WRMF-AM 1050
Melbourne
Original call Letters: WRMF
Originally Licensed: Nov 1957
Original Power: 500 watt day time
Original City of License: Melbourne
Owner(s): Fairbanks Broadcasting
History Of Call Letters and Formats: WRMF--1957-Soft Adult Contemporary "The Nifty 1050"
WRMF-1973-Moved to 1060
WRMF History
From Brian Douglas; "...I don't remember when it went to 1060, but I'm thinking late 70s...WRMF was a "faux"-Top 40, sort of like WGTO, but maybe a little harder.
From Lou Josephs come more history of WRMF. "It moved to 1060 in 1973, and until 1978 was owned by Fairbanks
Broadcasting (Richard M Fairbanks),. "I was PD from 1976 to 1978. We also had the FM at 98.3, which split off in 1978 as Bonneville Beautiful Music. Jack Simpson's Jazz on the Beach was on the air on WRMF from 1975 thru the time I left in 78 Jack's a great guy. The night jock in 1973 was Billy Stevens who's day job was at the local bank. Seems he did some embezzling at the bank and when that became public he was blown out that would have been in 1975. Dave Shaw was his
replacement."
From Lee Taylor; "That was a weird place. Transmitter/main studio was out in the swamp. I remember when they came out and pressure washed the building and I found it out was white. It had some many dirt dauber nests on it that it looked like it was brown. I showed up for a shift one time to find a big note on the door warning that a rattle snake was under Marla’s car! They bush hogged the grass out back and uncovered an alligator.
Todd Hyder
There was a little...bar called the Roadrunner about two miles east of the driveway on state road 46 toward the town of Mims. On weekends during the day (which I also worked alternatively with Lee Taylor), it was a huge challenge to get the board all set up during a sports or public service show and make a mad dash for a sandwich to go. The Roadrunner had some of the best BBQ sandwiches, and I'd always phone my order in and tell them to have it wrapped, bagged and ready for me to grab. Luckily for me, I always made it back in time before a local commercial spot break! I'm not the only one who got away with this, but I'll not say which one of my coworkers told me how to successfully pull off this stunt!
One of my most vivid memories of WRMF was when a couple of guys were pulling up into the parking lot and just hanging around. They would stay for hours and wouldn't go away. Despite their appeals to get a station "tour," I would never let them in the door. I spoke to them through the intercom (in the studio) and said something to the effect that my bosses would fire me if I allowed visitors in the building during non-business hours. They left, but them kept coming back a couple more nights in a row. On the third or fourth night, I ignored their signaling through the intercom and they gave up and went away. For weeks, they didn't show up, and I convinced myself that the problem had solved itself. Then, the listener line rang and it was some guy (obviously inebriated) saying he was going to "blow up" the whole #&^%@ radio station and that I had minutes to get out of the place. Like anyone else, I was rattled and immediately called the Brevard County Sheriff's department. Unbeknownst to me, they alerted Dale Moudy (waking him up at his home in Orlando) and then called me back to say it would be safer if I were to stay locked in the building rather than risk encountering this moron and his buddies by running outside. Within 10 minutes, two sheriff's patrol cars came barreling down the dirt driveway with lights flashing. I was never so relieved to see the police! A couple of deputies came inside the studio and looked around, while another deputy or two used searchlights to scan the swamps and found nothing. As would be expected, it was all a hoax. Dale Moudy phoned me up to confirm that all was OK and I said "yeah, I'm fine" He and the sheriff spoke in short sentences for about a minute and it was shortly thereafter I went back to spinning records as if nothing had happened...
WRMF Personalities
Lou Josephs-1973 Biography
Steve Singer
Bob Alfano-1979 Biography
Lee Taylor
Kevin P McCourt-1973-Middays, who later went back to Providence RI doing all nights at WSNE.
Billy Stevens-1973-Nights
Jon Mathews-1973-News Director. Went to an AM in Houston
Bill Cummins-1973
Alan Moore-1973-From WAPE (complete with off the wall commentary)
Jim "Biff" Burns-Biography
Jack Simpson-1975-"Jazz on the Beach"
Dave Shaw
Lee Gregory-(Marla Sherrer)-evenings
Bob Bright-1957-1977-General Manager-retired in Nashville, Indiana.
Dan Fiorucci-news
Other Names In WRMF History
Dale Moudy
Bob Alfano supplies photos from his time at WRMF
click photos for a full sized view
Bob Alfano and Steve Singer (standing) Bob Alfano on the air
The Gates Console Jim "Biff" Burns
The AM transmitter
Fairbanks Broadcasting
Fairbanks Broadcasting was founded in 1948 to purchase WIBC-AM 1070 in Indianapolis. Fairbanks (who was the last surviving grandson of Teddy Roosevelt's vice president, Charles W. Fairbanks) sold most of his properties in the last decade, leaving just WKOX. He died in August of 2000 at the age of 88.