classic hits station. A format change in the 1990's lasted about two weeks, listeners protested, and the format was changed.

WIIS 107.1 FM - This station signed on the air in 1992 with a Adult Contemporary format. The first current hit station on FM. It made such a impact that within a few months WFYN changed format from EZ to Adult Contemporary.

 

[954]

Very interesting... Thanks for participating.

I have DXed WKWF, WFFG, and WKIZ from northern Dade County, a long time ago.

It's probably impossible today, except in the south. WFFG, per their QSL letter, meant
"Florida's Fishing Grounds."

Is there anything else interesting on AM in the keys?

How is reception from the Naples/Ft.Myers market in Key West?

"I like Florida. Everything is in the 80's.
The temperatures, the ages and
the IQ's." ... George Carlin​

 

[RockyWShore]

1600 Key West, FL, WKWF; wow, what a signal. On a Walkman, at night, this station shows up in Guantanamo Bay, Cartegena Colombia, and offshore of Panama City, Panama in the Pacific and offshore of the Peru/Ecuador line! This was back in 2002, on an Aiwa recording Walkman Cassette, bought in Cartegena, Colombia.

Rocky W.
Palm Coast, FL

 

[954]

1600 Key West, FL, WKWF; wow, what a signal. On a Walkman, at night, this station shows up in Guantanamo Bay, Cartegena Colombia, and offshore of Panama City, Panama in the Pacific and offshore of the Peru/Ecuador line! This was back in 2002, on an Aiwa recording Walkman Cassette, bought in Cartegena, Colombia.

Rocky W.
Palm Coast, FL

It's the water, of course.

Radio Locator shows their listenable signal (outer circle)
not reaching Homestead, Port Charlotte, or even Immokalee!

"A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar." ...H. L. Mencken​

 

[RockyWShore]

Indeed, the salt water has a huge role in all that. Sometimes, infrequently, I would pick it up when WQOP Atlantic Beach, FL would be off (not that often) up in Duval County. Neat situation for an AM.
Rocky W.

 

[Jack Ruby]

I remember spending time in Naples, Fl in 1980, and WKWF "Key Rock 16" was the only AOR station, that I could clearly pick up, in that area, at the time, except for the fringe signal of Miami's former WSHE 103.5...

 

[Groove1670]

It is amazing that that the Floriday Keys only has three AM signals. But growing up in the 70's we only had 2 FM signals!!! WKWF had a great signal becasuse the tower was located in the salt water marshes. You could hear it as far as Melborne in the daytime. The corporate office was up there, the VP of the company would call me and tell me what he heard on the station that day!! Sadly, the system was changed to a dipole (same tower) because the crackheads were stealing rhe copper from the ground system. The company decided to replace it. The signal is not as good. "Key rock 16" was a very popular station with the counter culture crowd in the 70's, very well produced station. Another fact WKIZ AM was a 3 tower directional station @ 250 watts unlimited..go figure!!!!

 

[The-Major]

Key West is now a rated market (#239) yeah!!

Key West is not the rated market, but the entire Florida Keys (12+ population of 70,800) is the 291ST rated market as per Arbitron Inc.

WEOW 92.3 FM - The first FM station in Key West. Originally WFYN FM with a beautiful music format till 1982. Format changed to Adult Contemporary, and finally Top 40 in 1990.

It's 92.7 FM. I can occasionally pick-up its 100,000 watt signal all the way up in Homestead. It definitely gets stronger as I head southwest along the infamous '18-Mile Stretch' into Key Largo and beyond.

THE MAJOR

 

[The-Major]

WAIL 99.5 FM - This station was originally on 95.5 FM WVFK with a eclectic format. That transmitter site burned in the 1980's and was returned to the original owner. The station signed on with a country format. It was sold in the 1980's and was change to a electic rock format. The tower was destroyed in a hurricane, and once again was returned to the original owners which switched the station a top 40 format. The station was sold once again and went bankrupt and was repossed by the original owners once again. I the 1990's the station was sold to Clear Channel, and is classic rock.

MUSICONRADIO.COM,

I see that you were the APD of WAIL-FM back in the late-1980s when it was a TOP 40 station. I visited Key West for the very first time in my life in 1988 (just a few months after I moved to Homestead from the U.K.), and I faintly remember tuning-in to WAIL while I was down there discovering the island paradise.

What was it like working at WAIL back then during the fun tail-end of the 1980s when the TOP 40 radio and music industry was peaking ? Did your station do anything crazy back then as far as local promotional stunts, or was it sort of laid-back (just like the island) ? TOP 40 radio was very eclectic back then with everything from hair metal rock to teen bubblegum pop to Brit electro dance sharing the playlist. Did WAIL skew in a particular direction (such as more rock than not), or was it generally a mainstream mix of everything that was big at the time ?

Take us back to the late-1980s won't you ? I have a craving for some nostalgia right about now !

THE MAJOR

 

[Groove1670]

Major is was a very fun station. We were classified as a "Churban" station at that time. We were heavily dayparted lighter songs before 4PM during the week to keep the office crowd listening. Core artists were Bobby Brown, Stevie B., Salt-N-Pepa,Expose, Noel, Will to Power, When in Rome etc. You would also hear JJ fad, Dino, Seduction, Rob Base, Art Of Noise, De La Soul, expose etc. Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and New Kids on The Block were also in rotation.

Two unusual features we had was ( well now it would be for top 40) was "Lunchtime gold" from 11 till 1 middays. I hosted this show, took phones requests it covered all charted songs from 1950 to 1980. I bought compilation albums from TV and flea markets to create the library (freedom rock, dancin the night away, Oldies but goodies series). We also did a quiet storm show on sunday night from 10PM to 2AM. You could hear anything from Gino vanelli "I just wanna stop" to Keith Sweat "make it last forever", sade "smmoth operator" once again the songs were rhythmic crossover .

At our peak, we were running 14 minutes of spots per hour, Monthly revenue $65,000 and when ratings were taken (I think at that time once a year) We had a 28 share!! #1 ;D

The station was very basic. 4 Dynamax CTR-10 Cart machines (we were the only station with STEREO cart machines) One tapecaster. A BE board. Two technics turntables, and one otari reel to reel. The production room was the same except for the huge and bulky Ampro board.

Our two secet weapons. We had a optimod 8100, And the Flamethrower jingle package from Jam.

The AM ran music of your life "WKWF" and had a old spotmaster 6 decker that was tripped by a relay to run commercials. Oh I forgot one cart for liners, One for Legal ID, and one was a fill cart (That one ran most of the time) :

And there is your Key's history lesson for the night. enjoy

 

[RadioGuy2004]

Wow....those Art Laboe comps sound as good on vinyl as they do on tape and CD (my parents have a ton left over from the late '50s and '60s on vinyl that sound awesome!)

Just a quick blurb. lol

 

[The-Major]

Major is was a very fun station. We were classified as a "Churban" station at that time. We were heavily dayparted lighter songs before 4PM during the week to keep the office crowd listening. Core artists were Bobby Brown, Stevie B., Salt-N-Pepa,Expose, Noel, Will to Power, When in Rome etc. You would also hear JJ fad, Dino, Seduction, Rob Base, Art Of Noise, De La Soul, expose etc. Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and New Kids on The Block were also in rotation.

Good stuff there. You've successfully brought back 1988 and 1989 - two awesome years in the TOP 40 radio and music industry. You can't get more eclectic than that. If only TOP 40 radio were as diverse as that today.

You know back when I was half my current age (young and naive) I could never understand why a TOP 40 station sounded completely different during the daytime as it did at night. I called it the 'hit split personality' back in the day. Y-100 was a notorious culprit of this syndrome back in the late-1980s when they would generally play adult contemporary music from 10 to 3, and then right around 3 PM at the arrival of the afternoon jock they would go totally ballistic and crank out the harder hits. I knew that when I heard Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine" or Guns-N-Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine" it was nearly time to go home from work ! ;D

THE MAJOR

 

[Obtuse1]

Was recently in the Keys and was quite impressed with WIIS FM "Island Alternative". Good variety of music and Indie/Alt. Rock artists. Not your typical formulaic new rocker. I also recall hearing The Beastie Boys "So Watcha Want" in uncensored form....oops!

 

[Groove1670]

We had two AC stations to compete with in the market at that time. WEOW AND WIIS. We were wide open when we started the station, however we had alot of listeners that said the boss would not let them listen to us...hence the dayparting.
Keep in mind Kenny Loggins "heart to heart" was considered upbeat for AC at the time. It is so funny, to hear most of the at work stations play "Love shack" now. Back then no AC station would of even of thought of spinning a song
like that. (and yes for us it was a after 3PM daypart weekdays. ;D

Here is a interesting fact, growing up when "Centerfold" came out in 1982-83 and went #1 no one in Key west played it!!! It was considered too hot and upbeat for WIIS and WEOW, WAIL was still country. So up went the rooftop antennas to listen to Miami.

we used to listen to the Miami stations by hooking up a extra cable TV line to the back of our receiver (way before digital) because the CATV also pulled signal from the air we got a pretty good pickup from Miami to (Tampa at times). I remember listening to some of the jocks on 96 kicks that also worked at Y-100 (they were both owned by metroplex).

 

[Gregg]

Everyone forgot the most powerful AM radio station in the Keys that has NO call letters... Radio Marti 1170. Is it 50,000 watts or is it 100,000 watts? It's not listed at www.radio-locator.com

When I was in the Keys for a vacation a few years ago, staying in Marathon, my favorite stations were an automated Smooth Jazz station and another automated station that was VERY soft AC, WKEZ. The Smooth Jazz station was audible in Key West although by Marathon, WKEZ was only audible in the car, licensed to a community near Key Largo. WKEZ's coverage was mostly between Marathon and Homestead but I liked its format, a soft AC that still plays The Carpenters, Barry Manilow and Sinatra. I was surprised I couldn't pick up any Ft. Myers-Naples-Marco signals in the Keys except for a few AM stations that must be right near the water. Not even easy listening WAVV, 100,000 watts from Marco, was listenable.

I suppose if you don't have cable or satellite TV, you really can't pick up Miami TV signals very well. But can you pick up Cuban TV some nights? I'm surprized the local cable system doesn't pick up a Cuban TV signal for rebroadcast unless that's politically incorrect. Cable systems on the borders of Canada and Mexico regularly pick up signals from those countries. And with the large Cuban population in the Keys, you'd think they might want to see Cuban TV, even if the news is propaganda.

Several Cuban AMs were quite audible, including several frequencies for Radio Reloj, Cuba's all-news station that ticks off every second and has a beep every minute like a time-signal station, with anchors who read short news stories between the beeps and the time checks. (I remember one female anchor in middays who kept reading stories that were too long, often finishing her copy after the beep had already sounded, even as she tried to finish in time.) My Spanish isn't great but I was amazed at how many stories had to do with the U.S., mentioning El Presidente Bush and La Casa Blanca.

One Cuban AM music station played a lot of contemporary international music, including Madonna and Springsteen. But I'm pretty sure I didn't hear any Cuban FM stations. All the Spanish stations on FM were from the U.S.



Gregg
[email protected]

 

[OldGringo]

Everyone forgot the most powerful AM radio station in the Keys that has NO call letters... Radio Marti 1170. Is it 50,000 watts or is it 100,000 watts? It's not listed at www.radio-locator.com

100,000 watts fired right at Cuba on 1180. It has no calls as it is not licensed by the FCC. The USIA or whatever the name is today does not need FCC authority, just as it does not to operate the 500 kw SW transmitters in Greenville,.

 

[The Goodfellow]

The call letters WPRT appear to be available. How cool would Parrothead Radio be for Key West? Seriously, I'm just surfing Radio-Info and reading this. Does anyone on the Keys spotlight Buffett? Sometimes an outsider asks stupid but obvious questions!

Goodfellow

 

[Groove1670]

Believe it or not one station has a daily break. But at anytime you can walk up and down the main strip in town and hear his music :. It would be burnout for regular TSL.

As for WIIS - they have a very small but loyal advertiser/listener base, but I guess that is enough to survive. They should stream. They really don't follow a format, I think they would have a loyal non-format following. I know their tower height was decreased a few years back (it was a self 200 Ft self support tower in the heart of downtown, I think they decreased the height for safety reasons). Don't know if they increased power. they used to be 1800W ERP 200FT. Transmitter output was 600W with a old mcmartin transmitter. I think because of the military (aircraft) and the frequency 107.1 the FCC said no.