SoJersey's KOOL 98.3 To Re-Launch Monday

With a firm commitment to programming that's both live and local seven days a week, Kool 98.3 WTKU-FM will re-launch August 1with hit songs from the 1960's through the '80's played by a lineup of personalities whose names and voices are familiar to radio listeners in southern New Jersey and throughout the Delaware Valley, station officials announced Thursday.

"Our goal is to position Kool 98.3 as South Jersey's Greatest Hits Station among all age groups," said Dave Coskey, president of Longport Media, LLC., which purchased Kool 98.3 along with four other local radio stations in May.

Paul Kelly has been named Director of Operations for Longport Media and will oversee the development and rollout of the changes, Coskey added.

Kool 98.3's new format will include Morning Wake Up with Dave Allen Pratt  & Tina Owen get the AM Drive duties. Also featured on Morning Wake Up with Dave & Tina will be NBC40 chief meteorologist Dan Skeldon's exclusive weather forecasts. During the midday hours, seasoned radio veteran Jennifer Scott returns to KOOL weekdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Afternoon drive from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. is Jackson T. Chase, one of the area's most recognized and familiar voices. Chase made his local radio debut in 1971 as the morning drive personality on WMID - The Jersey Giant - which was the region's premier station of its time. Finally, one of the most iconic figures in the history of Delaware Valley radio wraps up each weekday. Jerry Blavat, the legendary "Geator with the Heator," slides behind the microphone and brings his inimitable style and encyclopedic knowledge of music to Kool 98.3 Monday through Friday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

For  weekends, Kool 98.3 has recruited Dick Fennessy, whose resume includes stints at Philadelphia's 1970s powerhouse WFIL, to anchor Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Then Mike Bowe, who spent more than 25 years as the morning and afternoon drive-time host on Philadelphia's WMGK, will take the 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. shift.

And on the first Sunday of every month, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., another voice and face familiar to Delaware Valley radio and television audiences will see his broadcasting career come full circle. Atlantic City native Tom Lamaine, whose media career began at WOND in the early 1960s, will revive "Tom Lamaine's Memory Lane," the show that launched his radio career and continued when he took the program to WIP radio in Philadelphia in the late 1960s. Lamaine went on to enjoy a long career at KYW-TV CBS3's "Eyewitness News" in Philadelphia.

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