WORZ-FM 101.9 
Daytona Beach

 

Original Call Letters: WMFJ

Originally Licensed: Sep 1, 1967 

Original City of  License: Daytona Beach

Original Frequency: 101.9 

Origin of Call Letters:  

Original Power: 4,100 watts

Original Format: Classic Rock

Original Location:


Network Affiliation(s):

RKO Radio Network
United Stations Radio Network

Owner(s):

1967-Daytona Broadcasting, Inc. 
1980-Patten Communications, Inc. (Co-owned with WNJY-FM 94.3 Rivera Beach-West Palm Beach)
1982-Abell Communications Corporation (The A. S. Abell Publishing Company)
1984-S & F Communications, Inc.  
1985-Duffy Broadcasting, Inc. ($7.7 million)
1988-Beasley-Reed Broadcasting, Inc. ($9.2 million)
1996-Chancellor Broadcasting Corporation  
1997-Chancellor Media Corporation
1999-AMFM Broadcasting, Inc.
2001-Clear Channel Communications Corporation
2001-Infinity Broadcasting, Incorporated
2005-CBS Radio, Inc.

History Of Call Letters and Formats:

WMFJ-1967-Automated Beautiful Music (Drake-Chenault)  “Stereo 102”
WQXQ-1973-Automated AOR  (Drake-Chenault)  “Q 102”
WQXQ-1976-Automated Top 40  “Q 102”
WDOQ-1979-Top 40  “Q 102”
WCFI-1984 -Adult Contemporary  (Tran-Star Satellite)  “Central Florida’s I- 4 101.9 FM”
WCFI-1985-Adult Contemporary (Tran-Star Satellite)  “Sunny 102”
WORZ-1986-Classic Rock   “The Rock You Grew Up With“   “Z 102”
WORZ-1988-Urban Contemporary
WJHM-1988-Urban Contemporary/Hip Hop   “Jamlando‘s 102 JAMZ”


WORZ History
Thanks to Marc Tyll for this history of WORZ.
The station quickly became known as “The Rock You Grew Up With, Where All The Good Stuff Is, the New Z 102.”. The New Z 102 featured many well known radio personalities including Max and Pam in the morning and Michael W. Lowe in the afternoons. Two years later Duffy Broadcasting sold WORZ to Beasley - Reed Broadcasting, Inc., a joint venture formed between Naples, Florida based Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. (headed by legendary group owner George G. Beasley), and broadcast station owner George Reed. 


June 16, 1986 at 6 a.m., WORZ-FM debuted in WCFI's place. Program Director Allen Edwards described WORZ's sound as rock, without the heavy metal edge, and adult-contemporary hits, without the most mellow tunes. Targeting 30- to 40-year-old listeners, WORZ will play a lot of older rock hits. These listeners also want to hear current rock songs, said Edwards, but only those from the pop mainstream. The station used the logo ''Z-102.'' It was not a random choice. WORZ's programmers found that listeners remember the logo of "Zeta 7" used by rock station WORJ-FM 107.7, even though the station changed format to adult-contemporary and its call letters to WJYO-FM 107.7 in 1981.


WORZ  Personalities



Michael W. Lowe
-1986-6PM to Midnight shift, moving to AM drive as part of the "Z-102 Morning Patrol"-Duffy Broadcasting, Inc. Biography.

Stuart Smith-1986-Part of the "Z-102 Morning Patrol"-Duffy Broadcasting, Inc. 

Ed Geiger-1986-Traffic reporter-part of the "Z-102 Morning Patrol"-Duffy Broadcasting, Inc.   

Donna Morehouse-1986-News-part of the "Z-102 Morning Patrol"-Duffy Broadcasting, Inc.   



Carren Sheldon-1986-News-part of the "Z-102 Morning Patrol"-Duffy Broadcasting, Inc.  

Andy McDonald-1986-Morning Show Producer-Duffy Broadcasting, Inc.  

Max and Pam (Max and Pam McGann)-1986-1987-Mornings-Duffy Broadcasting, Inc. 

Thom Duffy
Orlando Sentinel
July 13, 1987
WORZ's morning is minus McGanns What played in Peoria didn't go over in Orlando. So says Alan Edwards,' program director of WORZ-FM (101.9), the rock station known as Z-102. Edwards last year hired Max and Pam McGann from an adult-contemporary station in Peoria, 111., where they were a top-rated morning radio team. But the McGanns, Orlando's only husband-and-wife radio duo, resigned from WORZ on July 2 after failing to achieve similar success here. They made the decision after Edwards asked Max McGann to move to an afternoon show and Pam McGann to come off the air to do promotion work. "We came in as a team, we'll leave as a team," Max McGann says, explaining their decision. The McGanns debuted here June 16, 1986, the same day that adult-contemporary station WCFI-FM changed its call sign to WORZ and began its challenge to longtime leading rock station WDIZ-FM (100.3). But now, Edwards says, "the listener research shows Max and Pam were not suited to rock radio. We just felt we needed a rock intensity in the morning. Call it a mistake on my part in hiring them." Max McGann disagrees. "I think it didn't work because it wasn't given a chance to work," he says of the morning show. "Instead of fine tuning the programming, they changed channels." : WORZ's uphill struggle to pull listeners away from WDIZ got tougher this past spring when country station WHOO-FM (96.5) switched its call letters and format and emerged as WHTQ, a third runner in the rock radio race. - WHTQ's morning team of Tommy Griffiths and Paul Castronovo tried to match the comic routines of WDIZ's Baxter and Mark. The McGanns had gone their own way. They were personable but not outrageous. But a move toward more music and less talk on WORZ cut chances for that personality to show through, Max McGann says. Edwards noted the McGanns were running ninth in the morning ratings race overall. The McGanns have been replaced by former evening disc jockey Michael Lowe and Stuart Smith, former operations director for the Metro Traffic reporting service. Lowe was the morning man for years at WCKS-FM, the station now known as WSTF or Star 101. By emphasizing music over chatter, Edwards says Lowe and Smith won't try to follow Baxter and Mark's lead, as Griffiths and Castronovo have done. But two men in the morning doing comic bits between rock songs does sound mighty familiar, doesn't it?

Jim Howie

Rick Pittman

Crystal Lake

Dave Matthews (David Hesselink)   In Memory

Gary Shaw
Dave Culp
Jeff Harris


Other Names In WORZ History

Mike Shields-1986-Vice President/General Manager-Duffy Broadcasting

Alan Edwards-1986-Program Director-Duffy Broadcasting

Dave Donahue-1988-Station Manager-Beasley-Reed Broadcasting, Inc.

Darrel Goodin-General Manager 

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