 In 1977, the simulcast was dissolved, and WKXA flipped to top 40; a year later, the station reverted to simulcasting with WKXA-FM, by then a country station.Independent programming again resumed in 1980, this time with a news/talk format; this continued after Windward Communications bought the station in 1982, but by 1984 WKXA had adopted an adult contemporary format (separate from that on the newly renamed WCLZ), which gave way by 1987 to a return of the country format.Hawthorne Communications acquired the station in 1988, and changed its call letters to WCLZ to reflect the resumption of the simulcast with WCLZ-FM; in 1990, the station again dropped the simulcast, affiliating with the Business Radio Network.