WSRZ-FM (107.9 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 ...

broadcasting 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. Licensed to Coral Cove, Florida, United States, the station serves the

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

area. The station is currently owned by

iHeartMedia, Inc. iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

History

The station began on 106.3 FM as WMLO (branding as mellow) in 1982 as a lite Adult Contemporary station. The station switched to

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 ...

in 1984 and its frequency moved to 106.5 FM. In September 1986, the station changed its call letters to WSRZ, and carried a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

format known as Z-106 after Robert Weeks (former owner of the station) sold the station to Sarasota Radio Partners Inc. The station was affiliated with

Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 ''Rick Dees Weekly Top 40'' (sometimes known as ''The Weekly Top 40'') is an internationally syndicated radio program created and hosted by American radio personality Rick Dees. It is currently heard on over 200 radio stations worldwide. It is di ...

since WSRZ's debut as a Top 40 station, one out of 2 stations in the

Tampa Bay area The Tampa Bay area is a major populated area surrounding Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the United St ...

. Although, WSRZ didn't go full-time CHR until 1988. The CHR format was unsuccessful for the station. As at that point, CHR listeners were chosen to listen to

WRBQ WRBQ-FM (104.7 FM, "Q105") is a commercial classic hits music formatted radio station in Tampa, Florida. Owned by Beasley Broadcast Group, its studios are in St. Petersburg while its transmitter is in Palm River-Clair Mel. History Top 40 (19 ...

or later WFLZ (The Power Pig) with medium-to-strong signals in the Sarasota-Bradenton areas, and

WINK-FM WINK-FM (96.9 Hertz, MHz) is a commercial radio, commercial FM broadcasting, FM radio station in Fort Myers, Florida. The station airs an adult contemporary radio format. It is owned by the Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, locally controlled by ...

with medium-to-strong signals in the Venice area. As WSRZ was rebranded back to its oldies station in 1990, WSRZ was originally located at 106.5 MHz, known as 'Oldies 106' and played music from the 1950s to the early 1970s. Weekend specialty programming included street corner harmony "Doo Wop". In 1999, a major shift was done among Clear Channel stations, with Country WCTQ (92 CTQ) moving to the superior 106.5 position, WSRZ moving to the slightly smaller 107.9 position, and the hard rocker WYNF moving from 107.9 to the newly created (and much lower powered) 105.9. 92.1 adopted an easy listening format as "The Dove". After moving to its current 107.9 frequency, WSRZ-FM was then renamed as "Oldies 108" and the station returned to its original

format after its two-year run as WMLO from 1984 until 1986, continuing to focus on music from the 1950s through the early 1970s. In early 2007, the moniker was changed to the present "107.9 WSRZ", dropping music from the 1950s and early 1960s; the current format is classic hits, focusing on music from the late-1960s through the late 1980s with some 1990s hits. Currently, there is only one live show on 107.9, '' Jones & Company''. All other shows are voice tracked.

''Jones and Company''

One of the station's main in-house productions is ''Jones and Company'', formerly known as ''The Jones and Crane Morning Show'' prior to Christina Crane's retirement in 2017. It is a weekday morning show, currently featuring David Jones and Meredith Michaels. The hosts have incorporated numerous fundraising and community service related causes into the show, including an annual toy and fund drive benefiting The Safe Children's Coalition-Sarasota YMCA and an annual blood drive benefiting the

Suncoast Community Blood Bank Suncoast may refer to: * Florida Suncoast, a 1980s marketing term for peninsular (non-panhandle) Florida's Gulf of Mexico coastal counties ** Florida Suncoast Dome, the original name of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida ** Suncoast Center, ...

, and the hosts frequently throw parties for listeners on Friday nights.

References

External links

* {{IHeartMedia SRZ-FM Radio stations established in 1991 IHeartMedia radio stations 1991 establishments in Florida