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Talk 99.5

Rating: 3.2 Reviews: 10
Birmingham's Real Talk! Matt Murphy, Richard Dixon, Leland Whaley, Andrea Lindenberg, Valerie Vining on News, and Auburn Sports. Show more
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Talk 99.5 reviews

  • 1
    21.08.2023
    Quit listening to 99.5 except for Leland and A.J. Morning show too silly and Andrew and his Cuzz is like nails on a chalkboard. I now listen to Rick and Bubba.
  • 1
    29.07.2022
    Please...Don't fill in with the April Marie "And Uh, Studder show" anymore !. It's like she can't remember what she is doing and continues to repeat herself and talks over Everyone who calls in without any respect. I even turn off 93.1 when she comes on when I drive thru Montgomery.
  • 2
    12.04.2022
    Waaaayyyy too many commercials.
  • 3
    10.09.2021
    Leland and a.j. rule. The whole cast is great. I've even changed my mind about matt. Overall very informative line up. I would like to hear someone other than the guys doing the ten til noon slot. Tim cries constantly like a teenage girl.
  • 5
    16.02.2021
    Great Shows ALL Day and Very Informative..!
  • 2
    10.02.2021
    Update this page. AJ is not listed. Andrea is a guest now. Valerie is a co-host. Auburn Sports are no longer featured. Commercials are now the stars, with more time and run-overs than anything else.
  • 3
    13.11.2020
    Great radio station for conservatives! Listening to your show this morning (11/13/20) and heard you say that Ronnie Milsap died about a month ago. Well that information is false. He is alive and well! Please don't get like the media and report false information.
  • 5
    24.09.2019
    I’ve been listening to your spot, A Little Good News Today, which is a sort of spinoff on an Anne Murray song, and I just have to let you know something I found out. At one time, I didn’t think Anne Murray was all that, probably because radio stations continuously played only her mediocre songs. Then I attended one of her concerts. Not only did she do the great duet “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do”, along with Snowbird she did a lot of other good music, I left there thinking “She’s Dy-No-Mite!” She’s pretty, too. I like 99.5 radio too, very much. Richard Dixon, have a great day.
  • 5
    08.03.2019
    Fantastic and informational, listen every day allday!
  • 5
    06.11.2018
    Can not beat the line up....and the guest spot lights......and ole school mate EV

Information about the radio

WZRR (99.5 MHz, "Talk 99.5") is an FM radio station licensed to Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. It carries a talk radio format, simulcast with AM sister station 1070 WAPI. WZRR is one of several Birmingham-area radio stations owned by Cumulus Media, operating from studios in Homewood. WZRR's transmitter is west of Red Mountain, off Spaulding Ishkooda Road. WZRR broadcasts at 100,000 watts, the highest power permitted for non-grandfathered FM stations, from a tower more than 1000 feet height above average terrain.

WZRR and WAPI have local talk shows during the day, but at night they carry nationally syndicated shows from the Cumulus subsidiary Westwood One Network including Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Red Eye Radio and First Light. Most hours begin with national news from Westwood One News.

The station broadcasting at 99.5 FM in Birmingham first signed on in 1977 as WVOK-FM, sister station to 690 WVOK (now WJOX). "K-99", as the station was called, was Birmingham's first full-time album rock station. Previously, WJLN-FM (now WZZK) and WERC-FM (now WBPT) dabbled in that format on a part-time basis. K-99 played an eclectic mix of rock songs from artists of the 1960s and 1970s, and was a ratings success. When WVOK was sold in 1978, the call letters of the FM station were changed to WRKK, but the K-99 handle was retained.

In 1981, WAPI-FM (now WJOX-FM) changed its format from easy listening to album rock, thus giving Birmingham two stations in the same format. This continued until the next year, when the new owners of WRKK changed the station's format to country music. The on-air name of the station was modified to "K-99 Country". Competing against market leader WZZK, the new WRKK was not successful. In an attempt to change K-99's fortunes, in 1984, the call letters were changed to WQUS, and the on-air name of the station was changed to "U.S. 99". Neither the new name nor the hiring of the popular Birmingham morning drive team of Tommy Charles and John Ed Willoughby improved the fortunes of the station.

In 1985, U.S. 99 dropped country music and changed its call letters to WLTB, "Lite 99", programming a soft adult contemporary format. At 6:00 p.m. on Christmas Day, 1988, the 99.5 frequency became the new home of classic rock in Birmingham, with the new call letters of WZRR and the new on-air name "Rock 99". The very first song that was played was "All Right Now" by Free. The station stayed true to that format for just over 23 years. In 1995, the on-air name of the station was changed to "Classic Rock 99.5". From 2002 until the next year, it was known as "99.5 the Buzzard".

In 2003, the name was changed again, this time to "Rock 99.5", using basically the same logo as it did in the late 1980s. In 2010, the name was once again shortened to "Rock 99" and the slogan heard most often on the station was "Alabama's Best Rock".

In April 2010, the station added the locally originated Mojo Morning Show. The rest of the on-air line-up included Lori Ray, Blazeman and Jason Mack. WZRR was one of Birmingham's two classic rock stations. Despite competition, it maintained a rock format for over twenty years. Citadel merged with Cumulus on September 16, 2011.

On New Year's Day 2012, at Midnight, Cumulus fired the local on-air staff and flipped WZRR's long running rock format to Top 40/CHR, branded as "99.5 The Vibe." The final song played on "Rock 99" was "Girls, Girls, Girls" by Mötley Crüe, while the first song played as "The Vibe" was "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO. Cumulus already had two similarly formatted and branded stations in addition to WZRR: in Kansas City on KCHZ ("95.7 The Vibe"), and in Toledo, Ohio on W264AK ("100.7 The Vibe"), which has since changed format. The "i" letter in the station's branding is similar to those of Cumulus' "i"-branded stations such as KLIF-FM ("i93") in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX.

On August 15, 2014, at Midnight, after playing Bang Bang by Jessie J, WZRR dropped its CHR format and began stunting with the songs Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd and All Summer Long by Kid Rock on a loop, while running liners advising listeners to tune in at 3 PM that day. At that time, WZRR flipped to traditional country, being one of the first stations to adopt Cumulus's new "Nash Icon" branding as 99.5 Nash Icon. The first song on "Nash Icon" was Gone Country by Alan Jackson.

On May 20, 2016, at 5 p.m., WZRR flipped to a hybrid Southern rock/Country format, branded as "99.5 The South". The first song on "The South" was "Southbound" by the Allman Brothers. The playlist included strictly artists from the Southern United States, with a focus on classic rock/adult alternative artists.

However, "The South" was revealed to be a stunt, as just four days later, WZRR flipped to a talk radio format, simulcasting with WAPI. WZRR is now branded as the main station, under the moniker "Talk 99.5." Along with the simulcast came a revamped lineup. Matt Murphy and Andrea Lindenberg host from 6-10am, Andrea Lindenberg solos from 10-11am, Richard Dixon 11am-2pm, and Leland Whaley from 2-6pm. Syndicated hosts Mark Levin, Michael Savage, John Batchelor, Red Eye Radio and First Light round out the weekday lineup. WZRR and WAPI join a crowded Talk field in the Birmingham market that already includes WYDE/WYDE-FM and WERC/WERC-FM.

Radio contacts

Address: 244 Goodwin Crest Dr Suite 300 Birmingham, AL 35209
Phone: +205-545-9950
Site:
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: @realtalk995
Twitter: @realtalk995
Instagram: @realtalk995

Time in Birmingham: 03:37, 03.19.2024

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