verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message wpen city burlington new jersey broadcast area greater philadelphia delaware valley branding 97.5 the fanatic slogan philly s first fm sports station frequency 97.5 mhz also on hd radio 97.5 hd 2 for classical music 97.5 hd 3 for spanish chr supra fm first air date 1949 as wtoa format sports erp 26 000 watts haat 208 meters class b facility id 47427 callsign meaning william penn broadcasting original owner of former sister station 950 am now wkdn former callsigns wtoa 1949 1971 wpst 1971 2005 wthk 2005 2006 wjjz fm 2006 wjjz 2006 2008 wnuw 2008 2009 wpen fm 2009 2013 owner greater media sale to beasley broadcast group pending fcc approval sister stations wben fm wmgk wmmr webcast listen live requires login or listen live via iheartradio website 975thefanatic . com supraradio.com hd3 wpen 97.5 fm 97.5 the fanatic is a radio station owned by greater media . licensed to burlington new jersey it currently broadcasts a sports format to the philadelphia metropolitan area . it has studios located in bala cynwyd and broadcasts from a transmitter site in wyndmoor . contents 1 history 1.1 wtoa 1.2 wpst 1.3 wthk 2 the new smooth jazz 97.5 wjjz 2.1 ending of wjjz 106.1 2.2 leading up to the launch 2.3 launch of the station 2.4 airstaff 3 wnuw 3.1 now 97.5 4 97.5 the fanatic 5 hd radio 5.1 wpen hd2 5.2 wpen hd3 6 references 7 external links history edit wtoa edit the 97.5 frequency was originally allocated to trenton new jersey . the station there began test broadcasts on january 10 1949 then official operations on april 19 1949 as wtoa . it was owned by the mercer broadcasting company which was a wholly owned subsidiary of the trenton times newspaper . wtoa started out broadcasting from 3 pm to 11 pm with an erp of 14 500 watts . its original coverage area reached as far north as queens ny and as far west as reading pa . by the late 1960s the station had been acquired by nassau broadcasting . its call letters were changed to wpst on september 13 1971 . wpst edit the wpst calls originally stood for passport stereo trenton a slogan of the station at the time . wpst is known for its mainstream chr format which they ve had for many years . tom taylor was the pd who launched the format in the mid 1970s and did mornings on the station until 1987 . in august 1975 owner herb hobler hired phil gieger as the general manager . along with tom taylor they revamped the station and coined the phrase from the shore to the poconos the music is on the fm 97.5 wpst . they initially established an adult rock format and by the fall of 1975 the station took off and eventually became the number one station in the market . some wpst dj s over the years included john mellon aka walt ballard ed johnson doug james john brown eddie davis trish merelo andy gury brian douglas mel toxic taylor jay sorensen dave hoeffel tom cunningham michelle stevens eric johnson mark sheppard andre gardner phil simon steve trevelise joel katz rich desisto lee tobin steve kamer lori johnson mark didia bob sorrentino and scott lowe . wthk edit on february 14 2005 at 5 pm 97.5 swapped call letters and formats with 94.5 wthk . branded on air as the hawk wthk had a classic rock format . like wpst wthk was owned by nassau broadcasting and licensed as a trenton station . however in august 2005 97.5 s city of license was changed from trenton to burlington . these changes were the first two steps of a three step process designed to maximize the value of the licenses for 94.5 and 97.5 . the reallocation of the 97.5 frequency from trenton to burlington moved it into the far larger philadelphia market and made it possible to move the 97.5 transmitter to a site much closer to philadelphia . this made 97.5 a much more valuable property one ripe for sale to a major market broadcast company regardless of what format it might be running . the object of the frequency swap was to allow wpst to continue to operate as a highly popular and profitable trenton market station on 94.5 a frequency allotment not suitable for relocation to a larger market . the lower rated wthk format was deemed expendable . nassau chose to leave the final necessary step the actual relocation of the 97.5 transmitter to the eventual buyer which would turn out to be greater media . since greater media already had a philadelphia classic rock station in wmgk it was almost certain that a format change would be in order ; clear channel s decision to drop smooth jazz from 106.1 left a format hole in the market and greater media decided to fill it with a new version of wjjz on 97.5 . wthk signed off on november 15 2006 at 7 pm est. shortly after that greater media began airing a simulcast of wmgk the hawk s former competitor on 97.5 as a placeholder until the sign on of wjjz . about 3 minutes before wjjz was to take over messages urged listeners to reprogram their radios to 102.9 wmgk to continue enjoying classic rock . the new smooth jazz 97.5 wjjz edit ending of wjjz 106.1 edit see also wisx smooth jazz wjjz wjjz 106.1 stopped playing smooth jazz at noon on august 10 2006 and flipped to the rhythmic adult contemporary format . after a eulogy of the station by program director michael tozzi she s gone by daryl hall played then after a brief pause let s get it started by the black eyed peas began to play . the station name became philly s 106.1 still carrying the inappropriate wjjz callsign . after a month the callsign for philly s 106.1 became wisx and the wjjz callsign was left open . until september 2008 wisx continued to broadcast the smooth jazz format on its hd2 station and on an internet stream from its website but eventually the smooth jazz format was dropped in favor of tropical a simulcast of wdas which currently broadcasts at 1480 am ; this has since changed to an urban oldies format . at that time loni taylor who hosted the mornings at her start and the 7 midnight timeslot up until the demise of the old station ; and bill simpson who hosted the philadelphia after hours 7 midnight show which was dropped before the ending of the old station ; were working at sister station wsmj in baltimore which has since been flipped to modern rock alternative as wchh channel 104.3 and again to chr top 40 as wzft z104 .3 ; simpson would return to the new wjjz as the host of a revived philadelphia after hours while taylor was a featured voice on jones radio networks smooth jazz stations until september 30 2008 . it would be 99 days before smooth jazz returned to the philadelphia airwaves . leading up to the launch edit many former smooth jazz 106.1 listeners protested angrily when the format was abandoned in philadelphia . they were extremely vocal and on the first day of philly s 106.1 anyone who called to complain could hear telephones ringing in the background . there were twenty two pages of mostly angry posts on philly.com the philadelphia inquirer s website and the format change of 106.1 as well as that of 104.5 wsni sunny 104.5 which eventually went spanish as rumba 104.5 but has since flipped formats again . the station is now wrff . like 106.1 clear channel also owns 104.5 . much to the delight of fans greater media announced in late october that it had plans to flip the format of burlington nj classic rock station wthk to smooth jazz change the call sign to wjjz and broadcast on 97.5 . wthk was owned by nassau broadcasting and greater media had plans to purchase it even before it was known that a new smooth jazz station would be created . it had also been rumored that radio one was considering the format for its current hip hop outlet wphi fm 100.3 the beat ; at the time it already owned smooth jazz stations in indianapolis formerly wyjz and atlanta formerly wjzz fm . greater media was quick to park the wjjz call letters at am station wwtr in bridgewater nj for approximately a month leading up to the launch . wwtr which is a simulcast of wmtr a greater media owned oldies stations was changed to wjjz during that time . it returned to wwtr after wjjz moved back to the fm frequency . although it is possible to have multiple stations with the same letters on different bands they must all be under the same ownership . this prevented a rival from gaining these letters . when the return of the station was announced there was some question as to whether or not any of the familiar personalities would be returning . on october 19 greater media announced that michael tozzi the old frequency s former program director would be returning but other staff announcements would come in the weeks before and the months after the launch of the new station . the official transfer of ownership took place on november 15 when wthk signed off and shut down their trenton transmitter . on november 16 at noon a countdown timer was added to the front page of the new station s website 975wjjz . com . headlining the timer were the words countdown to the return of wjjz and the timer was started at 1 day 6 hours 0 minutes and 0 seconds . the timer ran continuously above the station s logo . for quite some time the old station s web address wjjz.com still existed but the link automatically redirected to the wdas 105.3 website . launch of the station edit the new wjjz started out at 6 pm est on friday november 17 2006 . after a minute of silence a recording of smooth jazz artists greeted listeners was played the same recording that was played at the closing of the old wjjz then dave koz announcing the new home of wjjz . the first song played on the new frequency was the grover washington jr. tune protect the dream . until july 2007 the station had no identifying jingle as they did with the former station . at that time jingles were introduced using both male and female vocalists . however in november 2007 as a tribute to wjjz s heyday on the 106.1 frequency the new station began to use some of the old station s jingles with vocal versions added in december . for most of the station s life branding practices placed the station s frequency before the callsign billing it as 97.5 wjjz . this was changed and the station was then referred to as wjjz 97.5 by on air staff voiceover announcers and on the website although the jingles did not include the word point in their lyrics instead referring to the station as wjjz 97 5 . these changes may be to recreate the strong image that the old station had . the new wjjz broadcast from the same tower used by the old wjjz located on mermaid lane in wyndmoor pa . it began transmission on june 15 2007 . its new hd radio was launched three days later . the station has the same signal strength as before ; the only difference is that the new signal is directional . airstaff edit at the station s