WAPI-FM

WAPI-FM was an FM radio station which debuted in the 1950s as WAFM, a sister station to WAPI-TV and WAPI-AM. The three stations were owned by Advance Publications, which was the parent company of The Birmingham News.

In the early 1970s, WAFM's call letters were changed to WAPI (for "Advance Publications, Inc.") and the format was switched to "solid gold". It switched to easy listening, as Beautiful 94 in 1978.

Around the same time, FCC rules forced Advance Publications to sell off some of its Birmingham media properties. WAPI-TV was sold to Times-Mirror Broadcasting while WAPI-AM and FM were sold to Dittman Broadcasting of Mobile. In 1981 Dittman switched the WAPI-FM broadcast to an album rock format under the name 95 Rock.

In 1984, the album rock format was switched to Top 40, first as 95 FM, then as I-95 Birmingham's Hit Rock. It soon surpassed WKXX-FM "Kicks 106" in the ratings, partly on the strength of Mark and Brian in the mornings.

An overall decline in the popularity of the Top-40 format brought another switch in 1994, this time changing call letters to WMXQ "Mix 94.5" along with the "hot adult contemporary" format.

References

• "WYSF." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 3 Jan 2007, 01:28 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 6 Jan 2007 [1].