WIMZ-FM (103.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

, serving

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 coun ...

. It is owned by

Midwest Communications Midwest Communications, Inc. is a Wausau, Wisconsin–based radio broadcasting company. It owns 82 radio stations located primarily within the Midwest United States, in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Il ...

and broadcasts a

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

. The studios and offices are on Sharps Ridge Memorial Park Drive in Knoxville. Weekday mornings begin with '' The John Boy and Billy Show'' syndicated by

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

from

WRFX WRFX (99.7 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station City of license, licensed to Kannapolis, North Carolina and serving the Charlotte metropolitan area. Owned by iHeartMedia, it airs a classic rock radio format, and ...

Charlotte. Local DJs are heard the rest of the day. On weekends, WIMZ carries '' The House of Hair with Dee Snider'' and ''Time Warp with Bill St. James''. The station is heard on the

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

website and app.

Tower

The WIMZ

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

is tall. It is a

guy-wire A guy-wire, guy-line, guy-rope, down guy, or stay, also called simply a guy, is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to a freestanding structure. They are used commonly for ship masts, radio masts, wind turbines, utility poles, and ten ...

d aerial mast, designed for broadcasting Channel 10

WBIR-TV WBIR-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Bill Williams Avenue in Knoxville's Belle Morris section, and its transmitter is lo ...

, originally the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

for Knoxville (geographical coordinates: ). The tower was completed during September 1963 and at the time was the tallest structure in the world. It is currently owned by South Central Communications. WIMZ has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 79,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, among the most powerful radio stations in East Tennessee. Its signal can be received in parts of

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. While the tower was on one of the tallest peaks in the area, WBIR-TV's signal was shielded by mountains from some communities west of Knoxville, including Farragut, Oak Ridge, and Lenoir City. To improve its signal in those towns, Channel 10 relocated to

Sharp's Ridge Sharp's Ridge is a steep ridge in Knoxville, Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, north of the city's downtown. A area of the ridge is maintained as Sharp's Ridge Memorial Park, a city park dedicated to the honor of the area's war veterans. The ri ...

near downtown Knoxville during the 1970s, and the FM station remained on the original tower. To maintain coverage, WIMZ's antenna is located in

height above average terrain Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it is ...

(HAAT), about below the top of the tower. Before the tall WBIR-TV mast was built in 1963, the owner of the television station had planned the tower to be erected on nearby House Mountain, the tallest point in

Knox County, Tennessee Knox County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The population was 500,669 as of a 2023 estimate, making it the third-most populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Knoxville, which is the third-most populous city in Te ...

. But WBIR's main competitor

WATE-TV WATE-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located in the Greystone mansion on North Broadway/ SR 33/ SR 71/ US 441, and i ...

Channel 6 ended that idea by purchasing all the property on top of House Mountain, forcing the WBIR owners to build a taller tower on nearby Zachary Ridge at Blaine, Tennessee.

History

WBIR-FM

The station first

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air in . The original

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 as ...

was WBIR-FM, mostly

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of 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, simultaneously) ...

ing its AM counterpart, WBIR 1240 AM (now WIFA). The studios were on Gay Street in Knoxville. Television station

Channel 10 was added in 1956. WBIR-AM-FM-TV were owned by a consortium headed by J. Lindsay Nunn and his son, Gilmore Nunn. WBIR-AM-FM were

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

s of

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, carrying its dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

." As network programming moved to television, WBIR-AM-FM switched to a full service, middle of the road format of popular adult music, news, talk and sports. In the late 1960s, WBIR-FM separated its programming from the AM station, airing an

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format.

Rock station WIMZ

In 1979, the station flipped to

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...

(AOR). The last song played on WBIR-FM's Country format was " Waltz Across Texas" by

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), marked ...

. In the middle of the song, the turntable was switched off until the song spun to a stop. There was brief moment of silence and then a voice was broadcast that said, "WBIR FM, Rock 104. We Believe In Rock." At that point,

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

's "

Stairway To Heaven "Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 8 November 1971 on the band's untitled fourth studio album (commonly known as ''Led Zeppelin IV''), by Atlantic Records. Composed by the band's guitarist Jimmy ...

" began playing. Not long after, the call letters were changed to the current WIMZ-FM, with the station calling itself "Rock 104." At the start of 1983, WIMZ altered its format to add more current new wave and heavy metal music acts and reduce much of the 1960s and early 70s classic rock. It also stopped using the name Rock 104 and began identifying as "103.5 WIMZ", with a new logo modeled on that of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. During 1982, co-owned WHEL 1240 AM dropped its

adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...

sound and began

ing WIMZ-FM's programming. It switched its call letters to WIMZ, while the FM side continued as WIMZ-FM. This simulcast on AM continued for much of the 1980s. The AM station later switched to

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

and today is

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

station WIFA. During the 1980s and 1990s, WIMZ-FM had a popular morning program hosted by Phil Williams, Billy Kidd, and Colvin Idol (later replaced by David Henley).

Sale to Midwest Communications

On May 28, 2014,

announced that it would purchase nine of the ten stations owned by South Central Communications, including WIMZ-FM along with

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

s WJXB-FM and WVRX. With this purchase, Midwest Communications expanded its portfolio of stations to Knoxville,

Evansville Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 census, it is Indiana's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the most populous city in S ...

and

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. The sale was finalized on September 2, 2014, at a price of $72 million. Currently, ''The

John Boy and Billy John Isley (born August 15, 1956) and Billy James (born August 31, 1957), known as John Boy & Billy, are American radio personality, radio hosts based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their comedic morning program ''The John Boy & Billy Big Show'' b ...

Show'' airs in morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

. John Boy Isley was a popular local radio personality in Knoxville during the late 1970s on

WRJZ WRJZ (620 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Knoxville, Tennessee. It airs a Christian talk and teaching radio format and is owned by Tennessee Media Associates, headed by Thomas Moffit, Jr. The studios are on East Magnolia Avenue in Kn ...

620 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 620 kHz: 620 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. In Antigua and Barbuda * V2C-AM in Saint John's In Argentina * LRA Radio Nacional, LRA18 in E ...

. Their show is syndicated on dozens of stations around the South and Midwest. During recent years, WIMZ's format has changed from consisting the late 1960s through the 1980s rock rotation, focusing more on 1970s hard rock and 1980s hair metal mostly, as of 2020, the station has leaned in on playing a more mainstream rock approach of classic rock that plays more 1990's alternative, grunge and metal and a very small few early 2000's hard rock artists. WIMZ's slogan remained "Classic rock that really rocks" for more than a decade. Presently the station calls itself "Knoxville's Classic Rock."

References

External links

WIMZ-FM official website
*

* *
Drawing at skyscraperpage.com
{{Midwest Communications IMZ-FM Classic rock radio stations in the United States Midwest Communications radio stations