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WYCL 107.5??

M

mdamico23

Guest
Hi folks,

Just wondering if anyone remembers when 107.5 Boyertown, PA (now WBYO-FM) went AC/Oldies in the late 1980s as WYCL? I remember this station having a great signal- being audible around Trenton, NJ and occasionally would beat up WBLS-FM 107.5 in New York City as far east and north as Freehold, NJ. I remember liking the music on 'YCL back in the day.

Thanks..

-Mike
 
WYCL has been discussed in great length on this board in the past. I'm sure you'll get a lot more responses in the next few days :)

According to the stories I've heard, 107.5 had been religious since day 1 until being sold to an outfit who allegedly pledged to keep the format religious. Instead, they flipped the format to light AC after the deal went through much to the dismay of the former owners.

WYCL tried their best to fight WRFY but failed a couple years later (1991 maybe?) The former owners purchased the station back and put it back to religious.

I agree with you, however. It was a really good sounding station with a good signal and from what I hear, a spiffy, modern-for-the-day studio.

I was living all the way in Montgomery County (outside Philly) at the time, and the signal came in (and still does) like a local. I still remember listening to "Crusing for Bruising" by Basia while sitting on my front step in 1990 on WYCL :)
 
> WYCL has been discussed in great length on this board in the
> past. I'm sure you'll get a lot more responses in the next
> few days :)
>
> According to the stories I've heard, 107.5 had been
> religious since day 1 until being sold to an outfit who
> allegedly pledged to keep the format religious. Instead,
> they flipped the format to light AC after the deal went
> through much to the dismay of the former owners.
>
From the stories I heard WYCL's owners were SUPPOSED to keep the station religious. They found a "loophole" in the agreement, and hence, the station went AC in, I'd have to say 87 or 88...I was in a band at the time and headed to practice when I frst heard 107.5 as secular music.

> WYCL tried their best to fight WRFY but failed a couple
> years later (1991 maybe?) The former owners purchased the
> station back and put it back to religious.
>
WYCL, I believe, never even came close to knocking RFY out of the top spot. And Y102 was straight up Top 40 at the time. I don't think they became Rock Hits until 93 or so.

The station went into receivership and wound up going back to religious sometime in the early 90's, but before Rock Hits came to Y102.

> I agree with you, however. It was a really good sounding
> station with a good signal and from what I hear, a spiffy,
> modern-for-the-day studio.

When I was going to Temple, our technical adviser pretty much had carte blanch at WYCL when they flipped, so he got his hands on A LOT of the carts, etc. He was known as a klep! hehehehehehehehheheheheheheh

> I was living all the way in Montgomery County (outside
> Philly) at the time, and the signal came in (and still does)
> like a local. I still remember listening to "Crusing for
> Bruising" by Basia while sitting on my front step in 1990 on
> WYCL :)

Towards the end, they were all over, a la WAEB before they flipped to B104 in 87. I remember 104.1 doing a lunchtime "block" (as they did everyday at 12) of.....THE WHO! I knew the gig was soon to be up. Also, at that time, they called themselves "WAEB-104"...a sign of things to come, no?

>
<P ID="signature">______________
I've done it all...HOO HOO...tell 'em, Fred!
FOX News Alert: YOU SUCK!!! Ya like apples?</P>
 
Re: 107.5 History

> WYCL tried their best to fight WRFY but failed a couple
> years later (1991 maybe?) The former owners purchased the
> station back and put it back to religious.
>
WBYN signed on December 1, 1991 after 2 years as WYCL. It had been WBYO since it signed on in 1960, but a station in Sellersville had started up and taken the calls within those two years (and became and still is contemporary Christian station) so they chose something close. The former owners did not purchase it back - nearby Christian station WDAC in Lancaster purchased it and merged sales & programming staff. Original owner Dave Hendricks did return to host an evening Southern Gospel show and his Thursday night Pa. German call in show "The Wunnerfitz (Nosy) Hour". (Rules - "All calls must be in the Pa. German dialogue and must be kept clean & decent".) The station apparently had a big following in the nearby Mennonite communities. The station played all Christmas music for that month (way before "Sunny"!) then went back to Southern Gospel & talk shows, but soon dropped that music for a mix of Contemporary Christian and religious talk & financial shows as "107-5 Alive". The Wunnerfitz Hour was dropped the last week of 1999, and Dave Hendricks hosted a Saturday night gospel show for a few more years, "Singing Down South". Imagine what it cost him to put on an FM station in Boyertown in 1960 & what it's worth now!
I read articles on how "betrayed" he was that WYCL "promised" to stay Christian and didn't.
 
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