WERZ

WERZ
City Exeter, New Hampshire
Broadcast area Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Branding Z107
Slogan Portsmouth's #1 Hit Music Station
Frequency 107.1 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date September 21, 1972 (1972-09-21) (as WKXR-FM)[1]
Format Top 40 (CHR)
HD2: Supercuts Country
ERP 5,200 watts
HAAT 106 meters (348 ft)
Class A
Facility ID 55385
Transmitter coordinates 43°01′38″N 70°52′51″W / 43.02722°N 70.88083°W / 43.02722; -70.88083Coordinates: 43°01′38″N 70°52′51″W / 43.02722°N 70.88083°W / 43.02722; -70.88083
Callsign meaning WE aRe Z107!
Former callsigns WKXR-FM (1972–1982)
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
(Capstar TX LLC)
Sister stations WHEB, WMGE, WPKX, WQSO, WTBU
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.z107fm.com

WERZ (107.1 FM) is a radio station located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, located at 107.1 on the FM dial. On air it is presented as "Z107". The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.. WERZ broadcasts from studios located on Lafayette Road in Portsmouth and from a transmitter located on Long Hill in Stratham, New Hampshire. WERZ's signal serves southeastern New Hampshire (more commonly known as the New Hampshire Seacoast Region), York County, Maine, and northeastern Massachusetts. WERZ's legal identification is WERZ-Exeter/Portsmouth, with Exeter being the actual city of license.

The station went on the air September 21, 1972[1] as WKXR-FM. In March 1982 the call letters were changed to WERZ, with their 1st slogan "The New Z107, The Continuous Music FM". The format also changed to a Top 40 (CHR). The first program director was Jack O'Brien. The studios were located at 11 Downing Court in Exeter.

WERZ continued through the mid 80s as a Top 40/CHR type hitradio station with great ratings success. Boston-area concert promoter Don Law's Precision Media purchased the station in 1986 and modified the format to a hybrid AC/Top40 format, during whichit was at the time, their 2nd slogan was "The All New 107 FM WERZ, Playing Today's Hits And Yesterday's Classics". Due to the gold-based music product, ratings dropped precipitously until around 1990, when the tempo of the music was picked up, the older Adult Contemporary music was dropped, and more current music was added to the rotation. Their 3rd slogan was modified as "107.1 FM WERZ, Where We Play More Music And More Variety". Specialty weekend programs helped to boost ratings, including the legendary American Top 40 with Shadoe Stevens, the Weekly Top 40 with Rick Dees, and The WERZ's House Party Saturday Night featuring uptempo party songs and a megamix of popular dance music, as well as frequent prize giveaways and heavy listener interaction and requests.

WERZ was a Hot AC through most of the 2000s and known on air with their 4th slogan as "The Hits Of The '80's, The '90's, and Today. We're 107.1 WERZ". For the first time in December 2008, WERZ went all Christmas. After the holiday season, WERZ became an Adult Contemporary station playing an even bigger mix of the '80's, the '90's, and Today. Then, in December 2009, WERZ went Christmas again and this time returned as Hot AC with their 5th slogan, "The '80's, The '90's, and Now are All on Today's Mix, 107.1 WERZ".

In February 2010, WSKX and WERZ announced that Matty in the Morning, syndicated by WXKS-FM out of Boston, would be moving from WSKX to WERZ.

On October 4, 2012, at 3 p.m., WERZ flipped back to Top 40/CHR as "The All New Z107", reviving the format and branding that WERZ used from 1982 to 1986.[2]

The WERZ ZJ's between 1982 and 2009

References

  1. 1 2 Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1999 (PDF). 1999. p. D-280. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  2. ↑ Double Flip on New Hampshire's Seacoast
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