WROA Gulfport

[qid937]

107.1 has been there for as long as I can remember. 96.7 just moved there after Katrina from a site always flooded by the Biloxi River just north of I-10.

107.1 used to be called WZKX (until sometime in the mid 80s) and was the FM sister to WROA, which is why it's on WROA's tower. When co-owned WRPM-FM in Poplarville got approval to move to WXXV's stick and upgrade it signal, you could still only have one FM per market, so they had to sell 107.1. This was mid 80's. The folks who owned the drive-thru fast food chain (similar to a Rally's or Checkers, what were they called??) bought it, and Lite 107 was born.

It really makes you feel old, when you tell a story and you realize you can't remember all the details as you once could. lol

Lite 107, with the calls WXLS at the time, was purchased from the Dowdys by the Steelman family, who also owned Indy's restaurants. Famous for their flame-broiled burgers and battered fries. The Steelmans already owned 1490 AM, which was, at the time, WBND, running a satellite big band format. Bob Edwards was the veteran morning guy--and later ran for local political office and lost, after a brief stint with the then-fledgling WXXV-TV 25.

The two radio stations were located in the building that was (is?) across the parking lot from Channel 13. That small, cinder-block building later held four or five stations (tight squeeze!) after the Steelmans sold their cluster. That group is, of course, now owned by Triad.

By the way, is The Reverend still spinnin' the hits on Hank?

Oh good Lord, memories of the WLOX parking lot, six of us shared the conference room as an office, and the sales department was around the corner on Gulfwater. In 1997, it was Gulf Coast Radio Partners (Mike Schwartz) that bought the Steelman chain (1490 AM, 96.7, 105.9 & 107.1), Jack White's 97.9 WCPR, and 540 WVMI (moved to 1640 as WTNI). Triad (David Benjamin) bought the stations from GCRP in 1999.

The Rev is doing PM drive on 96.7 HANK-FM (V/T), as he's having a blast and sounding damn good doing morning drive with William Sackett on my Talk Radio 1640 WTNI (http://www.1640wtni.com).

Wow Wayne. Thanks for the history lesson! It's always great to hear 'how it was' from the pros with the deets you provided. I do remember visitng the old studios behind LOX on a couple of occasions. I recall seeing the WCPR stuido with what appeared to be it's own unique set up, and the WVMI studios with massive main frames in the corner.

And for those thinking about Indy's fast food, man that was goooooodddd stuff. I remember the hot dogs and seasoned fries, man Rally's/Checker's is good, but not as good as I remember Indy's. As an aside the last Indy's I remember operating was the one on Hwy 90 in Biloxi. Right in front of Mary Mahony's and next to the Hancock Bank.