WLDE (101.7 FM) is a commercial radio station from Fort Wayne, Indiana, which broadcasts a classic hits format. On-air personalities during the week are Jim and Carrie, Angie Nash, Captain Chris and Mark Evans.

WLDE
Broadcast areaFort Wayne, Indiana
Frequency101.7 MHz
BrandingClassic Hits 101.7
Programming
FormatClassic hits
Ownership
OwnerSarkes Tarzian, Inc.
WAJI, WGBJ
History
First air date
July 1979 (as WEZV)
Former call signs
WEZV (1979–1990)
WJLT (1990–1994)
Call sign meaning
W OLDiEs (previous format)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID59134
ClassA
ERP6,000 watts [2]
HAAT100 meters (330 ft)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen Live
Websiteclassichits1017.com

Station history

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As WEZV

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The station's original call letters were WEZV from July 1979 to August 1990.[3] WEZV aired a beautiful music format that achieved high ratings in adult demographics in Fort Wayne.

As WJLT

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The station's second call letters were WJLT from August 1990 to March 1994. WJLT, "Lite 101.7," was an effort to evolve the station's beautiful music format to soft adult contemporary, which met with only limited success due to competitor WAJI 95.1's massive ratings with its AC format.

As WLDE

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As WLDE, it originally broadcast oldies music, but slowly evolved into a classic hits format as their main playlist dropped pre-1964 music in favor of music up to 1979. Beginning in 2008, 1980s music was added to the playlist as 1960s music slowly began getting phased out.

In April 2019, WLDE rebranded from "Fun 101.7" to "Classic Hits 101.7", and began focusing more towards rock music to put it in closer competition towards WFWI.[4]

In 2023, 1990s music was slowly being added to the playlist. The stations main competitors are classic rock WXKE and adult hits WWFW.

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References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WLDE". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "WLDE-FM 101.7 MHZ - Fort Wayne, IN".
  3. ^ http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=59134&Callsign=WLDE [dead link]
  4. ^ WLDE Relaunches as Classic Hits 101.7 Radioinsight - April 3, 2019
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41°05′02″N 85°04′39″W / 41.08389°N 85.07750°W / 41.08389; -85.07750