 | |
| Broadcast area | Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania (Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton) |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1230kHz |
| Branding | Fox Sports Lehigh Valley |
| Programming | |
| Format | Sports |
| Affiliations | Fox Sports Radio Lehigh Valley IronPigs Baseball Radio Network New York Giants Radio Network NFL on Westwood One Sports |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WCTO,WLEV,WODE-FM,WWYY | |
| History | |
First air date | May 10, 1956 (1956-05-10) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | Formerly owned by theEaston Express |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 8596 |
| Class | C |
| Power | 1,000watts |
| Translators | 94.7 W234AX (Allentown, relaysWODE-HD2) |
| Repeater | 99.9 WODE-HD2 (Easton) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | lvfoxsports.com |
WEEX (1230AM) is aradio station inEaston, Pennsylvania, owned byCumulus Media through licensee Radio License Holding CBC, LLC. The station airs asportsradio format branded as "Fox Sports Lehigh Valley", carrying theFox Sports Radio network. It is also theflagship radio station for theLehigh Valley IronPigsMinor League Baseball team, theTriple-A affiliate of thePhiladelphia Phillies, andLehigh Mountain Hawks athletics.
On May 10, 1956, WEEX firstsigned on with a popular music format, simulcast from WEEX-FM (99.9 FM).[2] It is one of the few AM stations to sign on after its FMsister station, which went on the air in 1948. WEEX-AM-FM were owned locally by Easton Publishing Company, which also owned theEaston Express newspaper. WEEX and WEEX-FM evolved into aTop 40 music format in the early 1960s. WEEX 1230 was only powered at 250watts at the time and served listeners who only had an AM radio and could not receive WEEX-FM.
In the early 1970s, WEEX-FM's simulcast with the AM was broken off underFederal Communications Commission (FCC) changes which ended full-time AM/FM simulcasts in large and medium cities. The FM station switched toBeautiful Music under the WQQQcall sign. Those call letters were chosen because the lower-case Q closely resembled the number 9, representing the station's frequency of 99.9 MHz. WEEX evolved into an adultTop 40 format and later anoldies format focusing on music from the late 1960s mixed in with a few pre-64 oldies an hour along with some '70s hits and current songs.
By 1980, WEEX switched toadult contemporary music. In late 1982, longtime station owner Easton Publishing acquiredThe Globe Times, a newspaper in nearby Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. To satisfy FCC media ownership rules, both WEEX and WQQQ were sold off to Wilks-Schwartz Broadcasting.
On April 4, 1983, WEEX swapped formats with its FM sister station, WQQQ. WEEX's airstaff and music library was moved to 99.9 FM. The former WEEX format was modified on FM into MainstreamTop 40. WQQQ's Easy Listening format was moved to WEEX but would be more vocally-oriented than on FM. In the mid-1980s, WEEX tried a format ofcountry music.[3] In 1987, WEEX moved toadult standards.
In 1989, Roth Broadcasting acquired WQQQ and WEEX from Wilks-Schwartz. That September, WEEX switched formats to asatellite radio oldies service. WQQQ became a Rhythmic CHR as WHXT. On August 23, 1991, WHXT dropped its CHR format for Oldies. The format played the Hits of the 1950s, 1960s, and a few from the very early 1970s. The call letters became WODE-FM and the station became known as "Oldies 99" under programing consultant Pete Salant. WEEX then becameWODE, simulcasting the FM's programming.[4]
On August 9, 1993, the station dropped the WODE-FM simulcast and became a sports radio station, with most of its programming provided by Philadelphia's 610 WIP (nowWTEL).[5] To reflect this change, the call letters were changed toWIPI on August 23.
The stations were sold to Patterson Broadcasting in the mid 1990s. The WEEX call letters returned in 1996. On September 2, the station dropped the all-sports format and switched toclassic country as anaffiliate of theReal Country network.[6] In 1997, Capstar acquired WODE and WEEX, but spun the stations off to Clear Channel Communications, the forerunner to today'siHeartMedia, Inc. Capstar had to do this because the Lehigh Valley has only five FM stations and 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 95.1WZZO and 104.1 WAEB-FM. Under Clear Channel ownership, WODE continued its oldies format. WEEX switched to atalk radio format.[7]
In 2001,Nassau Broadcasting Partners acquired WEEX and WODE. WEEX returned to sports radio as anESPN Radio affiliate.[8] WODE switched from Oldies to a rock-leaningClassic Hits format.
In 2004, Nassau took over the operations ofWTKZ (1320 AM) inAllentown, which it simulcast on WEEX. The following year, on February 15, 2005, Nassau acquired WTKZ.[9]
WEEX, along with nine other Nassau stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania (including WTKZ), was purchased at bankruptcy auction by NB Broadcasting in May 2012. Nassau Broadcasting was controlled by Nassau's creditors, includingGoldman Sachs, Pluss Enterprises, and P.E. Capital.[10][11] In November 2012, Nassau Broadcasting filed a motion to transfer ownership of the stations toConnoisseur Media.[12] The sale to Connoisseur Media, at a price of $38.7 million, was consummated on May 29, 2013.
In September 2018, WEEX and WTKZ flipped toFox Sports Radio.[13]
Effective June 26, 2019, Connoisseur Media swapped WEEX, sister stationsWODE-FM,WTKZ, andWWYY, and translator W234AX toCumulus Media in exchange forWEBE andWICC. Cumulus sold WTKZ to Major Keystone on September 24, 2021, splitting it from WEEX.[14]