during the time that wzls was off the air, a rider was attached to the 1997 balanced budget bill by arizona senator john mccain which required that new radio and tv frequency licenses were to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. since wzls was operating under a construction permit and had not been licensed yet, the frequency was placed on the market. it was auctioned off on september 28, 1999 and awarded to liberty productions, the highest bidder. orion broadcasting, who was forced to bid on their own station, came in third. with less than nine hours notice, on february 21, 2002, wzls was forced off the air by the fcc. now under the ownership of liberty productions, which had leased out the airtime to saga communications, the 96.5 frequency stunted over a period of several days with different formats. after the stunting ended, woxl signed on with an oldies format under the name "oldies 96.5". in its first arbitron ratings period, the station debuted in first place. because of its limited signal due to the area's mountainous terrain, the station added a simulcast partner as 970 wwit in nearby canton was purchased in 2003, becoming woxl (am). that station is now wyse and airs another station's programming.