WLDE (101.7
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 ...
from
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, which broadcasts a
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...
format. On-air personalities during the week are Jim and Carrie, Angie Nash, Captain Chris and Mark Evans.
Station history
As WEZV
The station's original call letters were WEZV from July 1979 to August 1990. WEZV aired a
beautiful music
Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...
format that achieved high ratings in adult demographics in Fort Wayne.
As WJLT
The station's second call letters were WJLT from August 1990 to March 1994. WJLT, "Lite 101.7," was an effort to evolve the station's beautiful music format to soft
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 ...
, which met with only limited success due to competitor
WAJI
WAJI (95.1 FM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary format. Licensed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States, the station is owned by Bloomington–based Sarkes Tarzian, Inc.
WAJI broadcasts in HD, with its HD2 channel ...
95.1's massive ratings with its AC format.
As WLDE
As WLDE, it originally broadcast
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...
music, but slowly evolved into a
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...
format as their main playlist dropped pre-1964 music in favor of music up to 1979. Beginning in 2008, 1980s music was added to the playlist as 1960s music slowly began getting phased out.
In April 2019, WLDE rebranded from "Fun 101.7" to "Classic Hits 101.7", and began focusing more towards rock music to put it in closer competition towards
WFWI
WFWI is an FM radio station located in Fort Wayne, Indiana with a classic hits format. The station operates on the FM radio frequency of 92.3 MHz. The station's main competitor is WLDE.
History
WFWI began broadcasting in March 1993 with an a ...
.
WLDE Relaunches as Classic Hits 101.7
Radioinsight - April 3, 2019
Previous logo
References
External links
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LDE
Classic hits radio stations in the United States