city new jersey branding 99 3 the buzz slogan blazin 18 jamz in a row south jersey s hits and hip hop station frequency 99.3 mhz first air date 1974 1974 format rhythmic contemporary language s english audience share 9.2 fall 2010 http www.pressofatlanticcity.com life article 7947cab5 12ed 5646 a26a 2a9df12d61f3.html erp 3 000 watts haat 100 meters class a facility id 1306 transmitter coordinates 39 22 35 n 74 27 08 w 39.37639 n 74.45222 w 39.37639 ; 74.45222 callsign meaning buzz former callsigns wgrf 1974 1984 wlqe 1984 1987 wmid fm 1987 1998 wsax 1998 2000 owner equity communications l.p. sister stations waiv wayv wcmc wezw wmid wgbz wtth wzxl webcast listen live website 993thebuzz . com wzbz is a radio station also known as 99.3 the buzz in atlantic city new jersey . the station plays a rhythmic contemporary format . its studios are located at the bayport one complex in west atlantic city and its transmitter is located north of the casino district in atlantic city . contents 1 history 2 current lineup 2.1 weekdays 2.2 saturday 3 references 4 external links history edit wzbz s initial sign on was in 1974 as wgrf an adult contemporary station and sister station to 1340 am wmid . wgrf was branded as stereo 99 . together wgrf and wmid were referred to as the dynamic duo ; wmid was the jersey giant and wgrf was the jersey mermaid . in 1983 wgrf became wlqe a soft adult contemporary station branded as lucky 99 . lucky 99 s air staff included dave kerr christopher caldwell bill cain ellis b bruce ellis feaster kevin hall & mike sivilli . in 1988 the lucky 99 moniker was dropped and the call letters were switched to the fm version of its sister s call letters becoming wmid fm . the station continued with an adult contemporary format for another year and a half before switching to classic rock branded as mid rocks . in 1995 sister station 102.3 wsjl began simulcasting wmid fm . this format would last seven years until it became a smooth jazz station with the call letters wsax in 1997 . wsjl continued simulcasting 99.3 as 102.3 wjsx . meanwhile 105.5 wbnj in cape may county had flipped in february 1999 to a dance rhythmic a c station known as wzbz the buzz 105.5 . don brooks owner and general manager hired ted noah in january 1999 to launch the radio station in its new dance format which was noah s first official full time on air position and programming job at 19 years old . ted programmed and directed the buzz musically and was also the afternoon announcer for the first 3 years . the station operated in atlantic city right in front of the tropicana casino . ironically its signal reached the actual broadcast facilities . the broadcast tower served the extreme southern end of the atlantic city cape may market on 105.5 fm b 105.5 the buzz the beat of south jersey . it mainly covered cape may southern and western atlantic and eastern cumberland counties its first year . in january 2000 the station then picked up 99.3 wsax as a second frequency . this brought the station to cover the entire atlantic city cape may market along with the fringes of the monmouth ocean market . the wzbz calls were moved from 105.5 to 99.3 replacing the wsax calls ; 105.5 became wgbz . 99.3 was now the primary buzz frequency with 105.5 as the simulcast . later that year the station added radio personality shane coyle as its main night dj following ted noah in the afternoons . mike ray big daddy was hired later on as well . a syndicated morning show bob and sherri was added to the line up . this left nights and mid days automated as well as some weekend mornings . in less than a years time shane coyle s position was made automated having only ted noah live in the afternoons . another fill in and weekend dj was added to the line up ms. kelly rich known on air as kelly d vine . kelly was the main mid day weekend dj and noah s main fill in . tj thompson briefly hosted weekend shifts on the buzz in 2001 usually saturday afternoon evening and sunday afternoon . in late february 2002 ted noah resigned passing programming responsibilities to rob garcia who also took over the afternoon time slot . with the resignation of noah kelly rich also resigned and removed herself completely from the broadcasting business . within 2 months time of garcia acquiring the programming and on air position wzbz along with all its sister stations wgbz wmid and wmid fm the former wsjl wjsx were purchased by the competition . the new owner gary fisher equity broadcasting then changed the dance format to hip hop and r & b. rob garcia and big daddy mike ray remained on air . in 2007 the wgbz calls on simulcast 105.5 were changed to wsnq . 99.3 kiss fm logo on june 5 2008 wzbz flipped from rhythmic 99.3 the buzz to mainstream top 40 kiss fm brand as 99 3 kiss fm . days before the official format change they silently started adding top 40 songs to their playlist . to avoid competition with sister station wayv 95.1 and to boost ratings back up a week before thanksgiving wzbz started to remove the top 40 songs from their playlist and re added rhythmic songs from all dayparts except overnights which still had some top 40 . later the station s playlist returned to rhythmic top 40 songs and on december 5 r & r moved wzbz back to the rhythmic airplay panel . in the fall of 2010 99.3 kiss fm was the highest rated station in the atlantic city cape may with arbitron ratings at 9.2 . 1 on march 8 2013 at 12 00pm the station re branded to its former name 99.3 the buzz . current lineup edit weekdays edit kayla austin 12pm 3pm keisha nicole 3pm 7pm saturday edit weekend top 30 w dj pup dawg 7am 10am party jam w dj grooves 9pm 1am references edit http www.pressofatlanticcity.com life article 7947cab5 12ed 5646 a26a 2a9df12d61f3.html external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for wzbz radio locator information on wzbz query nielsen audio s fm station database for wzbz v t e radio stations in the atlantic city cape may market by am frequency 1020 1230 1340 1400 1450 1490 1580 by fm frequency 88.1 88.7 88.9 89.1 89.7 90.3 90.5 90.5 91.3 91.7 92.7 93.1 94.3 95.1 96.1 96.9 97.3 98.3 98.7 99.3 100.7 101.5 102.3 102.7 103.7 104.9 105.5 106.3 106.5 107.3 107.9 by callsign waiv wajm wayv wbss wcfa lp wcmc wczt weha wenj wezw wfpg wgbz wgym wibg wibg fm wjpg wjse wlfr wlom lp wmgm wmid wnjn fm wnjz wond wpgg wpur wrml lp wrtq wsjo wthj wtku fm wtth wwac wwcj wwfp wxgn wzbz wzxl new jersey radio markets atlantic city cape may middlesex somerset union monmouth ocean morristown sussex trenton other new jersey radio regions vineland millville bridgeton see also list of radio stations in new jersey v t e rhythmic contemporary radio stations in the state of new jersey by frequency 99.3 102.3 by callsign wgbz wzbz by city cape may pleasantville see also adult contemporary classic hits college country news talk npr oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in new jersey see also contemporary hit radio rhythmic kiss fm movin radio disney retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wzbz & oldid 730898497 categories radio stations in atlantic city new jerseyrhythmic contemporary radio stations in the united statesradio stations established in 1974 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 21 july 2016 at 16 50 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view