WNYM

WNYM

City	Hackensack, New Jersey
Broadcast area	New York metropolitan area
Branding	AM 970, The Answer
Slogan	News. Opinion. Passion.
Frequency	970 kHz
First air date	1926
Format	Talk radio
Power	50,000 watts day 5,000 watts night
Class	B
Facility ID	58635
Transmitter coordinates	40°54′40″N 74°01′42″W / 40.91111°N 74.02833°W / 40.91111; -74.02833
Callsign meaning	W New York Metro
Former callsigns	WAAT (1926–1958) WNTA (1958–1962) WJRZ (1962–1971) WWDJ (1971–2008) WTTT (2008)
Affiliations	Salem Radio Network Fox News Radio
Owner	Salem Media Group (Salem Media of New York, LLC)
Sister stations	WMCA
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	am970theanswer.com

WNYM (970 kHz) is an AM radio station licensed to Hackensack, New Jersey, USA and serving the New York metropolitan area. WNYM is owned by Salem Media Group and broadcasts a conservative-leaning, talk radio format. The station's studios are in Lower Manhattan and are shared with co-owned WMCA (570 AM), and WNYM's transmitters are located in Hackensack.

History

Early years

The station signed on in 1926 as Newark-licensed WAAT and was founded by the Bremer Broadcasting Company. WAAT originally broadcast on 1270 AM, and changed frequencies several times (moving to 1070 in 1928, 940 in 1930) before settling on 970 kHz in 1941, as per the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement. In 1947 Bremer launched an FM adjunct, WAAT-FM (94.7, now WNSH), and the following year a sister television station, WATV began broadcasts on channel 13. In 1951 the stations were sold to Irving Rosenhaus; WAAT evolved to a middle of the road music format by the 1950s, similar to what WNEW, WOR, and WCBS were doing at that time. WAAT later attempted a country music format, the first in the New York area.^[1]

In 1957 the WAAT/WATV operation was sold by Bremer to National Telefilm Associates, who changed the station's call letters to WNTA.^[2]^[3] National Telefilm split up its holdings in 1961, with WNTA-TV (now WNET) being sold to a New York City-based nonprofit educational group, and the WNTA radio stations going to Communications Industries Broadcasting.^[4] The new owners changed the calls to WJRZ^[5] and retained the MOR format until September 15, 1965, when WJRZ became the first radio station in the New York metro area to play a country music format 24 hours a day. Not long after, the station moved its transmitter site and changed its city of license from Newark to Hackensack. WJRZ was the flagship radio outlet for the New York Mets from 1967 until 1971.

The station had a serious fire that destroyed their studios in a house on Hackensack Avenue in North Hackensack, New Jersey on October 17, 1970; the station operated out of a prefab building near their transmitter site for a period of time afterward.

Top 40 years

The station was put up for sale in the fall of 1970. Around that time, future sister station WMCA dropped top 40 for a talk format, leaving WABC as the only Top 40 radio station.

WJRZ was sold to Pacific and Southern Broadcasting (which merged with Combined Communications Corporation in 1974) on January 6, 1971.;^[6] the call letters were changed on May 16 of that year to WWDJ (known on the air as "97-DJ"), and the station attempted to take on WABC and replace WMCA as the New York market's second Top 40 outlet. For a brief time, program director Mark Driscoll began imaging the station as "9-J", giving rise to a recorded parody of the station called "Nine" produced by a group that included future disk jockeys Howard Hoffman and Randy West.^[7]

The station was hampered by a directional signal that covered Manhattan and parts of New Jersey well but suffered in the rest of the Five Boroughs and was virtually nonexistent on Long Island and western New Jersey. Eventually, FM competition from WCBS-FM and adult top 40 station WXLO (now WEPN-FM), and an evolution to adult Top 40 by WNBC (now WFAN), began to eat into WWDJ's ratings. In November 1973 it was ranked 15th in the Arbitron ratings.

Becoming a religious station

By 1974, the station was losing money and unable to sell enough advertising, and the studios had been moved to the transmitter site. In the fall of 1973, the station began selling the 7 to midnight slot weekends and Sundays (already running religious programs Sundays 6 to 11 AM). This brought revenue for the station as it continued for a while the Top 40 format during the day and overnight into 1974. But as a result of the religious hours making money, WWDJ abruptly dropped the top 40 format on April 1, 1974, and switched to a religious format full time. Because the change took place on April Fool's Day, many listeners thought the switch was some sort of joke. Initially, WWDJ sold two-thirds of its daily airtime to outside ministries and played traditional Christian music the rest of the time, with the exception of a few hours on Saturdays devoted to a then-new genre, contemporary Christian music. Prior to Combined Communications' merger into the Gannett Company in 1979, WWDJ was sold to Communicom Corporation of America in April 1978.^[8]

CCM years

By the late 1976 the music during the week was a mix of traditional and soft contemporary. By 1979, the music was adult contemporary Christian and evolved to contemporary Christian by 1982. The station still only played music part-time, weekdays 6 to 9 AM, 3 to 7 PM, and Saturdays 10 AM to 10 PM. They continued with the contemporary Christian music/teaching/preaching format throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, with Frank Reed (formerly of WNBC) handling mornings.

In 1994 WWDJ was sold to Salem Communications,^[9] which since 1989 has owned WMCA, initially retaining its studios on Main Street in Hackensack. As WMCA ran Christian talk and teaching, it was thought that WWDJ would move to music full-time with specialty Christian music programming on weekends. While this did not happen, WWDJ by the end of 1994 was playing music.

Later religious years

In the fall of 1995, the station abruptly changed formats. The station's teaching programming expanded, with music cut back to morning and afternoon drive time hours on weekdays and Saturdays afternoons. Most of the announcers were laid off and the station revamped the format to a rhythmic Christian music format. This employed contemporary uptempo praise & worship music, gospel music, and light contemporary Christian songs. They positioned themselves as "The Sound of Praise and Celebration". George Flores was the only air-staffer retained and his afternoon show was pre recorded.

This format continued until 2004, when the music was dropped and WWDJ moved to a Christian brokered format. Around this time, Pillar of Fire Church-owned WAWZ (99.1 FM) in Zarephath dropped all but a few religious programs to play contemporary Christian music 18 hours a day, and Salem picked up many bumped shows; this caused Salem to decide to air programming full-time on WWDJ. For about two years, the station billed itself WMCA II all the time, with the WWDJ call letters used only in the hourly station identification. The station's on-air identity reverted to 970 DJ by 2007, but programming continued to be overflow programs from WMCA, as well as some syndicated mostly-secular personalities such as Laura Schlessinger and Kevin McCullough. They also broadcast infomercials and church services, as well as 30- and 60-minute religious shows.

Becoming a talk station

On July 25, 2008, WWDJ swapped callsigns with a sister station in the Boston area and became WTTT. After stunting for several days with all-Frank Sinatra ("Frank 97 AM") and all-Pat Boone ("The Booner 970") formats, the WTTT call letters were replaced with WNYM on August 6, 2008, and the format changed to conservative talk, along with a Fox News affiliation.^[10] The station airs most of the general-market slate of the Salem Radio Network, including William Bennett, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Eric Metaxas, Hugh Hewitt and Larry Elder. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Joe Piscopo has hosted the station's morning program since January 2014.^[11] Several months later the station added John R. Gambling to middays; Gambling had retired from his WOR morning drive program in December 2013.

WNYM is the New York City-area affiliate of Syracuse University football and men's basketball.^[12] In 2013 WNYM began broadcasting Seton Hall University men's basketball, and in 2014 became co-flagship of St. John's University men's basketball with WMCA. WNYM also airs NFL and MLB games that would normally air on WEPN-FM due to programming conflicts.

References

↑ http://www.fybush.com/sites/2008/site-080404.html
↑ "WAAT, WATV (TV) sold to NTA for $3.5 million." Broadcasting, October 7, 1957, pg. 9.
↑ "NTA Newark purchase gets FCC's approval." Broadcasting, April 7, 1958, pg. 64.
↑ "Changing Hands." Broadcasting, November 6, 1961, pg. 78.
↑ "For the record." Broadcasting, April 2, 1962, pg. 129.
↑ "$13 million buys four radio stations." Broadcasting, January 11, 1971, pp. 23-24.
↑ ReelRadio: The Jay Philpott Collection, which includes a section devoted to "Nine". Retrieved 2010-10-07.
↑ "In brief." Broadcasting, April 3, 1978, pg. 38.
↑ "Changing Hands." Broadcasting and Cable, April 25, 1994, pg. 38.
↑ All Access Mentions The Booner Nine Hundred Seventy
↑ Joe Piscopo Joins AM 970 The Answer/New York For Mornings
↑

External links

WNYM Website

Query the FCC's AM station database for WNYM

Radio-Locator Information on WNYM

Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WNYM

Radio stations in Middlesex, Somerset and Union Counties, New Jersey

By FM frequency	88.7 90.3 98.3 99.1 100.7

By AM frequency	1070 1170 1450 1530

By callsign	WAWZ WCTC WJDM WKMB WMGQ WRSU-FM WVPH WWTR plus most New York City radio stations

New Jersey radio markets Atlantic City–Cape May Middlesex–Somerset–Union Monmouth–Ocean Morristown Sussex Trenton Other New Jersey radio regions Vineland–Millville–Bridgeton NYC Metro Markets Long Island Hudson Valley [partial] Poughkeepsie Middlesex-Somerset-Union Monmouth-Ocean Morristown Bridgeport Danbury New Haven Stamford-Norwalk See also List of radio stations in New Jersey

Radio stations in the New York City market

By AM frequency	570 660 ¹ 710 ¹ 770 ¹ 820 880 ¹ 1010 1050 1130 ¹ 1190 1280 1330 1380 1480 1560 ¹ 1600 1620 New Jersey 620 930 970 1430 1500 1530 1660 Westchester County, N.Y. 1460

By FM frequency	87.7 88.9 89.1² 89.9 90.3 (New York) 90.3 (Brooklyn) 90.7 91.5 92.3 93.9 95.5 96.3 97.1 97.9 98.7 99.5 101.1 101.9 102.7 103.5 104.3 105.1 106.7 107.5 New Jersey 88.3 89.1² 89.5 90.3 91.1 93.1 94.7 99.1 100.3 102.3 105.5 105.9 106.3 107.1 Westchester County, N.Y. 88.1 88.9 90.3 93.5 96.7 100.7 103.9 106.3 107.1 Long Island, N.Y. 92.7 103.5

Via FM subcarrier	67 kHz Chinese Radio New York Gatewave radio reading service Radio Maria Stati Uniti (Italian) 92 kHz Chung Wah Chinese Broadcasting Company ICN Radio Radio Maria Estados Unidos (Spanish) RBC Radio

Digital Radio	710 880 1010 1280 1560 88.3-1 88.3-2 89.5-1 89.5-2 89.9-1 89.9-1 89.9-2 89.9-3 90.7-1 90.7-2 90.7-3 92.3-1 92.3-2 93.1-1 93.1-2 93.5-1 93.5-2 93.5-3 93.5-4 93.9-1 93.9-2 93.9-3 94.7-1 94.7-4 95.5-1 95.5-2 95.5-3 97.1-1 97.1-2 97.9-1 98.7-1 100.3-1 100.3-2 101.1-1 101.1-2 101.1-3 102.7-1 102.7-2 102.7-3 103.5-1 103.5-2 103.5-3 103.9-1 104.3-1 104.3-2 105.1-1 105.1-2 105.9-1 105.9-2 106.7-1 106.7-2 107.5-1 107.5-2

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.550

By callsign	KWO35 WABC ¹ WADO WARY WAWZ WAXQ WBAI WBBR ¹ WBGO WBLS WBMP WCBS ¹ WCBS-FM WEPN WEPN-FM WFAN ¹ WFAN-FM WFDU² WFME ¹ WFME-FM WFMU WFUV WGHT WHCR-FM WHTZ WHUD WICR WINS WJDM WKCR-FM WKDM WKLV-FM WKMK WKRB WKTU WLIB WLTW WMCA WMSC WNBM WNEW-FM WNSH WNSW WNYC WNYC-FM WNYE WNYM WNYU-FM² WNYZ-LP WOR ¹ WPAT WPAT-FM WPLJ WQBU-FM WQHT (HD2) WQXR-FM WQXW WSIA WSKQ-FM WSNR WSOU WVIP WVOX WWES WWPR-FM (HD2) WWRL WWRU WWRV WWZY WXNY-FM WXPK WZRC

Defunct	WHN ³ WNBC WNBC-FM ³ WNEW WYNY ³

New York radio markets Albany–Schenectady–Troy Binghamton Buffalo–Niagara Falls Elmira–Corning Hudson Valley Nassau–Suffolk (Long Island) New York City Olean Plattsburgh Poughkeepsie Rochester Syracuse Utica–Rome Watertown Other New York radio regions Ithaca Jamestown–Dunkirk North Country Saratoga NYC Metro Markets Long Island Hudson Valley [partial] Poughkeepsie Middlesex-Somerset-Union Monmouth-Ocean Morristown Bridgeport Danbury New Haven Stamford-Norwalk See also List of radio stations in New York ¹ = Clear-channel stations with extended nighttime coverage. ²= Stations share time on the frequency. ³= Technically still active, but on a different frequency with new call letters and different intellectual property.

News/Talk radio stations in the state of New Jersey

Stations	WADB – Asbury Park WDEL-FM – Canton WKXW – Trenton WNYM – Hackensack WOBM – Lakewood Township WOND – Pleasantville WPGG – Atlantic City

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in New Jersey

Salem Media Group

AM radio stations	KBJD KCBQ KCRO KDIZ KDMT KDOW KDZR KEXB KFAX KFIA KGNW KGU KHCM KHNR KKOL KKMS KKNT KLFE KLUP KNTH KNTS KNUS KOTK KPDQ KPRZ KPXQ KRDY KRKS KRLA KSKY KSLR KTEK KTIE KTKZ KTNO KXXT KYCR KZNT WAFS WAVA WBIX WBZW WDTK WDWD WDYZ WEZE WFIA WFIL WGKA WGTK WGUL WHIM WHK WHKW WHKZ WIND WKAT WLCC WLQV WLSS WLTA WMCA WNIV WNTP WNYM WOCN WORL WPGP WPIT WRCW WRFD WROL WSDZ WTBN WTLN WTWD WWDJ WWMI WWRC WWTC WYLL WZAB¹

FM radio stations	KAIM-FM KBIQ KDAR KDIS-FM KFIS KFSH-FM KGBI-FM KGFT KGU-FM KHCM-FM KHTE-FM KKHT-FM KKFS KKLA-FM KKOL-FM KKSP KLTY KPDQ-FM KRKS-FM KRYP KSAC-FM KWRD-FM WAVA-FM WBOZ WFFH WFFI WFHM-FM WFIA-FM WFSH-FM WGTK-FM WLTE WORD-FM WRTH WTOH

Salem Radio Network	FamilyTalk Solid Gospel The Word In Praise Today's Christian Music

Salem Publishing	Eagle Financial Publications Eagle Wellness FaithTalk Homecoming Magazine Preaching Magazine Regnery Publishing Singing News Townhall Xulon Press YouthWorker Journal

Salem Web Network	CCMmagazine.com Christianity.com Crosswalk.com Godtube Hot Air Human Events Oneplace.com RedState Townhall.com

¹ = Co-owned with Florida City Radio under LMA. AaBbCc = Station owned by Crain Media Group and operated by Salem under LMA.

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