WCLZ (98.9 FM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

licensed to

North Yarmouth, Maine North Yarmouth, officially the Town of North Yarmouth, is a town in Cumberland County, Maine. The population was 4,072 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland– Biddeford Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

with studios located in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

. Since 2001 WCLZ has been broadcasting an

adult alternative An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

. It is under ownership of Saga Communications.

Programming

WCLZ operates 24 hours a day with an adult album alternative format.

History

The 98.9 frequency debuted on April 11, 1965 as WCME-FM, licensed to

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

about 30 miles north of Portland. The station began as a

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

WCME WCME (900 kHz; "Radio Midcoast") is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Brunswick, Maine, and serving Maine's Mid Coast; on-air, the station is currently known as "Radio Midcoast WCME 99-5 FM & 900 AM". Established in 1955, the station i ...

(900 AM). The stations played

middle of the road (music) Middle of the road (also known by its acronym MOR) is a commercial radio format and popular music genre. Music associated with this term is strongly melodic and uses techniques of vocal harmony and light orchestral arrangements. The format was even ...

and aired local information. The WCME-AM-FM

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

eventually became WKXA-AM-FM. By 1980, WKXA-FM was a full-time

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

station with an 80,000 watt signal which was easily heard in Portland and was giving established country station

WPOR WPOR is an FM radio station in Portland, Maine that broadcasts a country music radio format. It is owned by Saga Communications. It broadcasts at 101.9 MHz. History WPOR has had the same format since it signed on as an FM simulcast of 1490 WPOR ...

(1490 AM, now WBAE, and 101.9 FM) some competition. The WCLZ call letters were installed on 98.9 in 1984, when the station picked up an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

format. Several years later, the station adopted the

Adult Album Alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

(AAA) format for which it is known today. The WCLZ call letters remained on 98.9 until 1999, when the station was sold from

Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting Atlantic Coast Radio, LLC is a radio company located in the state of Maine, owned by longtime broadcaster J. J. Jeffrey. It was incorporated in 1982 and has a staff count of approximately twenty. Prior to the current radio group, Jeffrey was a part ...

Citadel Communications Citadel Communications Ltd. is an American private broadcasting company. It is based in Bronxville, New York and owns 1 Low-power broadcasting#Television, low-power television station on which it operates a regional 24-hour news cycle, 24-hour Un ...

. Following the sale, the WCLZ call letters and format moved to 95.5 (now

WPPI WPPI (95.5 FM) is a sports radio station in the Portland, Maine area. The current owner is Atlantic Coast Radio. The station mostly carries the same programs as WEEI-FM from Boston. Some local commercials take the place of Boston commercials. ...

), and 98.9 became WTPN "98.9 The Point", with a modern

hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

format. The call letters and format of WCLZ returned to the frequency in 2001, after 95.5 became WJJB-FM and began simulcasting

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

programming from WJAE (1440 AM, now WRED) and WJJB (900 AM, the former and present WCME). WCLZ was sold to Saga Communications in 2007 after the FCC required Citadel to sell two Portland stations due to the company's acquisition of ABC Radio

The other station sold was WCYI (93.9 FM, now

WARX WARX (93.9 FM) is a non-commercial radio station in Lewiston, Maine that features Worship Music programming from Air 1. It is under ownership of the Educational Media Foundation. The station (at that time WCYI), along with co-owned WCLZ, was t ...

) in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is List of cities in Maine, the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County, Maine, Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, August ...

, which for a time simulcast WCLZ, when held in

The Last Bastion Station Trust, LLC The Last Bastion Station Trust, LLC is a privately owned trust company that temporarily owns 2 radio stations previously owned by Citadel Broadcasting. Citadel absorbed ABC Radio as well as 22 radio stations (not including ESPN Radio and Radio ...

, the trust Citadel set up to sell the two Portland stations, as well as several other stations across the United States in order to get under the market cap (WCYI would be separately sold to the

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest ...

). Several of WCLZ's shows moved to

WBLM WBLM 102.9 FM is a Classic Rock radio station licensed to Portland, Maine. The station has a studio in One City Center, along with co-owned Townsquare Media stations WJBQ, WCYY, WHOM and WPKQ. The station also serves as the Portland market af ...

and other Citadel owned stations before the transfer into the trust.

External links

98.9 WCLZ - Official website
* Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1965 CLZ Mass media in Cumberland County, Maine {{Maine-radio-station-stub