WUBU South Bend sold to VCY America

[ChrisWL1980]

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2560 ... k-of-7-28/

In related news, K-Love snapped up WEZW in NJ, which was once famous as the earliest all-Christmas station in the nation.

[MWmetalhead]

I feel bad for the listening public in the South Bend area. Yuck.

This is certainly good news for 99.1 WSMK.

[ChrisWL1980]

102.3 WYET has stepped up to fill the coming void by flipping to Urban AC. Smart move.

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2582 ... outh-bend/

[MWmetalhead]

Outstanding!

[MWmetalhead]

So far, the station sounds more like a rhythm crossover throwbacks station than a pure Urban AC. Not necessarily a bad thing! Every song I've heard so far except one crossed over to CHR at some point. Oldest song so far is Billie Jean by Indiana native Michael Jackson.

Perhaps I'm rushing to judgment, though, as I've only sat through five songs.

This format will probably bring 102.3 its best ratings in decades, perhaps ever. I've lost count of all the formats 102.3 has featured since the 90s. The ones I can recall offhand are country, classic rock (including a simulcast with 97.7), soft AC, 80s music, and now the current format.

https://thenew1023.com/

[ChrisWL1980]

So, kinda like Stacks 92.1 in Lansing?
Reminds me of when WSMK tried the "Movin'" Rhythmic AC format a number of years ago.

[MWmetalhead]

Music wise, what I've heard so far definitely reminds me of Stacks 92.1.

Unlike Stacks, 102.3 calls itself an R&B station.

[Ben Zonia]

When Larry Langford chose the call letters WUBU, he worked at WMAQ 670, and the people at NBC Channel 5 would tease him about "Sit Ubu sit, good dog" from the production company who did "Family Ties". Larry said it meant "You Be You", once a popular expression.

[ChrisWL1980]

Stacks may image itself as a Rhythmic station as opposed to Urban, but unlike other small-to-medium-market Rhythmic stations, their music is virtually solidly mass-appeal Black music, little if any pop unless it has some kind of Hip-Hop component. Also, their only local air personality, Metro Melik, is a Black man and they have DeDe in the Morning which is targeted toward Urban stations. I'd say their primary target is to African-Americans, although most of their music has multiethnic appeal.
Back in Indiana, I remember the former ClickHop 102.3 in Fort Wayne taking pot shots at what was then Wild 96.3 for playing artists like Lady Gaga (that was IIRC during the "Fame/Monster" era; she actually would get Urban airplay a few years later with her R. Kelly duet "Do What U Want," which she has since, to her credit, disavowed. But I digress.)
Weren't the WUBU calls originally on 96.5 in K'zoo? I also remember Langford doing an Urban format on 910 AM, which may have been before WSMK came along.

[MWmetalhead]

Good analysis, and you are absolutely right that 96.5 in Kalamazoo once sported those calls.

[Deleted User 16093]

The South Bend Market is getting pretty dire in terms of non-religious choices on the dial. hmm? The WUBU calls do have a nice ring to them.

[zzand]

Ahead of the closing of its sale to VCY America, John Dille III’s Partnership Radio has signed off Adult R&B “Mix 106.3” WUBU South Bend IN.

VCY filed in July to acquire WUBU for $420,000. Since then, Sound Management flipped Classic Hits “Throwback 102.3” WYET New Carlisle/South Bend IN to Adult R&B “The New 102.3” on September 1 to fill the hole to be created by WUBU’s demise.

The New Mix 102.3 WYET WUBU South Bend With WUBU gone, WYET has now taken on its former “Mix” identity as “The New Mix 102.3“. WUBU afternoon host ‘The Godfather Gino J’ Johnson also jumped over to WYET for the same duties. Johnson will move with him the “Basement Throwdown Party” on Saturday nights and his Southern Blues Show on Sunday afternoons.