History of Miami's 98.3FM

[Stormychuck]

As far a useless Miami radio history is concerned, 98.3FM has gone through numerous format changes through out the years, it first aired in 1976 as an 8KW station with studio's located in an office building on South Dixie Highway in Cutlar Ridge, with the original transmitter housed at WCIX'S tower site in Homestead with attachments at the 800FT level. Offices located in Coral Gables.

98.3FM was first licensed as WGLY (Where God Loves you) thus WGLY was the first commercial Christian FM broadcast station licensed in the U.S., according to the owner's.....

 

[samb15]

The strange thing I remember about 98.3 is from the late 80's or early 90's. They had a very weak signal, in Miami or anywhere north of the city, but they were running a very nice AAA format, on a shared-time basis with 95.7 which was Spanish. At some hour of the night the two stations would swap frequencies until sometime in the early-morning. Most of my Florida time was spent well north of Miami with almost no signal from 98.3, but by the time they upgraded to a full market signal both 98.3 and 95.7 were full-time separate Spanish language stations (one was Radio Ritmo).

 

[Ai4i]

I wonder why the owners of 98.3 went for maximum height and power from Homestead, while 95.7 downgraded and co-located with 92.3. I would guess that 95.7 probably covers their market better, though with a much reduced footprint. If I remember correctly, WGLY is listed in an old Broadcasting Yearbook as having something like 1,100 watts at 450', equal to 3KW @ 300'.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I wonder why the owners of 98.3 went for maximum height and power from Homestead, while 95.7 downgraded and co-located with 92.3. I would guess that 95.7 probably covers their market better, though with a much reduced footprint. If I remember correctly, WGLY is listed in an old Broadcasting Yearbook as having something like 1,100 watts at 450', equal to 3KW @ 300'.

98.3 upgraded to a full C once the Bonita Springs case made the FCC change the way channel changes, market moves and class upgrades were handled. However, spacing requirements and the ability to put a tower up made them go for the Channel 6 tower in Redlands. When that tower went horizontal in Andrew, a taller tower went up and 98.3 added height.

With Miami-Dade population growth pretty limited to the north, and confined by the Atlantic and the Everglades to the east and west, the area between Kendall and Homestead is experiencing considerable growth (recession aside). The Gannett tower stations are not as good in this area; 98.3 is a very good Hispanic market signal for this reason.

 

[Radio-X]

I wonder why the owners of 98.3 went for maximum height and power from Homestead, while 95.7 downgraded and co-located with 92.3. I would guess that 95.7 probably covers their market better, though with a much reduced footprint. If I remember correctly, WGLY is listed in an old Broadcasting Yearbook as having something like 1,100 watts at 450', equal to 3KW @ 300'.

With Miami-Dade population growth pretty limited to the north, and confined by the Atlantic and the Everglades to the east and west, the area between Kendall and Homestead is experiencing considerable growth (recession aside). The Gannett tower stations are not as good in this area; 98.3 is a very good Hispanic market signal for this reason.

I've always wondered why 98.3 is that far south. Hypothetically, if zoning or cash was not an issue, could that station move much further north than where it is today? Since it's a full C, I would imagine moving the signal 10 miles north on a somewhat taller tower would aid in covering more of the market while still covering Goulds just fine.

But the history part on here is great! I don't remember a single english format on either 98.3 or 92.3 since I started visiting in '93...neither came in on my trusty cheap walkman I used for roadtrips back then.

Radio-X

 

[Ai4i]

I've always wondered why 98.3 is that far south. Hypothetically, if zoning or cash was not an issue, could that station move much further north than where it is today? Since it's a full C, I would imagine moving the signal 10 miles north on a somewhat taller tower would aid in covering more of the market while still covering Goulds just fine.
But the history part on here is great! I don't remember a single english format on either 98.3 or 92.3 since I started visiting in '93...neither came in on my trusty cheap walkman I used for roadtrips back then.
Radio-X

98.3 would be short spaced, probably with WRMF and maybe WGTR.
All three stations began with English formats.
92.3 was MOR, as WHMS (Hialeah - Miami Springs), then The Country K or Q, forgot the call letters.
95.7 began as New age jazz, WXDJ (either the wave, the breeze, the wave, or the breeze, the wave, the breeze).
98.3 was WGLY (Where God Loves You)
Every FM station in Miami began English except maybe the newcomer on 88.3.
When I was young, the only Spanish AM's in town were WFAB, La Fabulosa on 990 and WMIE on 1140.
Can you believe TV channels 23, 51, and 69 were all English? They were, but were not billing.

 

[radiosanchez]

The strange thing I remember about 98.3 is from the late 80's or early 90's. They had a very weak signal, in Miami or anywhere north of the city, but they were running a very nice AAA format, on a shared-time basis with 95.7 which was Spanish. At some hour of the night the two stations would swap frequencies until sometime in the early-morning. Most of my Florida time was spent well north of Miami with almost no signal from 98.3, but by the time they upgraded to a full market signal both 98.3 and 95.7 were full-time separate Spanish language stations (one was Radio Ritmo).

It was actually Smooth Jazz..."Whisper 98.3".

You're actually the first person besides me that mentions this short lived format. It was a carryover after the Breeze ceased to exist on 95.7, when Ritmo moved from 98.3, to 95.7. Think Whisper lasted from about February of '90 until May of '90, when Russ Oasis LMA'ed his portion of 98.3 to Radio El Zol, the predecessor to today's El Zol 95.

Whisper had basically all of the Breeze jocks (Stonewall Jackson, RJ Heim, etc) that hadn't moved to WLVE when they went Smooth Jazz.

 

[radiosanchez]

Can't forget Rhythm 98 (WTHM) either....What could best be described as an "Underground Power 96".....Mid-80s until the first version of "Ritmo 98" signed on in late 87-early 88.

 

[DJ Tony]

Can't forget Rhythm 98 (WTHM) either....What could best be described as an "Underground Power 96".....Mid-80s until the first version of "Ritmo 98" signed on in late 87-early 88.

Wasn't it, Radio Ritmo ???? With Gino Latino and Enrique De La Maza as two of their radio Djs?? like back in the late 80s, early 90s? I also remember and vaguely, one of the signals at midnight, would switch sides, I think the signal for 98 to 95.

 

[cd637299]

There really was the WTHM (Rhythm 98) era---mid 80s I'd say. Although call letters changed in late 80s/early 90s, it went Spanish as Radio Ritmo (rhythm in Spanish).

As WGLY, I don't think they took "Gospel" seriously....in 1984 they had rights to broadcast Chicago Cubs games, replete with beer ads. Add Harry Caray to the mix, and hoo boy.

cd

 

[radiosanchez]

There really was the WTHM (Rhythm 98) era---mid 80s I'd say. Although call letters changed in late 80s/early 90s, it went Spanish as Radio Ritmo (rhythm in Spanish).

When Rhythm 98 first became "Ritmo 98....Ritmo de Clase, Tu Clase de Ritmo", it did so with the WTHM calls intact....They took out a page-long ad in either el Herald or Diario las Americas, and the original Spanish logo had the WTHM calls on it.

Shortly thereafter, Ritmo's calls switched to WAQI-FM, to match the AM, Radio Mambi'. This is how they debuted Whisper; in fact, the first few weeks of the Jazz format on 98.3 consisted of no announcements other than straight music and a "98.3 FM is WAQI Goulds" ID.

In the short interim that Whisper was on 98.3 (and with Ritmo temporarily on 95.7), they actually went ahead and flipped the 98.3 calls to WRTO...It was none other than Tom Caminiti "The Tall Italian" whom I heard give the first "WRTO Goulds, Miami" ID...He was working for Whisper at the time. Maybe two or three weeks later "Radio El Zol" debuted on 98.3, which it remained until the oddball arrangement terminated, and Ritmo went back to 98.3, and El Zol went to 95.7 with a sleeker presentation with Bill Tanner as consultant and Gino Latino as PD.

The reason this whole thing started was that Ritmo had gotten a hold of Javier Romero for mornings, and 98.3's upgrade was not yet complete; they needed a stronger signal, hence, 95.7's. By the time the 2 year arrangement was finished, the 98.3 CP was completed, and they went from an "A" to a full "C", they are now Miami's only full "C", since all of the stations on Gannett and the Candelabra are "C0"s.

 

[Ai4i]

So, could 95.7 have eventually gone to the top of the tower, why did they not, and are they better off having downgraded but centrally located?

 

[Ai4i]

DavidEduardo(or any one else), any idea why Radio Locator no longer shows 92.3 and 95.7 having CPs to move to a higher building on the south side of downtown?

 

[DJ Mo]

I remember a "Cool 98.3" Oldies station in the late 80's to early 90's in SWFL. Not sure if this is the one I picked up, since the signal wasn't very strong from Lehigh Acres.

 

[cd637299]

My memory is hazy, but the Cool may have been from Immokalee FL.

Before WRTO could upgrade, other stations had to be shuffled. IIRC, there was a 98.3 in Immokalee and it had to move.

There was also a 98.3 in Arcadia (at that time, just barely outside the spacing that the FCC required for co-channel), which may well be the current Max 98.3 in Ft. Meade in Polk County, quite a move away.

In the 70s, Immokalee had a station on 95.9.

cd

 

[jmtillery]

Originally WXDJ-FM 95.7 was a Docket 80-90 "drop-in" licensed to Homestead as a class C1, operating with 100kw at 981 feet from a site-restricted tower site in or near Homestead.

Homestead was the only location close to Miami where a C1 operation on 95.7 mhz would work and still meet FCC spacing requirments in order to protect first-adjacent WOVV-FM 95.5 C Vero Beach (now WLDI C1 Juno Beach with its tower site slightly North of West Palm Beach).

When hurricane Andrew hit South Florida, my understanding is the WXDJ tower was destroyed resulting in the necessity to identify and secure a new tower site. WXDJ applied for a COL change to North Miami with a tower move further North to better cover Miami-Dade. However, WXDJ was forced to downgrade to a class C2 to avoid a short-spacing conflict with WOVV (WLDI). And, for this reason WXDJ downgraded from a 100kw C1 to a 50kw C2.

 

[Ai4i]

And, for this reason WXDJ downgraded from a 100kw C1 to a 50kw C2.

Were they better off doing this in the long run? For covering the hispanic Dade County market, downtown Miami has got to be the best site, yet Radio Locator shows the farthest north 60dbu curve to be 98.3, then 92.3 and 95.7, then 89.7. The downtown stations seem to be like all the big city class B's of the northeast.

 

[djeddy]

Rhythm 98 was definitely a true underground station. It was the home to long time local radio icons like Raymond Hernandez, and Tony the Tiger. It competed with Starforce 99 back then (which at the time also had a very weak signal) when the miami bass phenomenon was popular with the kids back then. Power 96 took pretty much everyone from rhythm 98 once bill tanner took over.

as for wxdj...it was 95.7 the breeze. i remember losing the signal the minute i drive north of miami gardens drive. once 95.7 converted to el zol, all that 'smooth jazz' flipped to love94

 

[radiosanchez]

I remember a "Cool 98.3" Oldies station in the late 80's to early 90's in SWFL. Not sure if this is the one I picked up, since the signal wasn't very strong from Lehigh Acres.

WCOO Immokalee.....They used to run SMN's "Kool Gold" 50s-early 60s Oldies format, then they flipped to a locally originated automated jockless late 60s-70s heavy Oldies format that was branded the "Magic Communications Network". It was simulcast for a time over WMIB/1480 in Marco Island, which had previously been dark for quite a few years.

WCOO/WMIB were one of the first few "Oldies" stations that I remember to be 70s heavy...This was 1991, and most Oldies stations were still 60s-centric.