WEZY (105.7
FM; "105.7 WEZY") 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 ...
broadcasting 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. Licensed to
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
Chippewa Falls is a city located on the Chippewa River in Chippewa County in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 14,778 in the 2021 census. Incorporated as a city in 1869, it is the county seat of Chippewa Cou ...
, United States, the station serves the
Eau Claire area. The station is owned by Magnum Communications.
The station began broadcasting as WCFW in 1968. It was owned by Pat and Roland Bushland, through their Bushland Radio Specialties, for 54 years.
History
WCFW signed on October 20, 1968; the station had been owned by Roland Bushland since its inception, first with his father Roy
and later with his wife Pat.
Roland, who turned 29 the day the station went on the air, had grown interested in radio as a hi-fi buff. WCFW originally operated at
from studios at the Bushland home east of Chippewa Falls. The facility was not originally located in Chippewa Falls because it was short-spaced by to an FM station in
Red Wing, Minnesota
Red Wing is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, along the upper Mississippi River. The population was 16,547 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Goodhue County.
This ...
.
Pat Bushland applied in 1984 to build a television station on channel 48 from the same site;
however, an application by
Family Group Broadcasting
Family Group Broadcasting, L.P. was a Delaware-incorporated, Florida-based television and radio broadcasting company. A small company, based in and around Tampa Bay, the company operated from the early 1980s to about 1997. Throughout its history, ...
of Florida put the WCFW bid at a disadvantage because of FCC policies promoting diversification of media ownership,
and Family Group won the construction permit for
WEUX after reaching a settlement with the Bushlands.
In 1988, WCFW moved its studios to the Warren Street site; the next year, after several delays, it became the last station in the Chippewa Falls–Eau Claire area to begin stereo broadcasts.
Roy Bushland died in August 1990.
In 1997, WCFW moved from 105.5 to 105.7 MHz as part of an increase to 25,000 watts.
In addition to its soft AC programming and hourly Associated Press newscasts, the station covered
high school sports
Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. The distinction is made between amateur sporting participants and professional sporting participants, who are paid for the time they spend competing ...
. WCFW also broadcast
polka music
Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas.
History
Etymology
The term ...
in the early morning hours, which local farmers have claimed helps relax milking cows. Polka music formerly occupied lunchtime and early evening slots as well.
It was also the last station to carry two formerly-
syndicated programs: the
American Institute of Physics
The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...
-produced weekend feature ''Science Report'' and two daily broadcasts of ''The Jack Raymond Show''.
Jack Raymond
Jack Raymond (1886–1953) was an English actor and film director. Born in Wimborne, Dorset in 1886, he began acting before the First World War in '' A Detective for a Day''. In 1921 he directed his first film and gradually he wound down his a ...
and WCFW were the focus of a documentary called ''Silently Steal Away''. WCFW's
jingle
A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...
, featuring the slogan "where FM means fine music", was part of a set of 10 jingles the station purchased from a Texas ad agency for $25; only one would be used on the air.
The format, which was highly rated with older audiences, remained untouched from the station's inception.
It remained a family operation: Roland performed the station's engineering (and built most of its equipment), while Pat handled advertising sales and music programming. The station carried comparatively few commercials, something it had done from the start, with most of the advertisers being longtime local businesses.
On June 20, 2022, after 54 years of ownership, Bushland Radio Specialties filed to sell WCFW and translator W256AE to Magnum Media for $600,000, marking the company's entry into the Eau Claire market.
The sale closed on October 1, 2022, with the Bushlands recording an ID thanking listeners; new WEZY call letters, which Magnum had parked at
a station
, known professionally as , is a Japanese actor, creative director, and writer. He appeared in a number of Japanese TV dramas, including ''Mei-chan no Shitsuji'', ''Hanazakari no Kimitachi e'' and ''Zettai Kareshi''. Additionally, he was well kn ...
in
Portage
Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...
,
went into effect on November 9.
Translators
A translator, W256AE (99.1 FM), has broadcast in the Chippewa Falls city center since 1995 to reduce shadowing in some areas of the city.
Magnum has filed to move the translator to Eau Claire on 93.5 MHz.
References
External links
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{{Adult Contemporary Radio Stations in Wisconsin
EZY
Mainstream adult contemporary radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1969
1969 establishments in Wisconsin