WNNW

WNNW
City Lawrence, Massachusetts
Broadcast area Lawrence, Massachusetts
Branding Power 800 AM/102.9 FM
Slogan "¿Donde esta tu Música?"
Frequency 800 kHz (also on HD Radio)
Translator(s) 102.9 MHz W275BH
First air date August 1947
Format Spanish Tropical
Power 3000 watts (day)
244 watts (night)
Class B
Facility ID 14752
Transmitter coordinates 42°40′26″N 71°11′26″W / 42.67389°N 71.19056°W / 42.67389; -71.19056
Former callsigns WCCM, WNNM[1]
Owner Costa-Eagle Radio Ventures, LP
Sister stations WCCM, WCEC, WMVX
Webcast Listen Live or
Listen Live
Website powerdeboston.com

WNNW (800 AM; "Power 800 AM/102.9 FM") is a radio station licensed to serve Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA. The station is owned by Costa-Eagle Radio Ventures, LP,[2] a partnership between Pat Costa and his chief investor, the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune.[3] It airs a Spanish Tropical music format.[4] The station is also heard on a translator at 102.9 FM, W275BH; this frequency is oriented to Lawrence and Lowell, while the AM signal is oriented to Boston.

History

The 800 kHz frequency in Lawrence first went on the air in August 1947[5] as the original home of WCCM, owned by Lawrence Broadcasting Company.[6] An FM sister station, WGHJ (93.7 FM) was launched in April 1960 as a full-time simulcast of WCCM;[7] three years later, the stations were sold to Curt Gowdy, who changed WGHJ's call letters to WCCM-FM that year,[8] before fully separating 93.7 from the WCCM simulcast as WCGY in 1974.[9] By then, WCCM had a middle-of-the-road format, with some talk and Spanish programming.[9]

After Curt Gowdy sold WCGY (now WEEI-FM) to American Radio Systems in 1994, WCCM was put up for sale.[10] However, a buyer was not found until 1997, when Costa-Eagle agreed to purchase the station.[11] Soon after taking over a year later, Costa-Eagle shifted the station from adult standards to adult contemporary[12] The following year, WCCM began marketing itself to the Lowell area, after WLLH (1400 AM) was sold and converted to Spanish-language programming; the station opened a Lowell studio, hired several former WLLH personalities (including news anchor Bob Ellis), and began carrying Lowell Spinners baseball, which had previously aired on WLLH.[13][14] The station also began shifting back to standards, replacing satellite talk programming from Talk America with Music of Your Life a few months later.[15] The Lowell studio was closed in 2002 after the station gradually phased out its use.[16] WCCM also phased out much of its music programming in favor of increased talk programming, with local talk programming during the day and sports radio programming from ESPN Radio during evenings, nights, and weekends.[17]

The station was assigned the WNNW call letters on August 29, 2002[1] as part of a larger shuffle that resulted in WNNW moving its Spanish tropical format from 1110 AM and WCCM moving to 1490 AM, taking WHAV off-the-air in favor of WCEC, which took over 1110 AM with WHAV's former programming. The changes formally took effect on-air that September.[18]

In 2008, Pat Costa received Radio Ink Magazine's Medallas de Cortez Award for General Manager of the Year.[19] Later that year, Costa-Eagle purchased W275BH (102.9 FM), a construction permit for a translator in Newton, New Hampshire.[20] Costa-Eagle moved it to 92.1 FM in Lawrence in 2009 (thereby changing its call letters to W221CH).[21] and put it on the air that March as a repeater of WNNW.[22] In June 2011, the translator was moved to 102.9 FM (reclaiming the W275BH call letters) due to interference complaints from WFEX and WPHX-FM.

On-air staff

Mix show DJs

Translators

Broadcast translators of WNNW
Call sign Frequency
(MHz)
City of license Facility
ID
ERP
W
Class FCC info
W275BH 102.9 FM Lawrence, Massachusetts 155444 97 D FCC

References

  1. 1 2 "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database.
  2. MacDonald, Christine (1998-04-05). "Radio stations put accent on Spanish; Costa-Eagle network adds 3d outlet to multicultural mix". Boston Globe.
  3. MacDonald, Christine (1998-04-12). "Hispanic Radio Expands Its Reach". Boston Globe.
  4. "Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  5. Broadcasting Yearbook 1981 (PDF). 1981. p. C-110. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  6. Broadcasting Yearbook 1948 (PDF). 1948. p. 136. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  7. Broadcasting Yearbook 1961-62 (PDF). 1961. p. B-81. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  8. Broadcasting Yearbook 1964 (PDF). 1964. p. B-87. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  9. 1 2 Broadcasting Yearbook 1975 (PDF). 1975. p. C-89. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  10. Fybush, Scott (November 2, 1994). "New England Radio Watcher: WCAP owner dies". rec.radio.broadcasting (Google Groups). Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  11. Fybush, Scott (July 31, 1997). "NBC Buys Channel 30 Back". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  12. Fybush, Scott (April 2, 1998). "The Big Get...Smaller". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  13. Fybush, Scott (April 2, 1999). "The Eagle Has Crash-Landed". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  14. Fybush, Scott (April 16, 1999). "Raleigh Retires, Bruds Cuts Back Hours at WBZ". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  15. Fybush, Scott (November 5, 1999). "Big Bird Gets to Live". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  16. Fybush, Scott (July 1, 2002). "New 1610 Signs On in Montreal". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  17. "Welcome to WCCM-AM Radio 800 - Radio Worth Remembering...". WCCM-AM Radio 800. Archived from the original on March 31, 2002. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
  18. Fybush, Scott (September 10, 2002). "North East RadioWatch". Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  19. Elliott, Deanna (2008-06-13). "No such thing as local radio?". Massachusetts Broadcasters Association.
  20. Fybush, Scott (November 10, 2008). "No Snow - But Lots of Holiday Music". NorthEast Radio Watch. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  21. Fybush, Scott (February 23, 2009). "Analog Sunset? Not in Scranton!". NorthEast Radio Watch. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  22. Fybush, Scott (March 16, 2009). ""Now," NY's K-Rock is History". NorthEast Radio Watch. Retrieved February 17, 2010.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 28, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.