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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Westchester County, New York and theConnecticut Panhandle |
| Frequency | 96.7MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | Air1 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Christian worship |
| Subchannels |
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| Affiliations | Air1 |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Educational Media Foundation |
| WPLJ | |
| History | |
First air date | 1947 |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | Air1 |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 10659 |
| Class | A |
| ERP | 3,100watts |
| HAAT | 143 meters (469 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 40°54′43″N73°46′55″W / 40.912°N 73.782°W /40.912; -73.782 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | www |
WARW is aChristian worship formatted radio station, licensed toPort Chester, New York, and is theAir 1 radio affiliate forWestchester County and theConnecticut Panhandle. The station is owned byEducational Media Foundation and its transmitter is located inNew Rochelle, New York.
WARW went on the air in 1947 as WSTC-FM licensed toStamford, Connecticut, and simulcastingWSTC. On February 19, 1974, the call letters were changed to WYRS[3] and the station began programming an automatedbeautiful music format aimed at women using the moniker "Yours 96.7". At 6:00 p.m. on September 2, 1980 WYRS switched to ajazz format afterWRVR inNew York City had switched formats from jazz tocountry music.[4] On December 17, 1981, the station was sold to Radio Stamford Inc. The call letters were changed to WJAZ in 1987. In 1990, the format was changed to anoldies format of songs from 1954 to 1973 and the call letters changed to WQQQ with branding as "Q-96.7". From 1992 to 2006, the station was known as WKHL, branded as "Kool 96.7", with no change in format. On March 29, 2006, the station changed from oldies toclassic hits as96.7 The Coast under the WCTZ calls. TheFCC approved an allocations shift to Port Chester, New York, in December 2006 which allowed the station greater access to New York City; at the time, the station still marketed itself strictly to aFairfield County audience.
On November 5, 2010,Educational Media Foundation announced they would be purchasing WCTZ and moving the transmitter to theTrump Plaza in New Rochelle, serving as theK-Love affiliate for New York City with the call letters WKLV-FM; the sale was completed in mid-May 2011, after which the station went silent for a few weeks to relocate its transmitter.[5][6]
On February 13, 2019,WPLJ and five otherCumulus Media stations were sold to theRocklin, California-based nonprofit broadcaster,Educational Media Foundation (EMF) for $103.5 million. After the sale received final approval by the FCC, EMF announced that WPLJ and the other Cumulus stations acquired would all begin broadcasting K-Love on June 1 at midnight local time;[7][8] this was later moved up to May 31 at 7:00 p.m., five hours earlier than originally planned.
EMF's acquisition of WPLJ created aduopoly for their non-profit enterprise in the New York City market. Between May 31 and July 10, 2019, EMF programmed both WKLV-FM and WPLJ with K-Love programming, but this was not a truesimulcast, as a time-delay existed between both stations. On July 11, 2019, the duplicated programming arrangement ceased as EMF swapped the WKLV-FM call-sign with their K-Love affiliate forButler, Alabama,WMKQ.[1] Simultaneously, EMF discontinued K-Love programming over 96.7 FM and replaced it with a looping message stating that K-Love programming for the New York City market had moved exclusively to WPLJ and that sister networkAir 1 would soon be launched on 96.7.[9] On July 19, 2019, Air 1 programming began on the station, which concurrently changed its call letters to WARW (transferred fromthe Air 1 station inRemsen, New York).[10] On July 26, 2019, WARW moved "K-Love Classics" from 96.7 HD-3 to 96.7 HD-2, andRadio Nueva Vida started broadcasting on the HD3 subchannel.