Indiana RadioWatch: January 4, 2016

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Northeast

Nielsen released its market rankings, by population. Indianapolis moves up to #38. What about the rest of Indiana? Fort Wayne (#114), Evansville (#162), South Bend (#182), Terre Haute (#214), Muncie-Marion (#216) and Lafayette (#222).

Federated Media's N-T/WOWO and WOWO-FM (1190am, 92.3fm; both Fort Wayne) drops the 92.3fm and moves their programming to a new translator on 107.5fm: W298BJ. This 75 watt translator is on the same Hillegas Road tower as 92.3fm, WMEE (97.3fm, Fort Wayne) and WQHK (105.1fm, Huntertown).

So, what becomes of 92.3fm? It recently changed call letters from WOWO-FM back to its former WFWI. When the 92.3fm signed on as WFWI under prior ownership, those call letters stood for "We're Fort Wayne Indiana." At 3:00PM on 31 December 2015, 92.3fm broke off from the WOWO simulcast, and began a loop of songs. Claiming they could only afford "two minutes' worth of royalties," they aired these songs until this morning at 6AM.

At 6AM, 92.3fm launched with a Classic Hits format, as "Big 92.3" with Ragz in mornings. Mike Ragozino ("Ragz") most recently hosted afternoons at KXTG in Portland, Oregon. Before that, "Ragz" programmed the former Rock/WAOR (95.7fm, Nappanee) for many years.

But that's not the only news from 2915 Maples Road:

This morning, Rock/WBYR (98.9fm, Woodburn) launched a new morning show: "John the Mexican" and Heather. John most recently handled afternoons. But what about their former morning show? You know: the one that's been on 98.9fm for several years, and that's been within the Federated Media Fort Wayne family for many years?

The Bob and Tom Show move their Fort Wayne affiliate from WBYR to Adams Radio Group's Classic Rock WXKE (96.3fm, Churubusco). The Bob and Tom Show began its Fort Wayne run on 9 January 1995 at "92.3fm The Fort" and moved to "98.9 The Bear" when 92.3fm became WOWO-FM in late March 2012.

Employment Opportunities

Indiana Country - WKKG - South Central Indiana's #1 country heritage station, is looking for our next morning show superstar. If you can deliver an upbeat, LOCALLY relatable, music-driven show then send me your best stuff. Local is how we win, so you'll be expected to seek out ways to get involved in the community. We offer a competitive salary, great benefits including 401(k), excellent work environment and an exceptional community. E-mail your resume and demo to John Foster, Station Manager at jfoster at wkkg dot com. White River Broadcasting is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.

That's it for this issue. See you in a week!

Blaine Thompson
Indiana RadioWatch

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