| WSFZ | |
| City: | Jackson, Mississippi |
| Area: | Jackson, Mississippi |
| Branding: | Jackson's BIN 98.1 |
| Translator: | 98.1 W251DB (Jackson) |
| Airdate: | 1938 |
| Format: | Black-oriented news |
| Power: | 3,700 watts day 60 watts night |
| Class: | D |
| Facility Id: | 62049 |
| Coordinates: | 32.395°N -90.1539°W |
| Former Frequencies: | 1420 kHz (1938–1941) 1450 kHz (1941–1946) |
| Former Callsigns: | WSLI (1938–2003) |
| Affiliations: | Black Information Network |
| Owner: | iHeartMedia |
| Licensee: | iHM Licenses, LLC |
| Sister Stations: | WJDX, WJDX-FM, WSTZ-FM, WMSI-FM, WHLH |
| Licensing Authority: | FCC |
WSFZ (930 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Jackson, Mississippi. The station is owned by iHeartMedia.[1] As of December 1, 2020, WSFZ is broadcasting an African-American oriented all-news format.[2]
WSLI signed on in September 1938, becoming Jackson's second radio station. It was owned by, and named for, the Standard Life Insurance Company. It began broadcasting from studios located in the Robert E. Lee Hotel. The transmitter was located on High Street, near the Pearl River. WSLI was affiliated with NBC's Blue Network. L.M. Sepaugh was named the first manager. WSLI had the distinction of employing Mississippi's first female announcers, Nancy Chambers and Virginia Metz.The station was originally located at 1420 kHz, moving to 1450 kHz in 1941 upon NARBA reallocation and then to 930 kHz in 1946.
WSLI expanded into television in 1954 when it started WSLI-TV channel 12. The station was merged with WJTV, then on channel 25, the next year, and the two stations merged as WJTV on channel 12.
Thereafter the callsign WSLI solely identified the radio station until the early 2000s. In this time, the studios of the radio station were located next door to WJTV off Robinson Road in southwest Jackson. Its transmitter, however, was relocated to a site north of the Jackson city limits accessible from North State Street (formerly, Highway 51). The four-tower array and transmitter building remained in that location up until 1995 when the site was developed into a shopping center facing Interstate 55.
For most of its history, WSLI featured the morning show of "Farmer" Jim Neal and the Feist Dog, which was the top rated radio program in Jackson for over 40 years. Hank Williams performed live on WSLI's Farm Jim Show on February 21, 1950. Bob Rall was credited for founding one of the first "talk shows" in Jackson in 1953. In most of the 1970s and early 1980s, WSLI was the home of the duo of Bob Rall and Alan Simmons in the highest-radio program in the afternoons. Simmons' son Scott is now an anchor/reporter for Jackson TV station WAPT.
In the 1990s, the station was sold to Mississippi College as a sister station to then MC-owned WHJT. In 1998, Russ Robinson secured a deal to buy the station and moved WSLI off-campus. Finding office space in Clinton, Robinson said a large majority of the equipment was obsolete and the station pretty much started from scratch.
WSFZ programs previously broadcast included The Rick and Bubba Show, The Dan Patrick Show, The Young Guns, and programming from NBC Sports Radio. WSFZ also broadcast Jackson Academy athletics.
The station has been assigned these call letters by the Federal Communications Commission since November 26, 2003.[3]
In May 2016, SportsRad, Inc. sold WSFZ to New South Radio for only $1.[4] On October 10, 2016, WSFZ returned to the air with a simulcast of classic country-formatted WJXN-FM, branded as "100.9 The Legend".
On July 31, 2017, WSFZ switched its simulcast from WJXN-FM to WHJT.[5]
In late December 2017, WSFZ dropped its simulcast with WHJT and began stunting with a repeat Neil Diamond's "Cherry, Cherry".[6] In January 2018, the station dropped "Cherry, Cherry" replacing it with an loop of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines."
On July 24, 2020, New South Radio announced plans to sell WSFZ to SSR Communications.[7] On August 12, WSFZ flipped to oldies, but this was only a temporary format. During the few days as an oldies station, WSFZ was branded B93, which was the same branding WYAB had when it was an oldies station.
On August 18, 2020, WSFZ officially began simulcasting WYAB.[8] As of September 23, 2020, SSR Communications officially owns WSFZ, as well as its translator, W296DD.[1]
On December 1, 2020, iHeartMedia acquired WSFZ and flipped it from talk to an all-news format with programming from the Black Information Network.[2] The acquisition was consummated on March 9, 2021.