Radio WNZZ

WNZZ (950 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Montgomery, Alabama, USA. The station, originally launched in 1953, is currently owned by Cumulus Media and the broadcast license is held by Cumulus Licensing, LLC.

This station began regular broadcast operation on May 8, 1953, licensed as WRMA. Owned by the Southland Broadcasting Company, WRMA began as a 1,000 watt daytime-only station broadcasting on 950 kHz. On December 1, 1957, WRMA was acquired by WRMA Broadcasting Company, Inc. William O. Jones, doing business as W.O. Jones, Inc., purchased WRMA in 1969. On March 24, 1977, the station was acquired by the Brien Broadcasting Corporation. The new owners had the station's callsign changed to WLSQ.

Brien Broadcasting Corporation owner Cleveland J. "Cleve" Brien died in April 1986. The station applied for a new callsign and was assigned WREZ on March 16, 1987.

On June 4, 1987, after clearing probate and other legal hurdles, an application was made to the FCC to transfer control of licensee Brien Broadcasting Corporation to the estate of Cleve J. Brien with Sara M. Brien serving as administratrix. The transfer was approved by the FCC on June 29, 1987. One day later, on June 5, 1987, the Brien Broadcasting Corporation announced an agreement to sell WREZ to Montgomery Broadcasting Limited Partnership. The deal was approved by the FCC on July 17, 1987.

This change would also prove short-lived as on August 4, 1987, the Montgomery Broadcasting Limited Partnership applied to transfer the broadcast license for WREZ to Don McCoy's U.S. Broadcasting Limited Partnership. The transfer was approved by the FCC on August 14, 1987, and the transaction was consummated on October 14, 1987. The new ownership had the FCC change the station's call letters to WSYA on September 14, 1988.

In October 1993, U.S. Broadcasting Limited Partnership contracted to sell this station to Colonial Broadcasting Company, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on December 28, 1993, and the transaction was consummated on January 31, 1994.[14] In September 1994, Colonial Company, Inc., agreed to transfer control of station licensee Colonial Broadcasting Company, Inc., to Robert E. Lowder. The deal was approved by the FCC on December 8, 1994, and the transaction was consummated on March 8, 1995.[15]

In March 1995, Robert E. Lowder agreed to transfer control of licensee Colonial Broadcasting Company, Inc., to Republic Corporation. The deal was approved by the FCC on April 4, 1995, but the transaction was never consummated and Lowder retained control of the licensee.[16] In anticipation of the completed sale, the station had switched to its current call sign, WNZZ, on April 17, 1995. In January 1998, Robert E. Lowder reached a new agreement to transfer control of the licensee to Cumulus Media through their Cumulus Holdings, Inc., subsidiary. The deal was approved by the FCC on March 10, 1998.[17]

In a series of internal corporate moves, the license was transferred through several holding companies before winding up with Cumulus Licensing in December 1998. This final deal was approved by the FCC on December 12, 1998, and the transaction was consummated on December 31, 1998.[18]

Cumulus Licensing announced in November 2007 that it would assign the licenses for 19 stations to a trust company, Stratus Radio, to comply with FCC ownership regulations. This trust was to be an independent trustee whose sole mission was to sell off the stations to new owners and, while the sales were pending, to run the stations independently of Cumulus Media.[19] The deal was approved by the FCC on May 15, 2008, but the transfer application was dismissed at the request of Cumulus Licensing LLC.[20]