A short history of WSSZ Z107 FM

• Around 1966, a license was granted for WOKU FM, and they started broadcasting at a frequency of 107.1 FM
• The station had several owners and formats over the years, among them "Hot Hits", urban contemporary, and heavy metal.
• I am uncertain when the call letters changed.
• The station also changed hands several times over the years.
• Around 1987, the station became "Classic Hits, Z107".
• The logo of Z107 was the same as the logo of earlier "Hot Hits, Z107" except that the colors were now red and white, not green and yellow.
• The station was most recently owned by Melvin Gold, a local businessman.
• The station shared studios with WHJB AM on Brown Street in Greensburg, also owned most recently by Melvin Gold before being sold just after Z107.
• Previously, the station's studio was in Greengate Mall in Hempfield, east of Greensburg.
• The station had a 1.6 kilowatt transmitter whose tower was located north and east of Adamsburg and was visible from US 30.
• Jim DeCesare came to the station after being fired when 104.7 WYDD stopped playing alternative music and became WNRJ.
• Dennis Elliott came to the station after stints at WBVP, WXKX and other local stations.
• Most of Z107's other employees were actually people who worked at WHJB and just filled in at Z107 at the end.
• Z107 reached the height of popularity when "Magic 97" became a Hard Rock station around 1993. WSSZ then became *the* classic rock game in town, but unfortunately could not capitalize fully due to a weak signal.
• WHJB and Z107 went from 24 hour stations to going off the air at night on April 1, 1996. Before that, Z107 promotions billed the station as "Your 24 hour music source."
• Other promotions noted that the station "played the songs you really wanted to hear". It was also said that "If your co-workers don't want to listen to Classic Hits Z107 at work, then they're just not being productive". There were also several other clever commercials, including one where they mentioned several other stations and what they played, noting that you could find great Classic Rock at Z107.
• The station had spots where they mentioned an artist or band you could hear on Z107, played bits of a few songs from them, and then reminded you that Z107 played all of the Classic Hits.
• Because of the way the station was run for most of the day, and because the DJs also didn't do it, there was no talk over the beginnings or ends of songs on Z107.
• Speaking of which, the station used a machine dating from the probably 1960 or so which had several reel to reel 1/4" tape players and a cartridge tape carousel, and was programmable to shuffle, play several things from one tape, or do any of a number of other things. It played commercials and promotions from cartridge tapes, and two reel tape players were used for that station's "heavy rotation", if you can call it that.
• The station's music library was mostly on 1/4" tapes, which were put on the players and used in shuffle mode when the station was unstaffed, thus meaning that the fact that many infrequently heard songs were on those tapes gave Z107 a much broader playlist than most stations.
• The Z107 format was best described as "Album Oriented Classic Rock", and the station had a promotional spot which mentioned that they played "the whole album, not just the top forty hit".
• The top of the hour/bottom of the hour voiceovers used most recently were pieced together from free promotional spots done by George Taylor Morris for Reelin' in the Years. One was "With one of the areas' largest on-air music libraries, this is Classic Hits Z107, Westmoreland County's home of rock and roll."