WODE-FM

This article is about a radio station. For the dye plant, see Woad. For the surname Wode, see Wode (surname).

WODE-FM
City	Easton, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area	Lehigh Valley
Branding	99.9 The Hawk
Slogan	Classic Rock of the 70s, 80s and More
Frequency	99.9 MHz
Translator(s)	94.7 W234AX (Allentown, relays HD2)
First air date	1948 (as WEEX-FM at 98.7)
Format	Classic rock HD2: Alternative rock (WWYY simulcast)
Language(s)	English
ERP	50,000 watts
HAAT	137 meters (449 ft)
Class	B
Facility ID	8595
Transmitter coordinates	40°42′30″N 75°13′00″W / 40.70833°N 75.21667°W / 40.70833; -75.21667
Callsign meaning	OlDiEs (Reference to when the station had an oldies format.)
Former callsigns	WEEX-FM (1948-early 1970s) WQQQ (early 1970s-1989) WHXT (1989-1991)
Former frequencies	98.7 MHz (1948-1950s)
Owner	Connoisseur Media (Connoisseur Media Licenses, LLC)
Sister stations	WBYN, WEEX, WTKZ, WWYY
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	999thehawk.com

WODE-FM (99.9 MHz, "99.9 The Hawk"), is an FM radio station licensed to Easton, Pennsylvania, and serving the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania, in the United States.

The station is owned by Connoisseur Media, through licensee Connoisseur Media Licenses, LLC, and offers a classic rock format, playing rock hits from the 1960s into the early 1990s. WEEX's transmitter, studios and offices are on Paxinosa Road West in Easton. WEEX is frequently at or near the top of the ratings in the Allentown-Easton-Bethlehem media market.

History

WEEX began operations on 98.7 FM as a stand-alone FM in 1948. Its call letters stood for Easton Express, Easton's daily newspaper as well as the station's then-owner.

WEEX then moved to 99.9 FM as WEEX-FM in the 1950s while putting an AM station on the air at 1230 kHz under the WEEX call sign. WEEX eventually switched to a Top 40 radio format during that time and used the FM station to simulcast much of the programming to cover areas where the AM station's 1000 watt signal could not be heard.

In the early 1970s, WEEX-FM's simulcast with the AM was broken off under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) changes which forbid full-time AM/FM simulcasts. The station switched to beautiful music under the WQQQ call letters. The calls were chosen because the lower-case Q closely resembled the number 9, hence the station's frequency 99.9. The station offered an instrumental-based easy listening format, playing cover versions of pop songs. A few times per hour a soft vocalist was mixed in.

1983: Contemporary hit radio format

In late 1982, longtime station owner Easton Express acquired The Globe-Times, a newspaper in nearby Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. To satisfy media ownership rules, both WQQQ and WEEX were sold off to Wilkes-Schwartz Broadcasting.

On April 4, 1983, WQQQ swapped formats with its AM sister station, WEEX 1230. WEEX had evolved by 1981 from Top 40 into an adult contemporary format. WEEX's airstaff and intellectual unit was moved to 99.9 FM. WQQQ's easy listening format was moved to 1230 WEEX but would be more vocally-oriented than on FM.

The former WEEX format was modified on FM into Mainstream CHR/Top 40. The station kept the WQQQ call letters but became known as "Q 100". Initially, the station focused on current pop music, but also played a moderate amount of 60s and 70s oldies until about 1985. Still throughout the 80s, WQQQ played oldies on Saturday evenings from the mid 60s mostly. But by 1986, the regular rotation was mostly current and recent product.

Q100 was at the time the only Top 40/CHR in the Allentown/Easton/Bethlehem radio market, competing with then-dominate Album Rock station 95.1 WZZO for first place in the ratings. However, on January 26, 1987, former country music outlet WXKW switched to CHR as "Laser 104.1 WAEB-FM". While the change didn't have an immediate impact on Q100's ratings, a burnt-out transmission line in the summer of 1988 forced the station to broadcast on low-power for a period of 2 weeks. This caused Q100's ratings to slip, allowing WAEB-FM to beat them in the ratings.

In 1989, Roth Broadcasting acquired WQQQ, and sister station WEEX from Wilkes-Schwartz. That September, Q100 switched to a Dance-Leaning CHR format as "Hot 99.9" under the WHXT call letters. The format lasted about a year before returning to Mainstream CHR.

After an uphill ratings battle with its rival WAEB-FM that lasted over a period of almost 2 years, Hot 99.9 was unable to make any significant gains due to budget and signal issues. However, in its final ratings trend as a CHR, WHXT had beat WAEB-FM by two-tenths of a point.

1991-2001: Oldies format

On August 23, 1991, WHXT dropped its CHR format for oldies. The format played the hits of the 1950s, 1960s, and a few songs from the early 1970s. The call letters became WODE (standing for OlDiEs) and the station became known as "Oldies 99" under programming consultant Pete Salant.

The station was sold to Patterson Broadcasting and became "Oldies 99.9" in the mid 1990s (adding the "point nine" in its handle as more radios employed digital tuners). In 1997, Capstar bought WODE and WEEX but would spin the stations off to Clear Channel Communications. Capstar had to do this because the Lehigh Valley has only five FM stations, and under FCC rules, no one company can own more than half. As a result, a company can only have 2 FM stations in the market. Capstar was already buying 95.1 WZZO and 104.1 WAEB-FM. Under Clear Channel ownership, WODE continued its oldies format.

2001-2013: Classic Hits

In 2000, Clear Channel announced a major merger with AM/FM Broadcasters (a company which was created as a result of a merger with Capstar and Chancellor). AM/FM already owned WZZO and WAEB-FM. Clear Channel would not be allowed to keep all three stations upon the merger, so they decided to sell WODE and WEEX to Nassau Broadcasting Partners. Nassau was given cash plus WODE and WEEX. Clear Channel though would obtain stations in New Jersey, including WNNJ, WNNJ-FM, WSUS, WHCY, and management agreements for WDLC and WTSX. Clear Channel also kept the former Capstar/AM-FM stations.

In September 2001, the station switched names and formats, debuting in the Fall 2001 Arbitrons as the #1 station in the Allentown market. The station was originally called "99-9 The River" but was forced to change its name because Clear Channel owned the rights to the name "The River." The station became known as "99-9 The Hawk," and plays classic rock hits. Its slogan was "The Valley's Classic Hits Station." The station's ratings generally led the market with the key 25-54 audience.

WODE, along with nine other Nassau stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, was purchased at bankruptcy auction by NB Broadcasting in May 2012. NB Broadcasting is controlled by Nassau's creditors — Goldman Sachs, Pluss Enterprises, and P.E. Capital. WODE-FM was included in the deal after Goldman Sachs rejected a bid from Cumulus Media for the station.^[1]^[2] In November, NB Broadcasting filed a motion to assign its rights to the stations to Connoisseur Media.^[3] The sale to Connoisseur Media, at a price of $38.7 million, was consummated on May 29, 2013.

2013: Classic Rock

With the sale complete in July of 2013, Connoisseur Media tweaked the format, giving it more of a rock focus and changing the slogan to "Classic Rock of the 70s, 80s and More".

In late 2013, WODE acquired the translator, W234AX at 94.7 FM in Allentown from Family Life Ministries.^[4]

Station is broadcasting in HD format. Presently "Spin Radio 107.1" WWYY is broadcast on HD2

Schedule

5:30-9am: The HAWK Morning Show with Rick Michaels
9am-3pm: Kara Curry / Commercial-free "99 at 9" and "1 O'Clock Back to Work Perk"
3pm-6pm: Bill Sheridan / "4:45 Movie Clip Challenge"
6pm-9pm: Mitch

Weekends

Bill Marvin
Mitch
Dave Savage
Dan Donatelli

References

↑ "10 Nassau Stations Go To NB Broadcasting LLC". All Access. May 30, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
↑ Pierce, David (June 12, 2012). "Pocono radio stations now in the hands of creditors". Pocono Record. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
↑ "Connoisseur Moves To Assume Debtor's Bid To Buy 10 Nassau Stations, Including WPST". All Access. November 21, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
↑ http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/86443/fcc-applications-1023-col-change-in-washington/

External links

99.9 The Hawk Official Website

Query the FCC's FM station database for WODE

Radio-Locator information on WODE

Radio stations in the Allentown–Bethlehem–Easton, Pennsylvania market

By AM frequency	790 1100 1160 1230 1320 1400 1470 1600 1640

By FM frequency	88.1 89.3 89.5 90.3 91.3 91.7 92.7 93.1 93.7 93.9 94.7 95.1 96.1 96.9 97.1 99.3 99.9 100.7 102.5 103.5 104.1 104.9 (Easton) 104.9 (North Whitehall Township) 105.7 107.1 107.5

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.4

By callsign	W224AU W226AA W229AO W230AG W234AX W245AC W246AA W257AI W278AI W285DH W289AH WAEB WAEB-FM WBYN WBYN-FM WCTO WDIY WEEX WEST WGPA WHOL WJCS WJRH WLEV WLHI WLVR-FM WMUH WODE-FM WPNX700 WRFY-FM WSAN WTKZ WWPJ WWYY WXL39 WZZO

New York radio markets Albany–Schenectady–Troy Binghamton Buffalo–Niagara Falls Elmira–Corning Hudson Valley Nassau–Suffolk (Long Island) New York City Olean Plattsburgh Poughkeepsie Rochester Syracuse Utica–Rome Watertown Other New York radio regions Ithaca Jamestown–Dunkirk North Country Saratoga Pennsylvania radio markets Allentown–Bethlehem Altoona Bradford–Coudersport Chambersburg–Waynesboro Erie Harrisburg–Lebanon–Carlisle Lancaster Montrose New Castle Philadelphia Pittsburgh Reading Sayre–Towanda–Mansfield–Wellsboro Wilkes-Barre–Scranton Williamsport York Other Pennsylvania radio regions Bedford Indiana Johnstown Lewistown–Mifflintown Meadville–Franklin Punxsutawney–DuBois St. Marys–Emporium–Kane State College Stroudsburg Sunbury–Selinsgrove–Lewisburg Warren See also List of radio stations in Pennsylvania

Classic rock radio stations in the state of Pennsylvania

By frequency	92.1 92.1 93.7 94.3 94.3 94.7 95.9 98.5 99.9 100.5 101.3 102.3 102.5 102.9 102.9 103.1 103.1 103.5 105.5 105.5 105.9 106.3 106.9 107.3 107.5 107.7

By callsign:	WBUS WBVE WBXQ WCHX WDVE WEGH WEZX WHLM-FM WKVE WJNG WMGK WMKX WMTT WODE-FM WPZX WQFX WQHZ WSQV WTPA WUUZ WUZZ WXMT WYCR WYFM WZDB WZDD

By city	Bedford Berwick Brookville Cooperstown Easton Erie Johnsonburg Lewistown Lock Haven Mount Pleasant Northumberland Palmyra Patton/Altoona Philadelphia Pittsburgh Pocono Pines Russell Saegertown Scranton Sharon Smethport State College Strattanville Sykesville Tioga York-Hanover

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Pennsylvania See also active rock classic rock mainstream rock modern rock

Connoisseur Media

Radio Stations

Connecticut	WDRC WDRC-FM WEZN-FM WFOX WMMW WPLR WSNG WWCO WYBC-FM ¹

Wichita, KS	KIBB KVWF

Billings, MT	KBLG KPLN KRKX KRZN KWMY KYYA

Trenton, NJ	WCHR WNJE WPST

Long Island, NY	WALK WALK-FM WBZO WHLI WKJY WWSK

Allentown, PA	WBYN WEEX WODE-FM WTKZ WWYY

Erie, PA	WFNN WJET WRKT WRTS WTWF WXBB

Wilkes-Barre, PA	WSBG WVPO

¹ Managed under a local marketing agreement

Coordinates: 40°42′30″N 75°13′0″W / 40.70833°N 75.21667°W / 40.70833; -75.21667

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