| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | |
| Frequency | 1040kHz |
| Branding | WCHR 1040 AM |
| Programming | |
| Format | Christian talk and teaching |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | 1998 (1998) |
Former call signs |
|
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 28130 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 40°30′18.4″N74°58′34.6″W / 40.505111°N 74.976278°W /40.505111; -74.976278 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | wchram |
WCHR (1040kHz) is a commercialradio station licensed toFlemington, New Jersey, and servingCentral New Jersey andEastern Pennsylvania. It airs aChristian radio format and is owned and operated byTownsquare Media, with studios and offices inEwing, New Jersey.
By day, WCHR is powered at 15,000 watts. At night it reduces its power to 1,500 watts.AM 1040 is aclear channel frequency reserved forClass A stationWHO inDes Moines so WCHR must avoid interference. It usesdirectional antenna with a three-tower array by day and fourtowers at night. Duringcritical hours it broadcasts at 7,500 watts. Thetransmitter is off Locktown Road inKingwood, New Jersey.
The stationsigned on in 1998. Originally itscall sign was WJHR ("Jersey Hometown Radio") with anadult contemporary format. In February 1998, the station began broadcasting inAM stereo using theC-QUAM system.[2]
In December 1998, the station changed its format tocontemporary hit radio (Top 40).[3] WJHR briefly broadcast atalk radio format called "Chat Radio" on May 3, 1999, and the station turned off the AM stereo system. It later had short stints as a business talk station and asports radio station affiliated withESPN Radio before adopting the call sign andreligious format of WCHR, which had been operating on 920 AM inTrenton, in 2002.
On January 3, 2008,Nassau Broadcasting Partners announced that 1040 AM would drop the religious format and switch to a full-time simulcast of New York City's ESPN Radio stationWEPN.[4] Nassau moved the religious programming and the WCHR call sign back to 920, which had been broadcasting as a Philadelphia-oriented ESPN Radio affiliate under the call letters WPHY.[5] On February 5, 2008, the station took the WNJE call sign.
On May 21, 2012, WNJE ended the simulcast of WEPN and joinedESPN Deportes Radio, a Spanish-language sports station. This came in advance of WEPN's own switch to ESPN Deportes Radio in September, after ESPN Radio took over the operations ofWEPN-FM in April.
WNJE and nine other Nassau stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were purchased at a bankruptcy auction by NB Broadcasting in May 2012. NB Broadcasting was controlled by Nassau's creditors —Goldman Sachs, Pluss Enterprises, and P.E. Capital.[6][7] In November, NB Broadcasting filed a motion to assign its rights to the stations toConnoisseur Media.[8]
On December 3, 2012, WNJE dropped ESPN Deportes Radio and began simulcasting the religious format of WCHR (920 AM). The sale to Connoisseur Media, at a price of $38.7 million, was consummated on May 29, 2013.
On November 13, 2013, the simulcast of the religious format ended, and the Christian programming was subsequently heard only on 1040. AM 920 adopted a seculartalk radio format, changed its call letters toWNJE and later was sold. (It is now aRegional Mexican station.) The WCHR call sign was once again moved to 1040.
Effective July 2, 2018, WCHR and sister stations WNJE andWPST were sold toTownsquare Media for $17.3 million.
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