 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 1270kHz |
| Branding | The Patriot |
| Programming | |
| Format | Conservative talk radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WECK,WBBZ-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | May 20, 1940; 85 years ago (1940-05-20) |
Former call signs | WHLD (1940-2025) |
Call sign meaning | Contains "United States". |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 7822 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 42°44′41″N78°53′13″W / 42.74472°N 78.88694°W /42.74472; -78.88694 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | 1270thepatriot |
WUSW (1270AM) is acommercial radio stationlicensed toNiagara Falls, New York, and serving theBuffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area. It is owned byCumulus Media, with a sale to Buddy Shula pending, and carries aconservative talk radio format.
By day, WUSW transmits with 5,000 watts, and to protect other stations from interference, at night it reduces power to 1,000 watts. The station'stransmitter is off Cloverbank Road at Sawgrass Court inHamburg. It uses adirectional antenna with a five-tower array. WUSW's studios are shared with WECK on Genesee Street inCheektowaga.
On May 20, 1940, the stationsigned on as WHLD, the call sign it would hold for its first 85 years. It was owned by Earl Clement Hull ofNiagara Falls, New York. Thecall sign represented the name of his second wife, Hilda Lewis Carpenter Hull, ofOntario, Canada.
Earl Hull was a radio pioneer who enteredSt. Lawrence University in 1916. He gained a knowledge of radio technology, which he later applied to communication problems inWorld War I. His talents helped the university establish broadcasting station WCAD in 1922. He later builtWKY inOklahoma City. In 1940, he returned to Niagara Falls to establish WHLD. The radio station often programmed classical music and featured local artists. Among them was a continuing program of classical piano duets played by Niagara Falls pianistHarold Bradley and his friend John Peirce Langs of Buffalo. In 1946, an FM station was added, 98.5 WHLD-FM (nowWKSE). In its early decades, WHLD-FM mostlysimulcast WHLD 1270, but later switched tobeautiful music. It changed its call letters to WZIR-FM in 1980.
Locally owned Butler Communications Corporation bought WHLD and its sister station WZIR-FM in May 1980. During the Butler Communications days, WHLD playedadult standards andbig band music on weekdays, with some ethnic programming on weekends. The station was billed as "The Station of the Nations", and owner Paul Butler's daughter Mary Ann Butler gave the station its tag line, "The Sound of the Falls." Veteran Buffalo Radio Personality John LaMond began his career at WHLD in 1981.
In August 1999, WHLD was purchased byCitadel Broadcasting Corporation. At midnight on Monday, February 13, 2006, WHLD gave up itsbrokered programming format and Niagara Independent Media began operating the station via aLocal marketing agreement (LMA). It was branded "News Talk 1270: The Voice of Reason." It began carrying theprogressive talk shows ofAir America Radio.[2] That programming was dropped in December 2006 due to financial problems.[3] Some of the non-profit programs, includingDemocracy Now, were moved to sister stationWBBF.
The station then began anurban gospel format through a lease with the Totally Gospel Radio Network.[4] That programming had been carried on daytime only station WBBF since May 1997. On August 2, 2010, Totally Gospel ended its 3½ year lease of WHLD in preparation of the construction of its own station,WFWO at 89.7 kHz.[5]
WHLD, back under the control of Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, then switched to an automatedadult standards format, becoming the first adult standards station in the market sinceWECK dropped the format in 2006.[6] On August 11, 2010, WHLD began branding itself "Swing 1270" featuring vocalists associated with theGreat American Songbook.[7] Harv Moore, a well-known local radio personality, was added as the first disc jockey in April 2011. Its only competitor for the adult standards market in Western New York was distant but powerful 50,000 wattCFZM, located inToronto.[citation needed]
Cumulus Media bought WHLD and other Citadel stations in a deal approved in September 2011.[8] In January 2013, Cumulus announced that WHLD would be changing its format, this time tosports talk. Most programming would come fromCBS Sports Radio. One local program, hosted by Rich Gaenzler, aired from noon to 3 p.m. (CBS Sports Radio's offering in that time slot,The Jim Rome Show, was already carried in Western New York by 1520WWKB).[9] Cumulus Media planned to move the former WHLD Spanish-languageChristian radio format to 1120WBBF, but protests from the Spanish speaking community led the company to reconsider.[10] In May 2013, the adult standards format was picked up by 1230WECK.
WHLD acquired the rights toBuffalo Bulls sports teams in 2013 from theUniversity of Buffalo. Those rights had previously been with 1230WECK. WHLD lost the rights to UB athletics in 2014 when they moved to 1520WWKB. WHLD acquired local rights to theNFL on Westwood One along with Westwood One's NCAA football package in 2015.[11] Gaenzler left the station in late 2015, moving to 96.9WGRF.The Herd with Colin Cowherd was inserted into his previous local time slot, leaving the station entirely syndicated. WHLD temporarily added a show from Bob Koshinski (formerly ofWNSA,WBBZ-TV and theEmpire Sports Network) andThe Buffalo News columnists Bucky Gleason and Jerry Sullivan in January 2016. The station brought backThe Bucky and Sully Show in September 2016, and also add a weekly show withNews columnist Tim Graham.[12]
On September 1, 2016, WHLD made a deal to carry radio the broadcasts ofSyracuse Orange basketball and football in the Buffalo market, as well asNotre Dame Fighting Irish football's national broadcasts in weeks where the Irish and Orange games are played at different times.[13]
On May 24, 2021, Cumulus changed WHLD's format toconservative talk, branded as "Talk 1270." The move was part of Cumulus's rollout ofDan Bongino's national show.[14]
WHLD now competes primarily with 930WBEN, a Buffalonews/talk station, owned byAudacy. With WHLD carrying the Westwood One talk line-up,The Mark Levin Show, previously heard on WBEN, shifted to WHLD.
WHLD was briefly slated for shutdown in March 2025 as part of Cumulus's plans to reduce its portfolio of underperforming AM radio stations. It was spared from closure and remained operational (though its Web site and online feed were shut down) while a sale was sought.[15]
In May 2025, Cumulus struck an agreement with Buddy Shula, owner ofWECK, for Shula to purchase WHLD. Shula began programming the station June 1, initially simulcasting WECK.[16] Shula adopted the new call sign WUSW for the station, a call sign he chose for its "patriotic" overtones.[17][18] On June 18, 2025, after a transitional period in which the station simulcast WECK, WUSW announced that it would relaunch asThe Patriot on July 4, maintaining its conservative talk format with a new lineup drawn primarily fromPremiere Networks (Michael DelGiorno,Glenn Beck,Clay Travis and Buck Sexton,Sean Hannity andJesse Kelly), along with affiliations withSalem Media,Bloomberg, andCNBC for news content. Some Cumulus/Westwood One programs, including Vince Coglianese (Dan Bognino's replacement), Erick Erickson, andRed Eye Radio carried over to the WUSW lineup in evenings and overnights. State assemblymanDavid DiPietro will also host a program on the station.[19]
Shula stated that he was inspired to keep the conservative talk format after Audacy came under the partial ownership ofSoros Fund Management, a company whose namesakeGeorge Soros has been along-distrusted figure among American conservatives, potentially compromising WBEN's audience credibility. He also stated that he had attempted to pursue aFox News Radio affiliation for the station, but that he was unable to do so.[20] (WBEN outmaneuvered WUSW to secure the Fox affiliation that July.)[21]
Shula acquired two FM translators on 93.3 and 94.9 from Calvary Chapel of the Finger Lakes to simulcast WUSW on the FM band.[22]
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