While the tower was on one of the tallest peaks in the area, WBIR-TV's signal was shielded by mountains from some communities west of Knoxville, including Farragut, Oak Ridge, and Lenoir City. To improve its signal in those towns, Channel 10 relocated to Sharp's Ridge near downtown Knoxville during the 1970s, and the FM station remained on the original tower. To maintain coverage, WIMZ's antenna is located 525 meters (1,722 ft) in height above average terrain (HAAT), about 9 meters (30 ft) below the top of the tower.
Before the tall WBIR-TV mast was built in 1963, the owner of the television station had planned the tower to be erected on nearby House Mountain, the tallest point in Knox County, Tennessee. But WBIR's main competitor WATE-TV Channel 6 ended that idea by purchasing all the property on top of House Mountain, forcing the WBIR owners to build a taller tower on nearby Zachary Ridge at Blaine, Tennessee.
History
WBIR-FM
The station first signed on the air in October 1949; 75 years ago (1949-10). The original call sign was WBIR-FM, mostly simulcasting its AM counterpart, WBIR 1240 AM (now WIFA).[3] The studios were on Gay Street in Knoxville. Television station WBIR-TV Channel 10 was added in 1956. WBIR-AM-FM-TV were owned by a consortium headed by J. Lindsay Nunn and his son, Gilmore Nunn.
WBIR-AM-FM were network affiliates of ABC, carrying its dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio." As network programming moved to television, WBIR-AM-FM switched to a full service, middle of the road format of popular adult music, news, talk and sports. In the late 1960s, WBIR-FM separated its programming from the AM station, airing an automatedcountry music format.[4]
Rock station WIMZ
In 1979, the station flipped to album-oriented rock (AOR). The last song played on WBIR-FM's Country format was "Waltz Across Texas" by Ernest Tubb. In the middle of the song, the turntable was switched off until the song spun to a stop. There was brief moment of silence and then a voice was broadcast that said, "WBIR FM, Rock 104. We Believe In Rock." At that point, Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" began playing. Not long after, the call letters were changed to the current WIMZ-FM, with the station calling itself "Rock 104."
At the start of 1983, WIMZ altered its format to add more current new wave and heavy metal music acts and reduce much of the 1960s and early 70s classic rock. It also stopped using the name Rock 104 and began identifying as "103.5 WIMZ", with a new logo modeled on that of MTV.
During 1982, co-owned WHEL 1240 AM dropped its adult standards sound and began simulcasting WIMZ-FM's programming. It switched its call letters to WIMZ, while the FM side continued as WIMZ-FM. This simulcast on AM continued for much of the 1980s.[citation needed] The AM station later switched to sports talk and today is Christian talk and teaching station WIFA.
During the 1980s and 1990s, WIMZ-FM had a popular morning program hosted by Phil Williams, Billy Kidd, and Colvin Idol (later replaced by David Henley).
Sale to Midwest Communications
On May 28, 2014, Midwest Communications announced that it would purchase nine of the ten stations owned by South Central Communications, including WIMZ-FM along with sister stationsWJXB-FM and WVRX. With this purchase, Midwest Communications expanded its portfolio of stations to Knoxville, Evansville and Nashville.[5] The sale was finalized on September 2, 2014, at a price of $72 million.[6]
Currently, The John Boy and Billy Show airs in morning drive time. John Boy Isley was a popular local radio personality in Knoxville during the late 1970s on WRJZ620 AM. Their show is syndicated on dozens of stations around the South and Midwest. During recent years, WIMZ's format has changed from consisting the late 1960s through the 1980s rock rotation, focusing more on 1970s hard rock and 1980s hair metal mostly, as of 2020, the station has leaned in on playing a more mainstream rock approach of classic rock that plays more 1990's alternative, grunge and metal and a very small few early 2000's hard rock artists.[7] WIMZ's slogan remained "Classic rock that really rocks" for more than a decade. Presently the station calls itself "Knoxville's Classic Rock."
