WTSS

WTSS

City of license	Buffalo
Broadcast area	Buffalo, NY
Branding	Star 102.5
Slogan	"Buffalo's #1 At-Work Station" (Jan-Nov) "Buffalo's Christmas Station" (Nov-Dec)
Frequency	102.5 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date	1934 (as W8XH)
Format	Hot Adult Contemporary (Jan-Nov) Christmas music (Nov-Dec)
ERP	110,000 watts
Class	B
Callsign meaning	W The Star Station
Former callsigns	W8XH (1934-1946) WBEN-FM (1946-1987) WMJQ (1987-2000)
Owner	Entercom Communications
Sister stations	WBEN, WGR, WKSE, WTSS, WWWS
Webcast	Listen Live!
Website	Official Website

For the video game, see Where Time Stood Still

For the juvenile detention facility, see West Texas State School

WTSS is an FM radio station located in Buffalo, New York. The station, refers to itself as the oldest station operating on the VHF band, first signing on in 1934 as an ultra-shortwave AM station before converting to experimental and later commercial FM operation before World War II.

History

The station now known as WTSS actually began as early as 1934 as W8XH, an ultra-shortwave radio station operating as a sister outlet to The Buffalo Evening News and AM station WBEN and broadcasting at a wavelength of 5 meters (approximately 60 MHz), predating the country's first FM station by three years. The station broadcast on an interrupted schedule during World War II. In 1946, W8HX moved to 106.5 and became WBEN-FM (see WYRK).

The 102.5 frequency was first used by WBEN-FM in the 1950s when the station moved to that frequency from 106.5. It ceased simulcasting WBEN (AM) in the 1960s, first with an automated beautiful music format and in the 1970s became "Rock 102" under the leadership of Roger Christian (still an air personality on the station today). The station has also operated as WMJQ, branded as "Majic 102" and "Q102", the latter of which lasted until the late 1990s. As "Majic 102", the station competed heavily with WKSE for Buffalo's Top 40 audience in the late 1980s and early 1990s before shifting to its current Hot AC direction. The "Star" moniker was adopted when Sinclair Broadcast Group bought the station at that time; the Sinclair group of stations was in turn bought by the present owner, Entercom, in 1999.

The station has, ever since the early 1980s, been a pop music (Hot Adult Contemporary or Adult Top 40) format geared heavily toward a female audience. The music is mostly upbeat hits from the 1980s to present, with a heavy emphasis on 1990s, 2000s, and current hits.

In 2006, WTSS began streaming its programming on the Internet.

Programming and playlists

Star's playlist consists of two categories, each of which takes about half of the playlist. One half consists of hits from the 1980s through the 1990s. The other half, which is shared with sister station WKSE, is current and recurrent hits. [1]

The station employs a number of promotional and programming features to build and maintain audience during the daily schedule, including 30-minute commercial-free music sweeps every hour, and an All Request Hour that airs weekdays at 6:00 p.m. (formerly the "80s After Work," expanded to include 70s and 90s music in February 2009 as "The Retro Show"), and the three hour "Saturday Night 80s Party" at 7:00 p.m. The station shuffled its lineup in March 2008, eliminating an exercise-oriented "Cardio Radio" hour to make room for Entercom's syndicated women's lifestyle offering, Your Time with Kim Iverson.

Star switches to the moniker "Buffalo's Christmas Station" and offers 100% Christmas music about two weeks before Thanksgiving through Christmas Day. After Christmas Day, Star begins to ease back into its regular hot adult contemporary format, but a significant amount of Christmas music is still played through New Year's Day. WTSS is temporarily delisted from Mediabase's hot AC panel when the station goes all-Christmas. WTSS became Buffalo's only hot AC radio station following CFLZ-FM's flip from hot AC to adult hits in August 2011.

News and traffic are provided from sister station WBEN and weather comes from television station WGRZ; both of these are usually played at or near the bottom of the hour.

WTSS airs a hot adult contemporary format, playing music from the 1980s through today, with the heavy emphasis on current and 2000s music.

DJs and programs

Local personalities include longtime morning jock Rob Lucas, Roger Christian (who has been with the station since the WBEN-FM era in the 1970s), Sue O'Neil, John Anthony. Mike McQueen, Brandy Scrufari, and Cheryl Stone round out the weekend shifts.

The following syndicated programs air on WTSS: Your Time with Kim Iverson, Backtrax USA (both 80's and 90's versions) with Kid Kelly, Sonrise (a contemporary Christian music program), Hollywood Confidential with Leeza Gibbons, and Fox All Access with Chris Leary.

According to R&R - Radio and Records Magazine, WTSS is one of the leading Hot Adult Contemporary stations in the country, nominated for Hot AC Station of the Year in 2006 and 2007.

Broadcast signal

WTSS, along with WDCX-FM, has the strongest FM signal in the western New York area. The station can be heard into the Rochester area, where it begins to interfere with WVOR and WLGZ-FM, on the adjacent 102.3 and 102.7 frequencies, respectively. East of WVOR and WLGZ, the station can sometimes still be heard along Lake Ontario until interference from WUMX in Utica factors in; it has been reported being heard as far east as SUNY Oswego. The signal can be heard going southwest well into Pennsylvania, and during good DXing conditions, can be heard into Erie. The station can also be heard into the Greater Toronto Area, where it has a relatively strong signal that can be received on most car radios. Some of the station's audiences come from Toronto and London, Ontario, making it the most listened to international radio station in the United States.

WTSS is the strongest FM signal in the Northeastern United States at 110,000 watts ERP, and in 2006 began broadcasting its signal in HD, offering an HD-2 side-channel called "The Delta", which features 100% Delta blues music.

External links

• Star 102.5 Official site
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WTSS
• Radio-Locator information on WTSS
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WTSS