A Montgomery, Ala. FM translator is flipping formats, replacing the “Classic Jamz” heard on its HD2-fed signal with a Hip-Hop and Contemporary R&B blend driven by local streaming behavior. The new brand is Streamz 100.5, airing on W263BX and fed by the secondary programming channel of WQKS-FM 96.1.
Though the translator runs just 80 watts, station operators say its coverage blankets Montgomery, positioning the outlet as a citywide laboratory for a different kind of playlist strategy. Instead of leaning primarily on traditional programming judgment, the format is built around what people in the Montgomery metro are already choosing to hear online.
Bluewater Broadcasting Managing Partner Rick Peters says Streamz 100.5 is designed to align live radio with local streaming trends, using the community’s audio habits as the foundation for day-to-day music decisions. The station’s pitch is that listeners influence the playlist directly through the music they stream, shifting the audience from passive consumers to active contributors.
Program Director DJ Fresh describes the concept as a weekly vote. He says the station analyzes more than three million local streams each week across 19 pure play streaming services, using Bridge Ratings Stream Stats to compile the data. The songs that rise in that Montgomery-specific streaming pool are the ones that earn a place on Streamz’s on-air playlist.
Beyond the music selection approach, the station’s lineup includes Compass Media Networks’ DeDe In the Morning for the wake-up hours. DJ Fresh says the format is meant to reflect Montgomery’s taste in real time, emphasizing that if local listeners are streaming a song, the station intends to play it.
The operator calls the idea a first-of-its-kind approach for a US market, built to let streaming behavior shape broadcast radio’s sound on a community-by-community basis.