WRNB

WRNB

City of license	Media, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area	Greater Philadelphia (Delaware Valley)
Branding	"Old School 100.3"
Slogan	"Philly's Best Old School Jamz!"
Frequency	100.3 (MHz) (also on HD Radio)
First air date	1940's (100.3 FM), 2004 (107.9 FM)
Format	Urban Oldies
Language(s)	English
ERP	17,000 watts
HAAT	259 meters
Class	B
Facility ID	25079
Transmitter coordinates	40°02′36″N 75°14′33″W
Callsign meaning	We're Rhythm aNd Blues
Former frequencies	107.9 MHz (2004-2011)
Owner	Radio One
Sister stations	WPHI, WPPZ
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	oldschool1003.com

WRNB is an Urban Oldies station broadcasting at 100.3 FM. Licensed to Media, Pennsylvania, it serves the Philadelphia market and is owned by Radio One. It has studios located in Bala Cynwyd and broadcasts from a transmitter site in Philadelphia's Roxborough section.

100.3 FM History

100.3 FM first went on the air in the 1940s as KYW-FM, and was changed to WXUR-FM in the 1960s, and simulcasting its sister station, WXUR/690. The station was owned by Carl McIntire, a Bible Presbyterian minister; it ran a religious format. In 1973, the FCC revoked the station's license for violating the Fairness Doctrine, refusing to air competing viewpoints. The frequency then went dark.

WKSZ as Kiss 100

In 1981, after a seven-year comparative hearing, the FCC award the license to Greater Media, owned by Daniel Lerner. The name referred to the city of license and was not associated with company Greater Media that owns WMGK and other stations. On November 8, 1982, 100.3 signed on again as WKSZ, "Kiss 100," with an Adult Contemporary format. By 1987, Kiss 100 was the #1 Arbitron ranked station among women ages 25 to 54. In the early '90s, however, the battle for AC listeners heated up, and Kiss lost ground in the ratings, falling to 17th place in 1992 behind three other AC stations. They tried to mix AC and oldies with what they called the "50/50 mix," but it didn't work, and in 1993, returned to just a contemporary mix of love songs.

WPLY as Y100

On March 15, 1993, still struggling, WKSZ became "Z-100," playing a Top 40 format, filling the void left by Eagle 106, who had switched to a smooth jazz format on March 12. New York's WHTZ, also on the same frequency, and also called Z-100 since 1983, demanded that WKSZ drop the name to avoid listener confusion. After a brief legal battle, the call letters and name were changed to WPLY, "Y-100." The station initially did have a slight alternative rock lean, but still played a decent amount of non-rock product. In early 1995, WPLY evolved into an Alternative Rock format, which lasted nearly 10 years. From 1996 to about 1999, like most Alternative stations at the time, Y100 leaned towards Modern AC, and would shift towards an active rock lean in 2000. Also in 2000, the station was sold to Radio One, which focuses mostly on Urban type formats.

Radio One tried to make a deal to swap formats with Greater Media's 95.7 FM, which at that time ran a rhythmic '70s based oldies format called "Jammin Gold", but the deal fell through. Radio One did continue to run Y-100 as a modern rock station for nearly 5 years. While ratings had gone down, the station still was moderately successful.

100.3 debuts as WPHI-FM

On February 24, 2005, at 11 PM, Y100 ceased operations, and 103.9 FM's urban contemporary format (known as "103.9 The Beat") and WPHI call letters moved to 100.3 FM. 103.9, in turn, would flip to urban gospel as "Praise 103.9". The last song on "Y100" was Alive by Pearl Jam (which was also the first and last song on WDRE). By 2006, Nielsen BDS/Radio & Records moved it to the urban contemporary panel; Mediabase followed suit in 2011, completing the shift to urban contemporary, and now closely competing with WUSL. It was the last of Radio One's rhythmic stations with an -FM suffix after switching to urban.

In the Fall of 2005, former rival personality Colby Colb was hired as the Program Director and afternoon host. The next few years the Beat enjoyed the highest ratings in its history helped by Miss Jones in the morning and Colby Colb in the afternoon. Monie Love and Pooch took over mornings in 2005, some of the other talents on the station was Micheal Shawn, DJ Touchtone, DJ Jay Ski, Megatron, DJ Bent Rock, Moshay, Toshamakia, DJ JDS, Laiya and Hansoul. In late 2010, it became the home of the Star and Buc Wild Morning Show, in spite of the radio team's previous controversies during its tenure as a syndicated show (it previously aired on WUSL in early 2006). Under Radio One ownership, and prior to 2011, WPHI was one of three stations not to convert to a syndicated morning show; KBXX in Houston and WCKX in Columbus are the other two such stations.

Move to 107.9

On August 27, 2011, WPHI dropped its "Beat" moniker for 100.3 Philly in preparation for WRNB to move to 100.3 on September 1. 107.9 simulcasted WRNB until September 2, when the WPHI call letters and property moved to 107.9 and began stunting as "Michael Vick 107.9." On September 6, it became "Rickey Smiley 107.9," introducing radio personality Rickey Smiley to Philadelphia radio for the first time. Two days later, at 5 PM, the station officially debuted as Hot 107.9 with a Urban Contemporary format.

Switch to Urban Oldies

On March 29, 2013, an announcement was added to the WRNB website about a coming announcement on April 1 at 5 PM. No actual announcement was made; however, an introduction and a countdown to the change to an Urban Oldies format was played. The first song under the new format was "Atomic Dog" by George Clinton. The station now operates under the name "Old School 100.3." The format is very similar to that of the defunct WEJM, playing Motown, Disco, funk, new jack swing, freestyle, and early hip hop from the 1960s-2000s. The reason behind the switch is the station being behind WDAS in the Philadelphia Arbitron ratings.

History of WRNB call letters

Beginning in the 1950s, the call sign WRNB was licensed to North Carolina's first full-time rock n roll radio station, the 1000 watt AM station in New Bern located at 1490 on the dial, also famous for being one of the very first radio stations to play Carolina Beach Music.

External links

• Official website of Old School 100.3
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WRNB
• Radio-Locator information on WRNB
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WRNB