WLEV

WLEV is an FM radio station broadcasting on 100.7 FM licensed to Allentown and serving the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, in the United States. The station offers an adult contemporary music format. It is owned by Cumulus Media.

History

100.7 frequency

100.7 FM began operation in 1947 as WFMZ. On November 1, 1947, it moved from 105.1 MHz to 95.9 MHz concurrent with an increase in power to 1 KW.

The station originally played classical music as well as jazz music at various times of the day. In the 1950s, the station began playing blocks of instrumental easy listening music as well. In 1965, the station was sold to a Christian local group called Maranatha Broadcasting. At that point, WFMZ flipped to a religious/easy listening format. For many hours a day, the station sold blocks of time to churches. The rest of the day was filled with only instrumental easy listening music known as "Beautiful Music". The station initially played no vocalists.

In the 1970s, WFMZ began cutting back the religious programming to very early mornings and middays and late evenings. The station began to focus more on the easy listening music. By the mid 1970s, the station added some soft vocals by standard and adult contemporary artists; they began playing one or two per hour. In 1976, Maranatha signed on as television station Channel 69. That station became known as WFMZ-TV, as the FM station was now WFMZ FM. The television station ran mostly religious shows along with about 6 hours a day of classic sitcoms and drama shows.