WBZO (98.5 FM, "La Nueva Fiesta") is a Spanish-language

tropical music Tropical music () is a term in the Latin music industry that refers to music genres deriving from or influenced by the Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean. It includes the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean ...

formatted radio station, licensed to

Westhampton, New York Westhampton is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 3,079 at the 2010 census. Westhampton is in the Administrative ...

, and serving

eastern Long Island The East End of Long Island is constituted by the five towns at the eastern end of New York's Suffolk County, namely Riverhead, Southampton (which includes Westhampton), Southold, Shelter Island, and East Hampton. Long Island's North Fork ...

. The station is owned by JVC Media LLC with studios located in

Ronkonkoma, New York Ronkonkoma ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located within the Town of Islip, in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 18,955 at the time of the 2020 census. The Ronkonkoma post office has the ZIP Code 1 ...

, and transmitter located in Manorville, New York.

History

The station went on the air September 15, 1993, as WMRW, simulcasting the

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

of WDRE (92.7 FM). This would continue throughout the 1990s, with the call sign of 98.5 changing to WLIR-FM, WLRI, and finally WDRE. In 2004, the modern rock simulcast ended, 98.5's format changed to

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

, and the call sign changed to WBON ("98.5 the Bone"). The classic rock format lasted until March 2007. At that time, Jarad Broadcasting was attempting to sell its stations to the Business Talk Radio Network, and as a result the station became WBZB, "Business Talk New York." Programs on WBZB included

Doug Stephan Doug Stephan is an American radio talk show personality who independently syndicates and hosts several nationally syndicated radio shows for Talk Media Network. Radio Programs Doug Stephan's "Good Day" is a morning talk radio program airing l ...

's morning show, ''American Scene'' with Steve Crowley, an afternoon show hosted by Ray Lucia, and ''Chick Chat'', a talk show geared toward women. The sale fell through, and the call letters were changed back to WBON on September 10, 2007. After stunting with a simulcast of sister station WDRE (Party 105), and a pre-produced loop of random

sound bite A sound bite or soundbite is a short clip of speech or music extracted from a longer piece of audio, often used to promote or exemplify the full-length piece. In the context of journalism, a sound bite is characterized by a short phrase or sentence ...

s, WBON became Long Island's newest 24/7 Spanish-language station at noon on September 20, 2007. The station kicked off by airing 10,000 songs in a row. On October 2, 2009, the sale of the station by The Morey Organization to JVC Media LLC was completed.

References

External links

* {{Spanish Radio Stations in New York 1993 establishments in New York (state) Mass media in Suffolk County, New York Radio stations established in 1993 BZO BZO Westhampton, New York