WKRZ

WKRZ (98.5 FM, "98.5 KRZ") is a commercial radio station licensed to Freeland, Pennsylvania, and serving the Wilkes-Barre - Scranton - Northeastern Pennsylvania radio market. It has aired a Top 40/CHR radio format since 1980. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., through licensee Audacy License, LLC.

WKRZ
Broadcast areaWilkes-Barre - Scranton - Northeastern Pennsylvania
Frequency98.5 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding98.5 KRZ
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatContemporary hit radio
SubchannelsHD2: Country music (WGGY)
HD3: Family Life Network
AffiliationsPremiere Networks
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
1948 (1948) (as WBRE-FM)
Former call signs
WBRE-FM (1948–80)
Call sign meaning
We're KRaZy!
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID34379
ClassB
ERP8,700 watts (analog)
348 watts (digital)[2]
HAAT357 meters (1,171 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
41°11′56.3″N 75°49′4.7″W
Translator(s)103.9 W280FJ (Bloomsburg)
HD3: 92.5 W223CC (Wilkes-Barre)
HD3: 97.5 W248BP (Scranton)
Repeater(s)107.9 WKRF (Tobyhanna)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live (via Audacy)
Websitewww.audacy.com/985krz

WKRZ has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 8,700 watts. The station broadcasts using HD Radio; the country music programming of sister station WGGY (Froggy 101) is heard on its HD2 digital subchannel and Family Life Network is heard on its HD3 digital subchannel. The transmitter tower is located in Bear Creek Township at (41°11′56.0″N 75°49′5.0″W).[3] WKRZ programming is simulcast on WKRF (107.9 FM) in Tobyhanna, serving the Stroudsburg area of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

History

The station first signed on in 1948.[4] The call sign was WBRE-FM, originally licensed to Wilkes-Barre. It was the sister station to WBRE (1480 AM, now WYCK).[5] The WBRE call letters stood for Baltimore Radio Exchange for the original owner, the Baltimore Family, Not Wilkes-BarRE like commonly thought. WBRE-AM-FM evolved through a number of radio formats and by the 1970s, was all-news.[6] At first, the stations used NBC's NIS (News and Information Service). When that was discontinued, it ran the all-news format with its own staff. WBRE-FM, up to that point, broadcast in FM mono since its start in 1948. The station's audience was loyal but the ratings were not great.[7]

WBRE-FM made a big change in 1980 when it was sold. The new owners added FM stereo, along with a format switch to Top 40/CHR music, and with the call sign change to the present WKRZ. WKRZ has been a Top 40 station since 1980, branded at first as 98½ FM KRZ. The station was sold in 1999 to Entercom Communications.[8]

Entercom received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval in 2003 to move co-owned WAMT (103.1 FM, now WILK-FM) from Freeland to Avoca. As a condition of the move, Entercom agreed to change the city of license of WKRZ from Wilkes-Barre to Freeland due to FCC concerns about the "loss of local service" to Freeland because of the WAMT move. In practice, the only change was the legal station identification.[9] The studios remained in Wilkes-Barre and the transmitter remains in Bear Creek Township.

Stations

One full-power station simulcasts the programming of WKRZ:

Call sign Frequency City of license Facility ID ERP
W		 Height
m (ft)		 Class Transmitter coordinates Service contour
WKRF107.9 FMTobyhanna, Pennsylvania14643830267.7 meters (878 ft)A41°02′39.6″N 75°22′37.7″WCovers Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

This station was originally assigned the WPMR call sign on November 29, 1989. The call sign was changed to WPMR-FM on March 11, 1992[10] and was off the air but began a simulcast of WKRZ in 1995.[11] Its call sign was changed to WKRF on May 15, 1995.[10]

Signal note

WKRZ is short-spaced to WYCR Rocky 98.5 (licensed to serve York-Hanover, Pennsylvania) as they operate on the same channel and the distance between the stations' transmitters is 110 miles as determined by FCC rules.[12] The minimum distance between two Class B stations operating on the same channel according to current FCC rules is 150 miles.[13]

See also

References
  1. "Facility Technical Data for WKRZ". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. "FCC 335-FM Digital Notification [WKRZ]". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. April 9, 2014. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  3. "FM Query Results for WKRZ". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  4. "U. S. FM Stations as of 1948". Archived from the original on 2004-07-29. Retrieved 2004-07-29.
  5. "U. S. AM stations as of 1946". Archived from the original on 1999-01-28. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  6. Northeastern Pennsylvania Radio Answers
  7. "ROCKING LOCAL AIRWAVES MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO, A TEAM OF WACKY RADIO PERSONALITIES LED WKRZ-FM TO BECOME THE AREA'S MOST SUCCESSFUL FM STATION". Times Leader. Wilkes-Barre, PA. April 8, 2001. p. 1B. Retrieved 2017-03-06.closed access
  8. Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2010 page D-478
  9. "NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush". Archived from the original on 2003-12-09. Retrieved 2003-12-09.
  10. "Call Sign History [WKRZ]". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  11. Stark, Phyllis (April 29, 1995). "Vox Jox". Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 17. p. 92.
  12. "Reference points and distance computations. 47 CFR § 73.208". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  13. "Minimum distance separation between stations. 47 CFR § 73.207(b)(1)" (PDF). fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
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