| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | New York metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 1600kHz |
| Branding | New York's BIN 1600 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | All-news radio |
| Affiliations | Black Information Network |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | August 26, 1926 (99 years ago) (1926-08-26) |
Call sign meaning | Woodside Radio Laboratory |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 68906 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 40°47′44″N74°03′18″W / 40.79556°N 74.05500°W /40.79556; -74.05500 |
| Repeater | 105.1 WWPR-HD3 (New York) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | newyork |
WWRL (1600kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed toNew York, New York, owned byiHeartMedia, Inc. The station airs anall-news radio format as anaffiliate of theBlack Information Network (BIN).
Founded in 1926, WWRL originally had a multi-lingual format serving the variousethnic communities of New York City. The station took on a mostly Spanish identity in the 1950s, then became primarily oriented towardsAfrican Americans in the mid-1960s, under the direction of news director Dick London, who invited community leaders to voice their concerns publicly on air, as the station became an advocate for legislative change. The music and news advocacy was an integral part of the Black American community. WWRL playedR&B music from 1964 to 1982, before changing tourban contemporary gospel music andreligious programming from 1982 to 1997.
After a brief return to R&B in the late 1990s, WWRL gradually de-emphasized music in favor of moretalk radio programming. In 2006, WWRL replaced 1190WLIB as theflagship station for theAir America Radio network and retained aprogressive talk radio format for seven years.
From 2014 to 2016, WWRL had aregional Mexican music format[2] before changing to South Asian programming as an affiliate ofRadio Zindagi.[3] Since 2020, the station has served as the New York City outlet for iHeartRadio's Black Information Network service.[4]Ethel Merman began her career singing on WWRL; notable hosts in WWRL's history includeFrankie Crocker,Al Sharpton,Steve Malzberg,Mark Riley, andRichard Bey.
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Founded by radio enthusiast William Reuman, doing business as Woodside Radio Laboratory, WWRLsigned on at midnight on August 26, 1926, from a studio and transmitter located in his home at 41-30 58th Street inWoodside, Queens. It originally broadcast on 1160 kHz.[6]: 188 [7] In its first year of operation, WWRL broadcast live musical performances, usually from Reuman's friends and neighbors. Among them wereAstoria singer Ethel Zimmerman, who would later achieve stardom asEthel Merman.[6]: 188
WWRL began operations during a chaotic period when most government regulation had been suspended, with new stations free to be set up with few restriction. Following the reestablishment of government control by the formation of theFederal Radio Commission (FRC), the new regulators issued a series of temporary authorizations beginning on May 3, 1927, with WWRL at first continuing to be assigned to 1160 kHz,[8] which a month later was changed to 1120 kHz.[9] Stations were also informed that if they wanted to continue operating, they needed to file a formal license application by January 15, 1928, as the first step in determining whether they met the new "public interest, convenience, or necessity" standard.[10] On May 25, 1928, the FRC issuedGeneral Order 32, which notified 164 stations, including WWRL, that "From an examination of your application for future license it does not find that public interest, convenience, or necessity would be served by granting it."[11] However, the station successfully convinced the commission that it should remain licensed.
On November 11, 1928, the FRC implemented a major reallocation of station transmitting frequencies, as part of a reorganization resulting from its implementation ofGeneral Order 40. WWRL was assigned to 1500 kHz, sharing this frequency with three other regional stations.[12]
In 1927, Reuman had begun selling commercial airtime to local merchants, and in 1929incorporated as the Long Island Broadcasting Corporation.[6]: 188 With the slogan "The Voice ofQueens County," WWRL began to broadcast programs in Italian, German, French, Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, and Czech, as well as English.[6]: 188
Following implementation of the 1941North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement the station again changed its frequency, first to 1490 kHz on April 29 that year, then within the year to the 1600 kHz, where the station remains to this day. In 1951 the station'scity of license changed from Woodside to New York City. Most programs on the station were oriented towards Hispanic and Black listeners, and Greek, Syrian, Irish, Ukrainian, Russian, and Scandinavian shows also joined the schedule. By decade's end, WWRL had a 24-hour broadcast day primarily in Spanish. Leading black disc jockeys joined the station, includingTommy Smalls (known as "Dr. Jive") andHal Jackson.[6]: 188–190
Egmont Sonderling bought WWRL from the retiring Reuman in January 1964, and changed its format to R&B.[13][14][6]: 190 WWRL was "the premier radio station serving New York's Black community" at the time, wroteDan Charnas.[15]: 9–10 Billboard magazine wrote in May 1964 that WWRL and black radio stations offered "specific information, personal identification[,] and entertainment not provided by other type stations."[16]
DJ's for WWRL in the 1960s includedFrankie Crocker andJocko Henderson, whose "on-air shtick... was as important as the music they played."[15]: 10 The station was known as "The Big RL" in the 1960s and "Super 16" in the 1970s.[13][17][18]
WWRL's first year in its R&B format included a three-hoururban gospel music show in the evenings.[16]Billboard wrote in May 1964 that WWRL and other black radio stations "are monitored as a guide to which r.&b. records could be popular with white audiences... [and] are exerting a great influence on the music played on contemporary and pop-contemporary formatted stations."[16]
Beginning in May 1966, WWRL instituted an "integrated music programming policy" that added rock and pop hits in addition to R&B to the playlist.[19] By late 1967, however, WWRL began playing moreblues tracks and those from lesser-known performers likeJohnnie Taylor andWilson Pickett, to distinguish itself from mainstream pop stations that had begun playing R&B.[20] A 1971 profile of WWRL byBillboard found that WWRL played "three oldies an hour from one of the largest vaults of soul music in the nation."[21]
TheFederal Communications Commission reprimanded Sonderling Broadcasting in May 1971 for allowing the Reverend James Lofton Jr. to use WWRL facilities to solicit money in exchange for tips for anumbers game.[22]
On June 5, 1972, WWRLsimulcast withWMCA from 8 to 10 p.m. for a special call-in program,Black and White, owing to WMCA focusing on a general audience in contrast to WWRL's primarily black audience.[23]
Briefly in the late 1970s, WWRL was an affiliate of theMutual Black Network.[6]: 190
In 1979, Sonderling Broadcasting merged withViacom.[24] WWRL carriedsports talk programming fromEnterprise Radio Network briefly in 1981, beginning on January 1.[6]: 190 [25] In an era when sports programming on radio was limited to live play-by-play, news briefs, and a select few call-in shows,[26] Enterprise was described as an "abortive attempt to launch the all-sports format" and shut down before year's end.[27] By the spring of 1981, WWRL went back to playing music.[28]
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In 1982, Viacom donated WWRL to theUnited Negro College Fund, which immediately sold the station toNational Black Network subsidiary Unity Broadcasting. On August 14, 1982, Unity changed WWRL's format toChristian talk and teaching.[6]: 190 [29] Replacing thecontemporary R&B wereurban gospel andreggae music, plusworship services from local black churches were broadcast live on evenings and weekends.[6]: 190
By that time, increasing competition fromFM stations likeWBLS decreased the appeal of AM music stations, to the point that even the once-dominantWABC ended its popular music format in 1982, switching totalk radio.[29]
WWRL also broadcast rallies and meetings held by the ReverendAl Sharpton.[30][31] These rallies included a controversial one on September 9, 1995, in which Sharpton claimed that Jewish building owner Fred Harari wanted to evict a record store so that a "white interloper" could "expand his business on125th Street."[31][32] Following that comment, Harari's business, a clothing store namedFreddy's Fashion Mart, was destroyed in an arson, leading to eight deaths.The New York Times later said this comment "was later widely blamed for fomenting racial tension."[33] The Freddy's Fashion Mart controversy was just one of several instances ofanti-Semitism said to be broadcast on WWRL.[34][35][36]
Beginning in 1985,[37] the station also sponsored achoir with around 70 members called the WWRL Community Chorale, which grew to nearly 100 members by 1996.[38][39] The Community Chorale toured 26 cities in Germany in December 1996.[39]
In the fall of 1996, theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) approved WWRL's request to increase its power from 5 kW to 25 kW.[40]
To resolve issues ofco-channel interference, WWRL bought and latershut down three nearby stations on the 1600 or 1590 frequencies: WERA 1590 inPlainfield, New Jersey,WLNG 1600 inSag Harbor, New York, andWQQW 1590 inWaterbury, Connecticut.[41] WWRL's signal could be better heard in the suburbs of New York by removing these other stations from the airwaves. By this time, WWRL used the slogan "The Spirit of New York".[41]
In April 1997, WWRL reduced gospel programming to Sundays, a move that drew criticism from former program director Reverend Paul Stephens. On April 16, WWRL switched to anR&Boldies format nicknamed "100% Pure Soul".[42] It played music from the 1960s and 1970s, in a nod to what its vice president of programming called the station's "golden age."[43]
To distinguish itself from FMurban contemporary stationsWBIX andWRKS, starting in the summer of 1999, WWRL devoted Saturdays to playingCaribbean music, and added R&B from the 1950s and earlier to its playlist.[44] Additionally, WWRL addedbrokered talk shows to the weekday lineup that year.[45]
In 2001, WWRL was sold to Access.1 Communications Corporation, an African-American owned and operated radio broadcasting company.[46][47] By then, WWRL began playing more Caribbean music during the week beyond Saturdays.[48]
In 2002, WWRL added a popular morning 6-10 a.m. "drive time" show co-hosted by Peter Noel, a Black advocacy journalist tied to Al Sharpton, and whiteOrthodox RabbiShmuley Boteach,The Peter and Shmuley Show.[49][50]Barnard College sociology professor Jonathan Rieder called the show "an interracial buddy pair, the radio equivalent ofLethal Weapon".[50] The station reported that after the introduction of the show, it saw a 90% increase in white and Hispanic listeners.[51] Rabbi Boteach resigned in June 2003 shortly after his co-host Noel did the same; Boteach alleged that station management changed his morning show's format from "harmonious to adversarial."[52]
The station also broadcastNew York Liberty basketball games.[53] By the beginning of 2003, WWRL had talk shows for most of the week, with music only broadcast on weekends, specifically Caribbean on Saturdays and gospel on Sundays.[54]
WWRL subsequently added local shows hosted byKaren Hunter,Steve Malzberg, andArmstrong Williams among others, in addition to nationally syndicated shows fromLarry Elder andAlan Colmes.[55][56][57]
In August 2006, WWRL became the flagship station forAir America, aprogressive talk radio network that had previously broadcast on 1190WLIB.[58] Beginning on October 29, 2007,Mark Riley and New York television personalityRichard Bey co-hosted the WWRL morning show.[59] Bey resigned in March 2008.[60]New York Daily News columnistErrol Louis became the morning host beginning in mid-July 2008.[61]
In January 2010, after Air America shut down, WWRL brought back Mark Riley as morning host and added syndicated liberal hosts such asEd Schultz,Thom Hartmann,Stephanie Miller,Randi Rhodes, andAl Sharpton.[62]
On December 13, 2013, WWRL announced it would change format toregional Mexican music in Spanish, citing low advertising revenue as a reason.[63] New York's growing Mexican-American community had no other stations playing music of their homeland.
Following a few days ofstunting, WWRL launched a regional Mexican music format and brand "La Invasora" on January 5, 2014.[2]
On February 1, 2016, WWRL changed its format to Indian and South Asian talk and music as part of theRadio Zindagi network. Ten days later, Access.1 Communications sold WWRL to NJ Broadcasting, LLC for $7 million.[3] WWRL also added anHD Radio simulcast onWKXW-HD2 for listeners in central and southernNew Jersey.
On September 10, 2020,iHeartMedia announced its intent to acquire WWRL for an undisclosed amount. It began operating the station under alocal marketing agreement (LMA) on November 2 as the New York City outlet of theall-news radio formattedBlack Information Network (BIN). The flip marked a return to the station's heritage of airing formats serving the region's African-American community.[4] The purchase, at a price of $8.5 million, was consummated on July 26, 2021.
By day, WWRL broadcasts at 25,000 watts; at night, to protect other stations on1600 AM, it reduces power to 5,000 watts. It uses adirectional antenna at all times. Itstransmitter is on Radio Avenue inSecaucus, New Jersey, near theHackensack River.[64] WWRL's studios are at125 West 55th Street inMidtown Manhattan with other iHeart New York stations.[65]
WWRL is also simulcastWWPR-FM's thirdHD Radio subchannel and is available online viaiHeartRadio.[66]
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