Photo Credit: Rachel Bailey

James Hutto

Fans of easy listening station EZFM ("Music To Your Years"), which has been broadcasting locally at WNEE 88.1 and 89.9 FM since summer 2012, got the sad news earlier today that the station will no longer occupy space on the Athens-area radio dial.

From a post on the EZFM Facebook page:

EZFM, Music To Your Years™ is NO LONGER AVAILABLE in Athens or at Lake Oconee… If it sounds different, that's because it is.

Founder James Hutto, owner of Hutto Media, tells Flagpole he has been in talks with an unnamed national agency to syndicate his station's content—heavy on MOR pop and vocal standards from the '50s and '60s—across the country.

Hutto says WNEE's owner, an obscure, Tallahassee, FL-based nonprofit called Community Public Radio, Inc., "felt they could provide better programming and chose not to continue use of the syndicated format."

Prior to the 2012 switch, WNEE exclusively broadcast Christian-themed music. It's not clear whether the station will return to that format.

"As far as I know, they have a local board op punching the buttons and loading content,  but for obvious reasons, I haven't listened and do not know their future plans," says Hutto, who told Flagpole last May that he intended EZFM to be "the soundtrack of your whole entire life."

Still, all is not lost for local lovers of super-smooth tunes. Craving your daily dose of Perry Como? Hutto's programming is still available to stream online via the EZFM site.