WTIX-FM - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

WTIX-FM is an oldies

Oldies

Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....

outlet serving the New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

area. The station is owned by Michael A. "Michael In The Morning" Costello (under the name Fleur de Lis Broadcasting) and operates at 94.3 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW

kw or KW may refer to:* Kuwait, ISO 3166-1 country code** .kw, the country code top level domain for Kuwait* Kilowatt* Self-ionization of water Kw* Cornish language's ISO 639 code* Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada...

. Its City of License is Galliano, Louisiana

Galliano, Louisiana

Galliano is a census-designated place on the Bayou Lafourche in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 7,356...

History

Costello was Program Director at WRNO-FM from 1976 to 1991 and also hosted the morning show as "Michael In The Morning" (M&M),also hosted the Sunday night edition of The Rock 'N'Roll Hall Of Fame, acquired the former KLEB-FM from the Harold Callais family which was a country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

outlet in 1995, flipped it to its current format. The station is modeled after the original Top 40 AM station WTIX

WIST (AM)

WIST is a combo news/sports talk station based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The locally owned & operated station is an affiliate of Fox Sports Radio and broadcasts at 690 kHz with a power level of 10,000 watts daytime and 5,000 watts nighttime.The facilities of the station, previously called...

, which was a very successful Top 40 outlet in New Orleans from the 1950s through the 1970s. He increased the transmitted power and moved the antenna from its original location to its present location in 1998 to better serve the New Orleans metro area. Mike Costello also handles GM, PD, and also hosts the morning show. Many of the jingles used on WTIX-FM are the originals used by WTIX-AM in the 1960s and 1970s. WTIX-FM also adapts a time-honored feature from the old WTIX-AM: the "Chime Time", wherein a chime

Chime (bell instrument)

A carillon-like instrument with fewer than 23 bells is called a chime.American chimes usually have one to one and a half diatonic octaves. Many chimes play an automated piece of music. Prior to 1900, chime bells typically lacked dynamic variation and the inner tuning required to permit the use of...

rang whenever jocks gave the time on the air. (Coincidentally, "Chime Time" was also the staple of Musicradio WABC

WABC (AM)

WABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Cumulus Media Networks...

in its heyday.)

Interestingly, WTIX-FM's format, Oldies, is patterned after half of WTIX-AM's late-1980s hybrid Talk/Oldies format (before the latter switched to All-Talk in 1988). Four of the WTIX-FM disc jockeys, "Hot" Rod Glenn, Bobby Reno, "King" Bob Walker and Terry Knight, also had ties to the original 'TIX on AM

WIST (AM)

. Knight and Walker have since left TIX-FM, though Walker (a 'TIX staple since October 1967 who also hosted The 'TIX Original Oldie Hour on The Mighty 690

WIST (AM)

at noon between 1979 and 1984) has returned briefly in December 2005, resuming the humorous afternoon traffic routine with Sergeant T-Ben Boudreaux that was originally a staple on KQLD-FM Oldies 106.7

KMEZ

KMEZ, is a radio station serving the New Orleans area. The Cumulus Media station is licensed to Port Sulphur, Louisiana and broadcasts at 106.7 MHz with an ERP of 98 kW...

from 1989-1992; this resurrection lasted through August 2006. Mighty 690

WIST (AM)

alumnus Bobby Reno currently covers Walker's former 3:00-7:00 p.m. time slot.

Sgt. T-Ben's daily segment, "The News You Need Now!," which debuted in June 2004 and airs 3 times during the Michael In The Morning show (at 6:35, 8:05 and 9:35 a.m.), is a tongue-in-cheek mock news report concerning local politicians, national celebrities and various topical news stories, concluding with his signature catchphrase, "Nobody cares!" And "JD The DJ," J. Douglas, veteran DJ at such stations as WPTR in Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

, KIRL in St. Louis, and WIXO-FM, WNOE-AM

WLNO

WLNO is a radio station broadcasting a Christian radio format. Licensed to New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, the station serves the New Orleans area. The station is currently owned by Communicom Co. of Louisiana, L.P...

and WRNO-FM

WRNO-FM

WRNO-FM is an Interactive Talk formatted radio station serving New Orleans, Louisiana. The Clear Channel Communications station broadcasts at 99.5 MHz with an effective radiated power of 100 kilowatts.-History:...

in New Orleans, pilots the "Rock and Roll Flight to Midnight

Midnight

Midnight is the transition time period from one day to the next: the moment when the date changes. In the Roman time system, midnight was halfway between sunset and sunrise, varying according to the seasons....

," Mondays through Fridays at WTIX-FM.

WTIX-FM 17 Choice Oldies, an album originally released on LP

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

by The Mighty 690

WIST (AM)

in 1967, had been reissued on compact disc

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

in 2005. Another CD, WTIX At The Beach, a compilation of summertime-themed oldies, was released in 2008, and there is a new disc, WTIX Back To The Beach, released in July 2011.

Its current slogan is "New Orleans' Oldies

Oldies

Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....

Station, TIX-FM."

Jocks

Michael Costello (a.k.a. "Michael In The Morning" or simply "M&M" for short)
Ben Walsh (a.k.a. "Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux," with "The News You Need Now!")
"Hot" Rod Glenn (also a DJ of the original WTIX-AM)
Bobby Reno (also a DJ of the original WTIX-AM)
J. Douglas (a.k.a. "JD The DJ"; once a DJ of WRNO-FM
WRNO-FM
WRNO-FM is an Interactive Talk formatted radio station serving New Orleans, Louisiana. The Clear Channel Communications station broadcasts at 99.5 MHz with an effective radiated power of 100 kilowatts.-History:...

, WNOE-AM, and WIXO)

Former Jocks

Terry Knight - also a DJ of the original WTIX-AM
Bob Walker - "The Oldie King," also a DJ of the original WTIX-AM; retired on April 9, 2003.
Blair on the Air - another DJ of the original WTIX-AM (1975–1985)

External links

WTIX official website
JD the DJ - J. Douglas' official site
Bob Walker's Original New Orleans Radio Shrine
Benny The Jokeman - Home Page - Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux's official site
Official Website of Blair on the Air

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