WCLZ (98.9 FM) is a radio station licensed to

North Yarmouth, Maine North Yarmouth, officially the Town of North Yarmouth, is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County, Maine, United States. North Yarmouth is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and tow ...

, with studios located in

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

. Since 2001 WCLZ has been broadcasting an

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

format. It is under ownership of Saga Communications.

Programming

WCLZ operates 24 hours a day with an adult album alternative format.

History

The 98.9 frequency debuted on April 11, 1965, as WCME-FM, licensed to

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. Brunswick is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part o ...

about 30 miles north of Portland. The station began as a

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

WCME WCME (900 kHz; "Radio Midcoast") is a commercial AM broadcasting, AM radio station City of licence, licensed to Brunswick, Maine, and serving Maine's Mid Coast; on-air, the station is currently known as "Radio Midcoast WCME 99-5 FM & 900 AM". E ...

(900 AM). The stations played

middle of the road (music) Middle of the road (also known by its acronym MOR) is a commercial radio format. Music associated with this term is strongly melodic and uses techniques of vocal harmony and light orchestral arrangements. The format was similar to soft adult contem ...

and aired local information. The WCME-AM-FM

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

eventually became WKXA-AM-FM. By 1980, WKXA-FM was a full-time

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

station with an 80,000 watt signal which was easily heard in Portland and was giving established country station WPOR (1490 AM, now WBAE, and 101.9 FM) some competition. The WCLZ call letters were installed on 98.9 in 1984, when the station picked up an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format. Several years later, the station adopted the

(AAA) format for which it is known today. The WCLZ call letters remained on 98.9 until 1999, when the station was sold from Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting to

Citadel Communications Citadel Communications Ltd. was an American private broadcasting company. It was based in Bronxville, New York and most recently owned 1 low-power television station on which it operated a regional 24-hour cable news channel. The company wa ...

. Following the sale, the WCLZ call letters and format moved to 95.5 (now WPPI), and 98.9 became WTPN "98.9 The Point", with a modern

hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format. The call letters and format of WCLZ returned to the frequency in 2001, after 95.5 became WJJB-FM and began simulcasting

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

programming from WJAE (1440 AM, now WRED) and WJJB (900 AM, the former and present WCME). WCLZ was sold to Saga Communications in 2007 after the FCC required Citadel to sell two Portland stations due to the company's acquisition of ABC Radio. The other station sold was WCYI (93.9 FM, now WARX) in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ) is the List of municipalities in Maine, second most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine, with the city's population at 37,121 as of the 2020 United States census. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, Augusta, the sta ...

, which for a time simulcast WCLZ, when held in The Last Bastion Station Trust, LLC, the trust Citadel set up to sell the two Portland stations, as well as several other stations across the United States in order to get under the market cap (WCYI would be separately sold to the

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest contempor ...

). Several of WCLZ's shows moved to

WBLM WBLM (102.9 FM) is a classic rock radio station licensed to Portland, Maine. The station has a studio in One City Center, along with co-owned Townsquare Media stations WJBQ, WCYY and WHOM. The station also serves as the Portland market af ...

and other Citadel owned stations before the transfer into the trust.

References

External links

98.9 WCLZ - Official website
* Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1965 1965 establishments in Maine CLZ Mass media in Cumberland County, Maine North Yarmouth, Maine {{Maine-radio-station-stub