I'm just curious about the history of this station and its format(s). I remember hearing a 1960s aircheck of 1310 WIFE with an FM promo for, I think, "the good life at the top of your dial." Was this a Beautiful Music station, MOR...? And automated, I'm assuming? What years would this format have been on 107.9 and how did it perform?
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
The old 107.9 WIFE-FM
- Thread starter destinationradio
- Start date
It was my folks' favorite station when we lived in Bloomington in the '60s and early '70s. - always playing elevator-music. I think it went off the air temporarily back in '75 or '76 when Don Burden lost his broadcast licenses, and I think it had different call letters when it returned under new ownership (don't quote me - I was gone by then and I'm too lazy to look it up. ;D ).
I was listening to it in Cincinnati when it left the air...and WAUR, Aurora,IL was there the instant the carrier dropped. But I don't recall what the format was on sign off day.
BobOnTheJob said:
I also heard the final sign-off while living in Englewood, OH (Dayton). They lost their license due to lots of problems (rigged contests, etc.) on co-owned WIFE-AM during the 1960's. Owner, Don Burden, fought the FCC for years to stave off the lifting of the licenses, but eventually ran out of appeals. The LAST SONG played was Frank Sinatra's "MY WAY". A brief announcement was made a few minutes before midnight stating they were leaving the air permanently followed by "I Did It MY WAY". The carrier was dropped after that. The frequency remained vacant for a period of time until another station acquired it. WIFE-FM was mainly "elevator music" and was most likely automated, but I am not sure of the automation.
BobOnTheJob said:
IIRC it was briefly CB-108 (WXCB) with a country format before the demise.
It was beautiful music from about 1964 until around '75. It was automated (big reels), but live operators were on duty to plug in the carts when the spot breaks ran. It's studio sat just to the north of the WIFE am studio and to the south of the newsroom. In around '75 it went to some sort of beautiful country format, calling itself CB108, with Reb Porter on in the morning. Don Burden lost the licenses for all his stations in 1976. 107.9 was then dark until the 80s when it came back as WTPI. There was never any contest rigging in Indianapolis, that was an incident that took place at his Omaha station. In Indy, there were some political spots that aired without being paid for, which was an FCC violation.
L
Lamont Lester
Guest
Don Burden was allowed to sell WIFE-AM but in late 1976 was forced to turn off the remainder of the group including WIFE-FM, KOIL / Omaha and KISN / Portland.
For the most part, WIFE-FM was beautiful music. Not long before the station was forced off the air they attempted to cash in on the CB radio craze as country formatted CB-108 - with Reb Porter hosting mornings. They applied for the call letters WXCB, but were denied on the claim by WXTZ that the calls were too similar and would cause confusion in the market.
From 1973 to sign-off, WIFE-FM was the Indianapolis outlet for NBC radio news. For a brief period in 1975, they came out of each NBC newscast playing a crossover top-40 title from the AM playlist. I seem to recall hearing a lot of spins for Chicago's "Old Days." Talk about a "train wreck" segue - going from that into Mantovani.
The frequency returned to the air in early fall of 1984 as the "ToP for Indianapolis" WTPI.
A fast check of the old "Duncan's American Radio" books at americanradiohistory.com shows WXTZ as a Schulke subscriber in the spring of 1977.
For the most part, WIFE-FM was beautiful music. Not long before the station was forced off the air they attempted to cash in on the CB radio craze as country formatted CB-108 - with Reb Porter hosting mornings. They applied for the call letters WXCB, but were denied on the claim by WXTZ that the calls were too similar and would cause confusion in the market.
From 1973 to sign-off, WIFE-FM was the Indianapolis outlet for NBC radio news. For a brief period in 1975, they came out of each NBC newscast playing a crossover top-40 title from the AM playlist. I seem to recall hearing a lot of spins for Chicago's "Old Days." Talk about a "train wreck" segue - going from that into Mantovani.
The frequency returned to the air in early fall of 1984 as the "ToP for Indianapolis" WTPI.
A fast check of the old "Duncan's American Radio" books at americanradiohistory.com shows WXTZ as a Schulke subscriber in the spring of 1977.
L
Lamont Lester
Guest
flip23 said:
It had returned to BM as WIFE-FM prior to the forced sign-off.
In the 1970's, I was able to hear them, and most all of Indy's FMs in Englewood, OH (10 miles NW of Dayton). I had a large, rotatable, multi-element combo VHF/FM yagi up about 50 feet to bring them in... At that time, wasn't WIFE-FM located on a tower atop the Merchants National Bank building at Washington and Meridean in the heart of downtown Naptown? Or was that someone else?
L
Lamont Lester
Guest
KR4BD said:
WNAP was on the Merchants Bank building. The WIFE-FM antenna was on the WISH-TV tower on Post Road south of Washington Street on Indy's east side. WIFE-FM was 41kw at 910 ft. By the way, the 1977 Broadcasting Yearbook lists the WIFE-FM call letters as deleted on Sept. 8, 1976.
KR4BD said:
After thinking about it, I think WIFE-FM was on the old WISH-TV tower on the far Eastside. I think, WTPI when they came on-the-air on the old WIFE-FM frequency (107.9) THEY DID use the tower on the old Merchant's Bank building downtown.
Who used that downtown tower in the early 1970's??? Was it WNAP?
L
Lamont Lester
Guest
KR4BD said:
In 1979 WNAP built a new tower north of the WISH tower but still on S. Post Rd and closer to Washington St. WIBC, WFMS and WZPL continue on that tower today. Since the WTPI launch in 1984, 107.9 has been on Indy's NW side.
Indy's FCC problems were six words... "Free Political Spots For Vance Hartke".... The FM had the questionable contest on a free home... And it was off the air for years, as the many radio groups applied and had to go through the pain staking walk of "Who will get it?"... Older model of FCC license awarding.. 
WIFE FM was on the old WISH TV tower on the east side. Today, WZPL 99.5 is on that tower. WIBC 93.1 and WFMS 95.5 are on another tower about 1/2 mile north of the old WISH TV tower (WISH is on a different tower on the NW side of Indy). WTPI 107.9 originally applied for one of the towers on the east side but ultimately opted for a NW side location. That was good for what is now WLHK 97.1 . If 107.9 would have used the east side tower, 97.1 would still be out in the sticks with a far less useful signal.
L
Lamont Lester
Guest
BobOnTheJob said:
Interesting. It's been 14 years since I left Indy and I wasn't aware that WZPL had moved to the old WISH tower. When did that happen?
WZPL aux transmitter is located at the WISH TV analogue site on Post Rode but on the north tower not on the TV tower. WISH AM used a 2 tower night DA, with the second tower south of the 1000 TV tower. The site had 3 towers, with the 1000 TV tower as the center tower but was never used as a part of the 1310 night time antenna system. As far as I know, the 1000 TV tower is not being used to do anything but hold up the old analogue antenna.
Used to work at WISH TV in the late 60s when the site still had both AM towers up. The place was swampy as hell which gave WISH AM a great signal. The AM towers were .58 wave. The had the best signal of any of the cities 5kw non D stations.
Used to work at WISH TV in the late 60s when the site still had both AM towers up. The place was swampy as hell which gave WISH AM a great signal. The AM towers were .58 wave. The had the best signal of any of the cities 5kw non D stations.
- Status