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| Broadcast area | Greater New Haven |
| Frequency | 960kHz |
| Branding | WELI 960 AM and 96.9 FM |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | News/talk |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WAVZ,WKCI-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | October 1935; 90 years ago (1935-10) |
Call sign meaning | Yale University's popular nickname "The Eli", the station being in the university's home city. |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 11933 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°22′14.35″N72°56′13.37″W / 41.3706528°N 72.9370472°W /41.3706528; -72.9370472 |
| Translator | 96.9 W245DK (New Haven) |
| Repeater | 101.3 WKCI-FM HD3 (Hamden) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | 960weli |
WELI (960kHz) is anAMcommercial radio stationlicensed toNew Haven, Connecticut, and serving the New Haven andBridgeport areas. It broadcasts anews/talkradio format and is owned byiHeartMedia, Inc. WELI's studios are in Radio Towers Park on Benham Street inHamden, where it shares facilities with sister stationsWKCI-FM andWAVZ.Transmitting towers for WELI are also at this location.
WELI is powered at 5,000 watts,non-directional by day. To protect other stations on or near960 AM from interference, at night it uses adirectional antenna with a four-tower array.[2] Programming is also heard on 215 wattFM translator W245DK at 96.9MHz.[3]
Weekdays begin with a news and interview show, "The Vinnie Penn Project",simulcast on co-ownedWPOP inHartford. The rest of the weekday schedule includesnationally syndicated talk shows, mostly fromPremiere Networks:The Glenn Beck Program,The Sean Hannity Show,The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,The Jesse Kelly Show,Coast to Coast AM withGeorge Noory andThis Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal fromCompass Media Networks.[4] World and national news comes fromFox News Radio with WELI newscasters supplying Connecticut news for both WELI and WPOP.
On weekends, WELI airs syndicated shows includingAt Home with Gary Sullivan,Sunday Night Live with Bill Cunningham andSomewhere in Time with Art Bell, as well as repeats of weekday shows. WELI Sports Director George DeMaio Jr. hosts a Saturday morning show.
WELIsigned on the air in October 1935 as adaytimer on 900 kHz, powered at 500 watts and required to go off the air at night. The station was owned by the City Broadcasting Corporation, with studios at 221 Orange Street in New Haven.[5] With the station located in the same city asYale University, whose sports teams are nicknamed "The Elis", the station chose WELI for itscall sign. Over the years, the station broadcast liveYale Bulldogs or Elis sports, since many of its listeners have been Yale students, faculty and alumni.
With the enactment of theNorth American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) in 1941, WELI and most other radio stations, were required to move to a different frequency. It switched to 960 kHz, getting night time authorization. It was powered at 1,000 watts by day, 500 watts at night. WELI was anetwork affiliate of theMutual Broadcasting System, carrying its dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio".[6]
In its early decades, WELI had local musicians play live music. A weekly programPoetry and an Organ, broadcast in the late 1930s, starred organist Don Raphael.[7][8] Other musicians heard regularly on WELI in the 1930s and 1940s included organist Marion J. Reynolds, who was the station's musical director since its first day, pianist Margaret Shepard, the Esther String Trio, the Continental Trio directed by violinist Sy Byer, Ray Block's Swing Fourteen, andCharles Magnante's accordion quartet.[9] ThePolish Eagles Radio Show, featuringPolish language and Polish instrumental music and hosted by Victor Zembruski, aired every Sunday on WELI during the 1950s.[10] The station's singers included Millicent Scott, Edith Jolson, and Louise DeMars. Dick Carlson hosted the record request and dedication showDanceland Ballroom.
WELI also had Italian language shows. George Mazzacane's 2-hour-longL'Ora Italiana, aired on WELI for seven years until his death in 1943, included Italian opera records and news about Italy and Italians relevant to the local Italian American community.[11][12] George Padovini and Luigi diFant presented news in Italian.[9]
Other local shows regularly heard on WELI in its early years includedWhat Are You Reading? with Elida Sterling, about novels,Stories of the Stars with Lewis Doolittle, aboutastronomy, andTheater News on the Air about live performances. WELI also aired many local sports games and tournaments, including tennis, golf, basketball, and baseball.Meet the Eagles was hosted byWilf Cude, the goalie of the local professionalice hockey team, theNew Haven Eagles.
In 1984,Clear Channel Communications, the forerunner of iHeartMedia, acquired WELI.[13] For much of the 1960s and 1970s, WELI had afull service,middle of the road format of popular adult music, news, talk and sports. But with Clear Channel ownership, the station scaled back its music programming, adding more talk shows. By the 1990s, WELI had made the transition to an all-talk station.
Jerry Kristafer was the host forThe WELI Morning Show from 1998 until 2008 when he moved toWDRC-FM in Hartford.[14] The show was replaced by the syndicatedImus in the Morning show fromWABC in New York City.[15] In 1998, WELI again began broadcastcollege football games of the Yale Bulldogs.[16]
WELI had carriedThe Rush Limbaugh Show from noon to 3 p.m. for many years. Limbaugh died in February 2021 and WELI aired repeats of Limbaugh's show for several months. When it was discontinued in June 2021, the station replaced it withThe Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Other national shows formerly heard on WELI includeThe Mark Levin Show,The Savage Nation withMichael Savage,The Laura Ingraham Show,Kim Komando Computer Show,Dr.Dean Edell, andJim Cramer's Real Money Talk.[17][18][19]
| Call sign | Frequency | City of license | FID | ERP (W) | Class | Transmitter coordinates | FCC info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W245DK | 96.9 FM | New Haven, Connecticut | 202570 | 215 | D | 42°25′22.2″N71°57′4.9″W / 42.422833°N 71.951361°W /42.422833; -71.951361 (W245DK) | LMS |
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