WHYI-FM

WHYI-FM

City of license	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Broadcast area	Miami, Florida Ft. Lauderdale, Florida West Palm Beach, Florida
Branding	Y-100
Frequency	100.7 MHz
First air date	1960
Format	CHR
ERP	98,000 watts
HAAT	307 meters
Class	C
Facility ID	41381
Callsign meaning	Refers to station branding: WHY (as in Y) I = 1 (Roman numeral, as in 100)
Owner	Clear Channel
Sister stations	WBGG, WINZ, WIOD, WMGE, WMIA, WMIB
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	y100.com

WHYI-FM, better known as Y-100, is a heritage FM Top 40 contemporary hit radio (CHR) station that broadcasts at 100.7 MHz. Its city of license is Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Y-100 broadcasts at an effective radiated power of 98,000 watts from its 1,005 foot transmitter, which is located on the Miami-Dade side of the Miami-Dade/Broward County line near U.S. 441 and County Line Road. On a typical day its signal can generally be received north to Fort Pierce, southwest past Key Largo, and west deep into the Everglades. Its signal has even been known at times to go as far east as the Bahamas and as far south as Cuba.

History

Y-100 has been broadcasting continuously with various forms of contemporary hit music since 1973. It signed on August 3, 1973 at 6 a.m. with new call letters WLQY and was originally to be known as "Lucky 100". Roby Yonge, who previously worked for WABC in New York, NY was the first morning man. The station was renamed Y-100 during a staff meeting with consultant Buzz Bennett at the suggestion of the first airstaff, and the station adopted the new call letters "WHYI" several months after signing on following complaints from crosstown competitor WMYQ at 96.3 FM that the call letters were too similar and would create confusion. Y-100 is the longest-running Top 40 CHR station in both the United States and North America with the same call letters and nickname.

Before Y-100

The 100.7 FM frequency was signed-on in early 1960 as a religious station with the call letters WMFP. It was owned by Percy Crawford from 1960 to 1962.

From 1962 to 1973, it was known as a beautiful music station with the call letters of WMJR. In late 1966, the station's studios (located in the Kenann building, a round building on the corner of US1 and Oakland Park Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale, FL), tower, and signal coverage were greatly upgraded from 56,000 watts to 100,000 watts by engineer and entrepreneur Ron Crider, who sold the station in 1973 to former Hawaii congressman Cecil Heftel for $1,500,000, a record price for a radio station at the time.

Y-100 signs-on

The first song played on Y-100 was "Diamond Girl" by Seals and Crofts. Y-100 was the first station in the country to have $50,000 big money giveaways. When it first went on the air as a Top 40 CHR station, its first major promotion was "When your phone rings don't say hello, just say "I listen to the new sound of Y-100", and you could win $50,000!".

By 2004, when sister classic rock station WBGG-FM moved its branding from Big 106 to Big 105-9, WHYI-FM rebranded as Y100.7, only to revert to the old branding by 2006. This was to avoid confusion with former Philadelphia alternative rock station WPLY (now WPHI-FM), owned by Radio One. WPLY signed off the air in 2005. By 2007, the Y100.com URL formerly used by WPLY was acquired by WHYI-FM.

The early years

The original line-up included Roby Yonge and John Emm in mornings, Larry McKay in middays, Don Cox in afternoons, Davey O'Donnell for nights, and Eric Rhoads during late nights. Weekends included Bill Christie and Kevin Malloy. Bill Tanner was later hired as the midday personality and assistant Program Director, and later promoted to program director and moved to the morning show.

Y-100 ushered in the era of the big money contests and aggressive promotional strategy that made the station one of the fastest-growing FM stations in the country during the 1970s. In 1975, Y-100 was the first station in South Florida to broadcast live during the world-famous street party known as Calle Ocho. As Program Director, Bill Tanner hired the personalities who became so familiar to South Florida listeners including sports reporter Athlete's Foot (later abbreviated to Footy), newsman Jim Reihle, traffic reporter "Captain Y" Glen Logan who was replaced by Mark Lipof as Captain from 1976 to 1993, midday host, the late Cramer Haas (originally hired for overnights and also from WJDX), The Madame (first hired to write commercials, then to spot bumper stickers in the Y Roller van as the Y-onic Woman, and soon become the first female DJ on Y100. She was later on WXRK/K-Rock as Jo Maeder, The Rock and Roll Madame and WHTZ/Z100 in New York as Jo Maeder), Jay Marks(From WJDX) and later Rick Eliott for afternoons, Robert W. Walker and Don Cox from crosstown WMYQ, Batt Johnson, Tom Birch, Dave Dunaway(From WJDX), Quincy McCoy and Earl "The Pearl" Lewis(From 13-Q/Pittsburgh), who replaced late night personality Eric Rhoads, now publisher of Radio Inc, and late night/overnight guy Mark "In The Dark" Shands(From WJDX). Shands also served as music director during part of his time at the Y and was substitute newsman on Tanner's show. John Hartman was music director during the early 1970s. Colleen "The Vinyl Queen" Cassidy (now National Music Director for Jerry Clifton's New World Communications) became music director/research director in 1978, moving in from Bob Pittman's station in Chicago, WMAQ. Cassidy started Y-100's first call-out research department. She now is a music consultant for Miami's Power 96 and about 15 stations.

Tanner's morning show was considered to be the high point of Y-100's programming history, along with Tanner's role as Program Director.

In 1976, Heftel sold Y-100 to Metroplex Communications (Norm and Bob). In 1994 that company sold its group of stations to Clear Channel Communications.

Morning show

Sonny Fox & Ron Hersey

In 1982 Bill Tanner and Jim Reihle left Y-100 for WASH-FM/Washington, DC. To replace them, Sonny Fox and Ron Hersey were recruited for mornings from crosstown WSHE-FM. Using a blend of parody songs, phoney commercials, and impersonations of local and national celebrities and politicians Fox, Hersey, "Captain Y", John "Footy" Cross and Mr. Mike Raffone led the morning show to its highest ratings ever.

In 1987, Hersey moved on to mornings at WNVZ-FM/Norfolk, WAPW-FM/Atlanta and KKFR-FM/Phoenix where he worked with Danny Bonaduce. Fox left the following year and moved to mornings at KHYI-FM/Dallas (Y95) with Bill Murphy and Bill Tanner's former Y-100 programming secretary, Joannie Siani.

Fox is now on the XM/Sirrus Comedy Channels, Hersey on WFTL-AM in Ft. Lauderdale.

Bobby & Footy

John Kross was a presence on the locally produced morning show for a record 32 years running from 1974 to 2006, thus holding the record of longest Top 40 CHR DJ in North America (even if he was actually a radio sports reporter for most of the time). Footy also hosted the "Y-100 Wing Ding", a charity event to help fight drug abuse.

Lipof left the show in 1993 after 17 years on-air, with Czarnecki departed five years later to pursue a career as a local television producer. Bobby left Footy and South Florida in 1998 to head back home to Texas.

Footy & The Chix @ Six

In 1998, the morning show was renamed "Footy & The Chix @ Six", and Footy co-hosted the show with several female personalities, including Jade Alexander, Tina Malave, and Elaine Turner. Some commented that this line-up was least successful, often referred to as Footy with some Chix who don't like him.

Kenny & Footy

On Monday June 18, 2001, a new era in the morning show began as Footy was paired-up with popular afternoon drive time deejay Kenny Walker for "The Y-100 Early Morning Show". A few months later, in January 2002, the show was renamed "Kenny & Footy in the Morning".

On Tuesday January 31, 2006 after 10 years with the station, Kenny Walker was released from Y-100, at the expiration of his contract which was not renewed.

Footy's final months

In February, March, and April 2006 Footy co-hosted the show with two popular afternoon and evening DJs - first Adam Bomb and then Michael Yo.

On Monday "May Day" of 2006 Footy announced his retirement from Y-100. It was actually his last in-studio show. He then took the show on the road for the next four days to Miami Lakes (Tuesday), Ft. Lauderdale (Wednesday), Coral Gables (Thursday), and Weston (Friday). The final weeks worth of shows included special guests and former co-workers calling in or visiting Footy in person, classic highlights and comedy bits, and Y-100 jingles from the past. His retirement was official as of the end of his Friday May 5, 2006 broadcast. A year later Footy came back out of retirement and landed a home back on the airwaves of South Florida on Fox News Radio affiliate 610 AM (WIOD).

Current programming

Like many corporate radio stations, Y has few local personalities, most voices are delivered via hard drive from somewhere else.

Word is, there is only one live/local air talent working at Y-100 these days, everything else is beamed in.

• Elvis Duran & The Y100 Morning Show (simulcast from sister station WHTZ Z100 in New York City) airs weekday mornings from 6 to 10 am. It began airing on Y-100 on Monday May 22, 2006, just 17 days after legendary morning show host "Footy" retired. Froggy, Footy's morning show co-host and producer during his last four years on the air is the only live and local South Florida voice of Y-100 during the morning drive time period.

• "On-Air with Ryan Seacrest" runs mid-days Monday through Friday. Seacrest broadcasts from Hollywood, California. His show contains a blend of hit music, celebrity interviews, and hot topics.

• Michael Yo is the afternoon DJ. Yo has been with the station since 2002 and originally started out as the night jock. Yo is joined by Miami co-hosts Nina, and producer Nick who came from The Adam Bomb Show now at Q100 in Atlanta. The Michael Yo Show features "The World Famous Yes/No Game" every day at 5 pm. Yo also calls his "Mama Yo" frequently.

(As of March 26, 2007 Michael Yo also can be heard on the E! Entertainment Network Channel on XM and Sirius Satellite Radio with his new show "Yo on E!" from 4 pm to 7 pm. Yo talks about the latest Entertainment news, music, gossip and takes listeners calls. Michael Yo hosts his show Voice-tracked from Los Angeles as he is no longer actually residing in South Florida).

• The nighttime DJ is Michael Weaver, also known as Mack. The Mack @ Nite show is the night show on Y-100—from 6 pm-10 pm on weekdays. You can hear the "Phone Tap Replay" every night at 6:20 p.m on his show along with contests and a variety of segments that he airs and is constantly changing. Weaver is from Philadelphia and has been with Y-100 for two years now. He is one of the only Florida resident DJ on Y-100. As of 2009 he has had five other syndicated radio shows.

• Late Nights on Y-100 is Sex with DJ Cato K. His mixes run from midnight to 4 am and he plays the latest dance music and popular song mixes.

• Thursday Nights 12-2am and special mix shows/live broadcasts are done with DJ GQ

• The weekend DJs vary on Y-100. Weekends usually include Eddie E. (Saturdays midnight-6 am), Chris Cruz (Sundays 11 am-3 pm), and Mack at Night. Almost anyone else who happens to be available via Clear Channel's group of stations around the country fills in from time to time.

• American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest airs on Sunday mornings from 7 am to 11 am.

• Joe Joe on the Radio airs on Sunday evenings.

External links

• Contains photos from the early days of Y-100
• WHYI website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WHYI
• Radio-Locator information on WHYI
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WHYI
• Footy "Retires" From Y-100 After 32 Years, from South Florida Radio News, May, 2006