WIOZ-FM (102.5 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 ...

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

Southern Pines, North Carolina Southern Pines is a town in Moore County, North Carolina, Moore County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 12,334 as of the 2010 United States Census. History Southern Pines was founded as a winter health resort for Northeastern U ...

, United States, the station is currently owned by Meridian Communications. L.L.C. and features programming from

Premiere Radio Networks Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It ...

History

WIOZ-FM started out at 107.1 MHz in 1973, with a 3,000-watt signal. It was originally owned by Bill Gaston, and was, at that time, the first FM Station in Moore County. One of the first morning men was Ned Champion, who had worked at WPTF in Raleigh and was the voice of NC Department of Agriculture Farm News, distributed to various stations in NC. Music format was top 40 in morning drive time and easy listening the rest of the broadcast day. Somewhere around 1987, the station changed frequency to 106.9 MHz and the format became more easy listening. Some of the professional radio broadcasters were Rich Rushforth and Robin Duff. In 1995, WIOZ moved to 102.5 FM, which had been WAHP. The move to 102.5 meant a decrease in power from 50,000 to 6,000 watts. The switch to the current name and format came in 1999.Michael Futch, "WIOZ-FM Changes Format to Soft Rock," ''The Fayetteville Observer'', April 4, 1999.

References

External links

* IOZ-FM {{NorthCarolina-radio-station-stub