Longport Media LLC acquired WTKU (KOOL 98.3) along with four other southern New Jersey radio stations (WOND News Talk 1400, WMGM 103.7 The Shark, WWAC Wild 102.7 and WBSS La Fiesta 1490) back in May for $4.2 million.

Recently the company announced that starting Monday, Aug. 1, KOOL 98.3 will be re-launched with a refined format of hit songs from the 1960s through the ’80s, and played by a lineup of personalities whose names and voices are familiar to radio listeners in southern New Jersey and throughout the Delaware Valley.

“Our goal is to position KOOL 98.3 as ‘South Jersey’s greatest hits station’ among all age groups,” said Dave Coskey, president of Longport Media, LLC.

According to Coskey in a media release, Paul Kelly, a respected broadcasting executive with extensive experience both as a programmer and behind the microphone, has been named director of operations for Longport Media, and will oversee the development and rollout of the changes.

“Paul brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our stations,” Coskey said. “Under his guidance, we’re confident that South Jersey radio listeners will be excited by what he’s planned as we roll out changes in formats, programming and on-air talent in the months ahead. Our company’s goal is to become the preeminent source of radio entertainment and information in the communities we serve, and Paul is the man best positioned and uniquely qualified to take us there.”

“One of our primary goals in creating the new format for KOOL was to offer our listeners programming and a playlist that’s compelling,” Kelly said in the release. “We want to become the station that people look forward to listening to not just during the work-week but on weekends, too.”

KOOL’s new format will include an all-star team of area disc jockeys and on-air talent who are among the region’s most respected and recognizable radio personalities and who have entertained radio audiences for decades.

The KOOL 98.3 Morning Wake Up with Dave & Tina features David Allen Pratt, a southern New Jersey radio veteran for over 20 years with a unique brand of humor — and Tina Owen, another South Jersey radio veteran and daughter of regional radio great Al Owen. Also featured on Morning Wake Up will be NBC-TV 40 meteorologist Dan Skeldon’s exclusive weather forecasts, great prizes and giveaways. It will also feature entertainment reports by Emmy-award winning journalist and Atlantic City Weekly columnist David Spatz, whose one-minute updates offer the inside scoop on entertainment in Atlantic City and throughout the region.

During the midday hours, seasoned radio veteran Jennifer Scott returns to KOOL weekdays from 10am-3pm, and taking the reigns during the weekday afternoon drive from 3-7pm is Jackson T. Chase, one of the area’s most recognized and familiar voices. Finally, one of the most iconic figures in the history of Delaware Valley radio wraps up each weekday. Jerry Blavat (pictured right), the legendary “Geator with the Heator” (and another AC Weekly columnist) slides behind the microphone and brings his inimitable style and encyclopedic knowledge of music to KOOL 98.3 Monday through Friday from 7-9pm, and Saturdays from 9-11pm.

Also on weekends, Dick Fennessy, whose resume includes stints at Philadelphia’s 1970s powerhouse WFIL, will anchor Saturday and Sunday from 10am-2pm, then Mike Bowe, who spent more than 25 years as the morning and afternoon drive-time host on Philadelphia’s WMGK, will take the 2-7pm shift. After an extended side trip into the business world, Kim Martin returns to the South Jersey airwaves Saturday from 6-10am with her casual and conversational style, and on the first Sunday of each month, from 7-9pm,  another voice and face familiar to Delaware Valley radio

and television audiences will see his broadcasting career come full circle. Atlantic City native Tom Lamaine (pictured left), whose media career began at WOND in the early 1960s, will revive Tom Lamaine’s Memory Lane, the show that launched his radio career and continued when he took the program to WIP radio in Philadelphia in the late 1960s.

Add national music hit-maker Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 Countdown – the ’70s to the weekend line-up (7-10am Sundays) to round out the all-star cast.

“When we re-launch Kool 98.3, everyone from local residents to South Jersey visitors can tune in seven days a week and hear live and local content from some of the leading on-air personalities in our region,” Kelly said. “We’re going to be the most entertaining radio station in South Jersey.”

The KOOL 98.3 Line-Up

Monday through Friday
6-10am     KOOL 98.3’s ‘Morning Wake-up with Dave & Tina’
10am-3pm   Mid-days with Jennifer Scott
3-7pm      Jackson T Chase
7-9pm      Jerry Blavat

Saturdays
6-10am     Kim Martin
10am-2pm   Dick Fennessy
2-7pm      Mike Bowe
7-9pm      Jackson T Chase
9-11pm     Jerry Blavat

Sundays
6-7am      The Beatle Years
7-10am     Casey Kasem’s ‘American Top 40 from the ’70s’
10am-2pm   Dick Fennessy
2-7pm      Mike Bowe
7-9pm      Tom Lamaine’s ‘Memory Lane’ (first Sunday of each month)

Tags: Casey Kasem, Dan Skeldon, dave coskey, Dave Spatz, Dick Fennessy, Jackson T. Chase, Jerry Blavat, LLC, Longport Media, Tom Lamaine, WBSS La Fiesta 1490, WMGM 103.7 The Shark, WOND News Talk 1400, WTKU (KOOL 98.3, WWAC Wild 102.7

This entry was posted on Friday, July 29th, 2011 at 1:35 pm and is filed under AC Development, Atlantic City Miscellany, Local News, Media, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.