Beasley Broadcasting’s Southwest Florida stations are undergoing a reorganization with some being reformatted.
The largest group, translators at 96.5 MHz, 98.1 MHz, 101.5 MHz and 105.1 MHz, in Lee and Collier counties are being linked together as “The Link.” They’ll be programmed as a female 25–44 modern adult contemporary soft rock format with a mix of triple A, alternative and hot AC songs.
Rocker WRXK(FM) at 96.1 MHz, will absorb “active rock” station WJBX(FM).
WJBX’s 99.3 MHz signal will be taken over by ESPN-affiliated sports talker WWCN(AM), which will eventually abandon its 770 kHz signal. That signal will be taken over later in the summer by ESPN Deportes Spanish-language sports talk programming.
Beasley VP and Southwest Florida Market Manager Brad Beasley explained, “As our audience levels reached record numbers last fall, we decided this was an opportunity to take this powerful sports brand and have it in one place on FM and grow it even more. In addition, Southwest Florida has a significantly growing Hispanic population, and the move of ESPN to 99.3 now gives us the ability to shift 770 to ‘ESPN Deportes’ and the great programming and play-by-play they provide.”
The sports station carries Miami Heat and Tampa Bay Buccaneers play-by-play among other live sports programming.
The translators, acquired last year, were also cited and the company is happy with them, resulting in these changes, said a release. According to Beasley, The Link concept is aimed at “…a unique upscale audience currently not being served by the many gold-based radio stations in Southwest Florida.”
