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Friday, September 6, 2024

CT Radio: WFOX Drops Music, Simulcasting WICC


Westport, CT Connoisseur Media has dropped the rock music format at its station WFOX (95.9 FM) and is instead now  simulcasting the news and talk format of sister station WICC (600 AM).

Keith Dakin, vice president of programming at Connoisseur Media, attributed the decision to simulcast WICC's programming on WFOX as a result of the "the departure of 880 CBS-AM and the surging popularity of WICC over the last year, according to CT Insider.

"We decided that it was time to move the station over to the FM dial and cover all of Fairfield County," Dakin said. Connoisseur Media also added the CBS Radio Network newscasts to its programming.

The change comes as WCBS ended nearly 60 years as a New York all-news station on Aug. 26.

WFOX has had a variety of rock formats since the late 1980s, he said, "but it became clear that local news and talk was needed."

The demise of WFOX's rock format, will not result in any of the station's on-air talent losing their jobs, according to Dakin. WFOX's morning drive time show, Chaz and AJ, was a simulcast of sister station WPLR and the rest of the staff will take on other roles in the Connoisseur Media's Connecticut cluster.

The lineup on WICC features Melissa Sheketoff in the morning, Lisa Wexler in the midday and Paul Pacelli on during afternoons. 

WICC's ratings dropped from 5.0  to 3.3 in the July Nielsen Audio ratings while WFOX went from 0.5 to a 0.7 during the same period.

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