WEDR
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| City of license | Miami/Fort Lauderdale, and some of Caribbean |
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| Broadcast area | South Florida |
| Branding | 99 Jamz |
| Slogan | "South Florida's Only Station for Hip Hop and R&B" |
| Frequency | 99.1 (MHz) |
| First air date | 1960s |
| Format | Mainstream Urban |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 280 meters |
| Class | C1 |
| Facility ID | 71418 |
| Callsign meaning | Eurith D. Rivers (former Georgia Governor, same person WGOV Valdosta, Georgia is named for) |
| Owner | Cox Media Group |
| Sister stations | WFLC, WFEZ, WHQT |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wedr.com |
WEDR (99.1 FM, "99 Jamz") is an urban-formatted radio station serving the South Florida region and licensed to Miami, Florida. WEDR has an unusually wide music selection for a mainstream urban-formatted radio station that ranges from typical hip-hop and R&B to reggaeton. This is because South Florida is a very diversified region that has various music tastes. WEDR is owned by Cox Broadcasting alongside sister stations WHQT, WFEZ and WFLC, and has their studios located in Hollywood, Florida.
WEDR has an unusually shaped coverage area due to the station moving its antennae from a class C to a class C1 on a new tower. The main reasoning behind this so that the station's signal doesn't interfere with the close frequencies that serves southwestern Florida. It also began broadcasting in IBOC digital radio, using the HD Radio system from iBiquity in Summer 2005.
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[edit] History
1960s -- The WEDR call letters have been in South Florida since the 1960s when the station's then owner Ed Rivers acquired them from an AM radio station in Birmingham, Alabama. WEDR-FM had rock and country music formats.[1]
1970 -- WEDR adopts a black format. The station had a weak signal that couldn't cover all of Dade county, but it fared well because it was the only black station in the market.[1]
1988 -- WHQT drops its pop/dance format and adopts an Urban Contemporary format. According to the Miami Herald, "WEDR dipped to a low ranking of 24th in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, and was eulogized as an outmoded, black-run David squashed beneath the foot of a corporate white Goliath."[1]
1990 -- WEDR changed slogans from "Starforce 99" to "99 JAMZ", an Urban Contemporary with a notoriously wide variety playlist that ranged from R&B, Soul, and rap to Reggae on the weekends.[2]
April 21, 1990 -- The station's signal was increased from 16,000 watts to 100,000 watts. 99 Jamz becomes a factor in the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton market. The signal reaches as far as the Caribbean.[1]
1992 -- 99 Jamz becomes the top rated station in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market.[3]
2003 -- Program Director and morning drive host, James T, migrates to sister station WHQT. James T. had been at WEDR for twenty years. WEDR began to skew more towards current format being a Mainstream Urban with the slogan "99 JAMZ, South Florida's Number One For All of Today's Hip Hop and R&B", then to "99 JAMZ, South Florida's Number One For More Of Today's Hip Hop and R&B" to compete with it new crosstown rival, Clear Channel-owned WMIB, "103.5 the Beat" (now a Spanish radio station). But they do still play slower R&B and Classic Soul songs during Night JAMZ show in the overnight hours, despite most of them played on sister station WHQT. Today, WEDR is exclusively rivaled at WPOW (Power 96).
July 2004 -- 99 Jamz launches the Big Lip Bandit Morning Show featuring Supa Cindy and Benji Brown (produced by Marcus "Wiiz" Johnson)
2005 -- 99 Jamz kicks-off the highly anticipated, number one night show in South Florida "The Take Over" with K. Foxx and DJ Khaled. In July 2009, K. Foxx left to do Morning's for New York's Hot 97.
October 2006 -- WEDR's General Manager announces, Derrick Baker as Program Director of 99 Jamz
March 2008 -- 99 Jamz is NOW known as 99Jamz South Florida's ONLY Station for Hip Hop and R&B. WEDR continues to dominant the South Florida Market, with format changes from former competior WMIB, what is now a spanish station.
July 2008 -- 99 Jamz launches the nationally syndicated "Rickey Smiley Morning Show" with Ebony Stelle, HeadKrack, Gary, Rock T and Special K, with Miss Kimmy and Benji Brown on the local end.
2009 -- WEDR's General Manager, Jerry Rushin moves to Cox Media Groups "Market Mananger"
As of today, 99 JAMZ is #1 in the South Florida Market and continues to dominate the competition in PPM
[edit] Programming
Notable programming includes The Rickey Smiley Morning Show with Ebony Steele, Gary with the Tea , Headkrack, Sister Sondra, Rock T, and Special K on weekday mornings. Other notable weekday programming includes mid-days with Shelby Rushin & DJ Kool G, afternoons with Lorenzo "Ice Tea" Thomas & DJ Irie/DJ Entice, The Take Over with DJ Khaled on nights, produced by Antoine "Toine the Don" Edwards Night JAMZ with Felisha Monet on late nights, and an early-morning Gospel JAMZ hour.
Special Friday night programming includes The Bashment Explosion with King Waggy Tee and Mike B. Notable weekend programming includes The Rickey Smiley Weekend Jump off on Saturday Mornings. Community Voices with Cheryl Mizell on Sunday Mornings, Sunday Morning Gospel with Maestro Powell plus The number one rated "Sunday School Hip Hop Session" with Supa Cindy and DJ Griot.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Due, Tananarive (1993-04-11). "Call WEDR Black--And Successful". Miami Herald.
- ^ Andrews, Sharony (1990-07-08). "More Listeners Dial WEDR; Station Making Gains Among Blacks". Miami Herald.
- ^ Jicha, Tom (1992-04-29). "WEDR Takes Over Top Spot In Radio". Sun-Sentinel.
[edit] External links
- WEDR official website
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WEDR
- Radio-Locator information on WEDR
- Query Arbitron's FM station database for WEDR
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