Six months after Hurricane Helene toppled the Magic 101.3 FM radio tower outside of Williston in Levy County, the Gainesville-based hip-hop radio station has returned to its signal.
The popular station borrowed sister station R&B 94.1’s signal in October while its radio tower was rebuilt and its original signal was restored.
“Magic 101.3 officially went back on air April 4, and, with fine-tuning, we’re officially back on,” said Vinny Foo, Magic’s program manager and DJ, who hit the power button at the newly rebuilt facility. “Today is the official launch of Magic back on 101.3 FM.”
In celebration of the station’s return to 101.3 FM, Foo said Magic is holding a seven-week “Reset your Preset Gold Giveaway” contest, where a total of $7,000 in gold merchandise will be given away. Listeners can be a part of the contest by submitting a photo of their vehicle radio online to 101.3 FM. The contest will end at 11:59 p.m. ET on June 6.
“What better way to celebrate [Magic’s return] than free gold,” Foo said. “Now the community gets to reap the benefits of some gold over the next seven weeks. We are giving away free gold on Friday starting this week with $175 gold hoop earrings, and it goes all the way up to $1800 gold necklace.”
Hurricane Helene made landfall on Sept. 27, 2024, as a Category 4 storm near Perry, Florida, about 90 miles northwest of Gainesville. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour and took out power in multiple counties in North Central Florida.
“We want to thank the community for following with us and sticking with us through all of this,” Foo said. “I still have a friend who is waiting for his roof to get fixed from [Hurricane Helen]. Lots of people on the Gulf Coast are still dealing with this.
“We know the community followed us over to 94.1 and we want to thank our sister station for letting us borrow the signal. I know the community, especially in Ocala, which couldn’t receive 94.1, was really missing our station.”
Foo credited the hard work of MARC Radio’s corporate and engineering teams for getting the tower up and the signal restored.
“Definitely our engineering team,” he said. “Those guys might as well have put up a tent out at the Williston site. They were there early in the morning until late at night.
MARC Media Group, which owns Magic and Mainstreet Daily News, has other towers that serve its other stations. All the company’s other stations broadcasted from Tower Road include R&B 94.1, 106.9 I Am Country, Rock It 100.5 and The Beach Gainesville 100.9.
