Asheville radio station WOXL changes format

Asheville radio station WOXL changed its format yesterday, switching from “classic hits” to “light rock.” The station has also re-branded itself as The Mix 96.5.

I used to work with Tammy, of the Ken and Tammy show, over at the Citizen-Times, a period when she left radio to join the newspaper biz. Yo Tammy, why didn’t you tell me about the big switcheroo?!?

I haven’t listened enough over the past day to get a feel for what music is now being played. What do y’all think? Do you like the new Mix? What local station do you listen to?

Meanwhile, over at the Asheville Citizen-Times message boards, people are savaging the move. One commenter suggested the station change its call-letters to WSUX. Lots of folks apparently didn’t like WOXL’s stunt of going to 24-hour-a-day Christmas music for a month before announcing the format change. There are many satellite radio fans. And there’s still a lot of bad blood over the local station that used to be on the 96.5 frequency in WZLS. Here’s some history, from the boards:

“There were almost a dozen applicants for the frequency. In the late 80’s, the Asheville market was seen as a real growth opportunity and whoever received the license could be assured of a profitable revenue stream for decades to come. Two of the primary applicants were Liberty Productions and Biltmore Forest Radio, Inc.

Both of these applicants engaged in questionable tactics. Liberty – although ostensibly local – had obtained the bulk of its financing from Cumulus Media, a national conglomerate. Liberty was soon disqualified by the administrative law judge for engaging in “substantial misrepresentation” in its initial application, especially regarding its acquisition of a transmitter site. Whereas the Lee family had a nice, signed lease guaranteeing them access to a local mountaintop for their primary transmitter tower, Liberty relied upon a verbal assurance from one of its own officers as to its transmitter site – an assurance the site’s owner denied ever having given. The administrative law judge found Liberty’s claims as to its transmitter site “spurious”; found that Liberty had “dissembled in a manner not benefiting an applicant” and rejected the Liberty application.

BFRI had retained the services of two prominent local African-Americans: Representative Mel Watt and anchorwoman Darcel Grimes. BFRI’s stated purpose was to bring diversity and “fresh air” to the Asheville radio market. But the involvement of African-Americans was more of a gaming attempt than a sincere effort at diversity. Again, the administrative law judge saw through this ruse and wrote in his opinion that the minority involvement was a ”sham” and “window dressing” as he summarily rejected BFRI’s application. Once the dust had settled in 1990, Zeb Lee had won the license for 96.5; with the judge citing Lee’s strong record of community involvement and his splendid stewardship of his AM license, WSKY. It was a classic example of a little David triumphing over a dozen different corporate Goliaths. But corporate Goliaths tend to have deep pockets and with such a valuable property at stake, appeals were immediately filed. This appeals process drug on for three more years, with the Lee family winning each individual fight.”