WIRK

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WIRK
WIRK1031.png
City of license Indiantown, Florida
Broadcast area West Palm Beach-Stuart
Branding 103.1 WIRK
Slogan "South Florida Country"
Frequency 103.1 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date August 1, 1965 (as WPBF at 107.9)
Format Country music
HD2: Modern Rock "The Buzz"
Audience share 5.5 (Sp'08 P2, R&R[1])
ERP 90,000 watts
HAAT 297 meters
Class C1
Facility ID 1246
Transmitter coordinates 27°01′32.00″N 80°10′43.00″W﻿ / ﻿27.0255556°N 80.1786111°W﻿ / 27.0255556; -80.1786111
Callsign meaning Play on the word "Work"
Former callsigns WPBF (1965-1972)
WIRK-FM (1972–2012)
Former frequencies 107.9 MHz (1965-2012)
Owner Palm Beach Broadcasting, LLC
Sister stations WEAT, WMBX
Webcast Listen Live
Listen Live (HD2)
Website wirk.com
buzz103.com (HD2)

WIRK (103.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Indiantown, Florida, the station serves the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, Ft. Pierce-Stuart area. The station is currently owned by Palm Beach Broadcasting, LLC.[2] The station has broadcast a country format since September 9, 1973, originally on 107.9 FM.[3] Its studios are in West Palm Beach and its antenna is located on the west side of Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound, Florida.

History[edit]

Logo as 103.1 The Buzz.

103.1 FM was formerly WPBZ, which got its callsign because it was an affiliate of the "Z Rock" radio network. It became "103.1 The Buzz" on July 3, 1995.

On December 5, 2011 at 3pm, after playing Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning", WPBZ changed their format to adult top 40, branded as "Now 103.1". The "Buzz" active rock format moved to the HD2 subchannel, replacing "Buzz Lite".[4] It was the second hot AC station under CBS Radio using the Now FM branding, the first being on Sacramento, California's KZZO. It was reported as contemporary hit radio by CBS Radio, but due to most of the rap being on sister rhythmic contemporary station WMBX, it continued to be a hot AC.

On April 10, 2012 CBS Radio announced that it was selling WPBZ and its sister stations to Palm Beach Broadcasting for $50 million, pending FCC approval.[5] On June 1, 2012, the country radio station WIRK relocated to the 103.1 frequency, replacing the ill-fated hot adult contemporary format. In a case of irony, the last song on Now was "Beds Are Burning," which was also the last song it played as The Buzz. WEAT, originally at 104.3, replaced WIRK at 107.9.

When it was still on 107.9, WIRK programmed an automated format known as "Olde Gold" prior to the switch to country. In the opening days of the new format, the station was visited by country stars that included Archie Campbell (an actor who played the barber on Hee Haw) and by Red Sovine shortly before his death. WIRK-FM's original 1973 lineup was Barry Grant, mornings; Randy Marsh, middays; Dave Roberts (program director) Afternoons; "Country" Gene Evans 6p -1a.[6]

Programming[edit]

As WPBZ, the station had a morning show called "The Morning Buzz." The station also syndicated The Howard Stern Show, The David Lee Roth Show, and The Opie & Anthony Show show until October 29, 2007. The original program director for The Buzz was Amy Doyle, now of MTV. John O'Connell had been the Program Director/Operations Manager since 1996.

Specialty music shows included Buzz Junior, which aired Sunday nights at 10:00pm with host Jeremy Steve Clark and featured new music, unsigned local bands, indie bands, and classic songs; and Rock Hard Buzz, which aired Saturday nights at 11:00pm with host Metal Mick and featured mostly heavy metal.

Buzz Bake Sale[edit]

The Buzz hosted an all-day music festival each year called the "Buzz Bake Sale" which was one of the largest annual music festivals in South Florida. It was usually held on the first Saturday in December in West Palm Beach. The show was always held at the Cruzan Amphitheatre. The name was chosen because the first two years featured 13 bands (a "baker's dozen" of bands).

Band lineups from each year of the Buzz Bake Sale[edit]

1996: Black River Circus, Local H, Muzzle, Orange 9mm, Patti Rothberg, Pluto, Howlin' Maggie, Primitive Radio Gods, Velocity Girl (their farewell show), Evan Dando (of The Lemonheads, acoustic), Soul Coughing, Butthole Surfers, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

1997: Wobble, Jimmie's Chicken Shack, Superdrag, Marcy Playground, Lazlo Bane, The Honeyrods, Save Ferris, Echo & the Bunnymen, Dance Hall Crashers, Less Than Jake, MxPx, Goldfinger, and Green Day.

1998: Athenaeum, The Amazing Royal Crowns, Alien Fashion Show, Sprung Monkey, Shawn Mullins, Possum Dixon, The Urge, Reel Big Fish, Gravity Kills, Soul Coughing, Seven Mary Three, Dishwalla, Better Than Ezra, Fuel, and Goo Goo Dolls.

1999: Bolt Upright, Showoff, The Sheila Divine, Pennywise, Staind, Local H, Joydrop, Stroke 9, Citizen King, Marvelous 3, Powerman 5000, Jimmie's Chicken Shack, Guster, Kottonmouth Kings, and Kid Rock.

2000: Orbit, 8Stops7, Wheatus, Veruca Salt, 6Gig, The Union Underground, Harvey Danger, U.P.O., Local H, Our Lady Peace, Fuel, Eve 6, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Everclear, and Foo Fighters. MxPx was scheduled to play but canceled. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ended up playing two sets.

2001: Handsome Devil, New Found Glory, Reveille, Sugarcult, Alien Ant Farm, Jimmy Eat World, Stroke 9, Sum 41, M.A.S.K., Adema, Drowning Pool, Tantric, Lit, Static-X, Disturbed, and Staind.

2002: Marc Copely, Socialburn, OK Go, Seether, Blindside, SR-71, Authority Zero, Bowling for Soup, N*E*R*D, Earshot, Nonpoint, Our Lady Peace, Everclear, Unwritten Law, Good Charlotte, Hoobastank, and Cypress Hill.

2003: M.A.S.K., The Ataris, Switchfoot, Something Corporate, Yellowcard, Fuel, Sevendust, Alien Ant Farm, Jet, Hoobastank, One, Trapt, Eve 6, Smile Empty Soul, Less Than Jake, and Die Trying.

2004: Lit, Taking Back Sunday, The Explosion, The Presidents of the United States of America, One, Muse, Lostprophets, Sevendust, Kottonmouth Kings, The Music, Story of the Year, Nonpoint, Skindred, New Found Glory, The Used, and Korn.

2005: Morningwood, On Watership Down, Sunny Ledfurd, The Fray, Pepper, Art of Dying, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Socialburn, Taproot, Nonpoint, One, Hot Hot Heat, Local H, Story of the Year, Trapt, Our Lady Peace, My Chemical Romance, and Staind.

2006: Cartel, Kill Hannah, One, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Flyleaf, Sugarcult, Reel Big Fish, Anberlin, Buckcherry, Hawthorne Heights, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Three Days Grace, Taking Back Sunday, Papa Roach, and My Chemical Romance.

2007: Sick Puppies, Fiction Plane, The Starting Line, The Almost, Saosin, Silversun Pickups, Against Me!, Chevelle, Nonpoint, Coheed and Cambria, Paramore, The Used, Rise Against, Three Days Grace, and Papa Roach.

2008: Sponge, Anberlin, Jack's Mannequin, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Flogging Molly, Saving Abel, Mayday Parade, Pepper, Flobots, Skindred, Hawthorne Heights, Reel Big Fish, Saliva, Atreyu, Shinedown, and Avenged Sevenfold.[7]

2009: Ladies and Gentlemen, Halestorm, After Midnight Project, Fall of Envy, Transmit Now, Metric, Say Anything, Dharmata, Manchester Orchestra, Sick Puppies, Anberlin, The Mission Veo, Our Lady Peace, Cage the Elephant, Atom Smash, Panic! at the Disco, Skindred, The Used, Matisyahu, Chevelle, and Thirty Seconds to Mars.

2010: Stellar Revival, D.V.N.O., Hollywood Love Scene, A Silent Film, American Bang, New Politics, Hawthorne Heights, A Day to Remember, Paper Tongues, Fall of Envy, Against Me!, Leading the Heroes, Sick Puppies, Anberlin, Atom Smash, Switchfoot, Pepper, The Dirty Heads (featuring Rome Ramirez), Chevelle, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Finger Eleven.

2011: Falling in Reverse, One:, Middle Class Rut, Everlast, Art of Dying, Hinder, Behold the Wolf, Adelitas Way, Chevelle, Dharmata, Seether, and Awolnation. (Staind was the original headliner)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "West Palm Beach-Boca Raton Market Ratings". Radio & Records. 
  2. ^ "WIRK Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division. 
  3. ^ Mitch McKinney (June 14, 1994). "WIRK-FM, WBZT-AM Won't Change Format, Buyer Says". Palm Beach Post. 
  4. ^ http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/54644/wpbz-gets-into-the-now/#.Tt1dIJiqC70
  5. ^ "CBS Sells West Palm Beach Cluster"
  6. ^ "Radio Notes". Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, FL). January 27, 1974. pp. G2. 
  7. ^ "BBS08FULL". Retrieved 2008-10-06. 

External links[edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIRK
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