 | |
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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Hartford |
| Frequency | 1410kHz |
| Branding | News Radio 1410 AM & 100.9 FM WPOP |
| Programming | |
| Format | News/Talk andSports radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WHCN,WKSS,WUCS,WWYZ | |
| History | |
First air date | July 15, 1935; 89 years ago (1935-07-15) |
Former call signs |
|
Former frequencies | 1380 kHz (1935–1941) |
Call sign meaning | Popular music (earlier format)[1] |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 37232 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°41′34.36″N72°45′5.35″W / 41.6928778°N 72.7514861°W /41.6928778; -72.7514861 (WPOP) |
| Translator(s) | 100.9 W265EB (Hartford) |
| Repeater(s) | 97.9 WUCS-HD2 (Windsor Locks) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | newsradio1410 |
WPOP (1410AM) is acommercial radio station inHartford, Connecticut, broadcasting anews/talk andsports radio format, owned byiHeartMedia, Inc.[3][4] The station's studios and offices are located on Columbus Boulevard in Hartford.
WPOP broadcasts with 5,000 watts. To protect other stations onAM 1410, it uses adirectional antenna. The station'stransmitter site is off Cedar Street inNewington, Connecticut. WPOP is also heard on theHD2 channel of co-ownedWUCS (97.9 FM). A 220-wattFM translator simulcasts WPOP programming, W265EB at 100.9MHz.
Weekdays begin withThe Vinnie Penn Project, a wake-up talk and interview show shared with co-ownedWELI inNew Haven, which also supplies Connecticut news briefs for WPOP. Also heard on weekdays aresyndicated talk shows:The Financial Exchange,The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, TheBoston-basedHowie Carr Show,The Mark Levin Show andThe Jesse Kelly Show.Fox Sports Radio is heard overnights and several hours on weekends. Weekends also feature several syndicated shows:The Glenn Beck Radio Program,The Weekend with Michael Brown,At Home with Gary Sullivan,Rich DeMuro on Tech,The Jesus Christ Show with Neil Saavedra andHandel on the Law withBill Handel, all syndicated byPremiere Networks, co-owned with WPOP by iHeartMedia.
WPOP carries Fox Sports Radio programming overnight and some hours on weekends. It is also the Hartfordnetwork affiliate forNew York Yankees baseball andNew York Jets football games. In the summer, WPOP carriesHartford Yard Goats baseball games, and in winter, carriesBridgeport Sound Tigers andHartford Wolf Pack hockey games.
The station firstsigned on the air on July 15, 1935. It broadcast at 1380kilocycles as WNBC inNew Britain, Connecticut, about 10 miles southwest of Hartford.[5] The station, owned by William J. Sanders, began as adaytimer powered at only 250 watts.[6]
WNBC's power increased to 1,000 watts, operating full-time, several years later. The station was anaffiliate of theNBC Blue Network. It was originally issued thecall sign WMFE, but changed to WNBC on June 12, 1935.[7] The WNBC license was transferred to State Broadcasting Corporation in June 1936.[7] The station, along withWELI inNew Haven andWCOP inBoston, was part of a group of new stations financed by Arde Bulova.[8]
In 1941, with the enactment ofNorth American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), the station switched to its present frequency ofAM 1410. Power was boosted to the current 5,000 watts, and it moved itscity of license to Hartford.[9] Control of WNBC passed to Arde Bulova in 1943, after Sanders sold his interest in the station.[10] The following year, Bulova andHarold A. Lafount sold WNBC to theYankee Network for $220,000.
The new owners renamed the station WHTD, and it affiliated with theMutual Broadcasting System. Mutual and most Yankee Network programming had been airing onWTHT, though WNBC already aired Yankee's newscasts.[11] The call sign was again changed on April 21, 1946, to WONS. The "NS" stood for "Nutmeg State".[12]
In October 1953, Yankee Network parentGeneral Teleradio andThe Hartford Times announced that WONS and WTHT would merge, using the WONS facilities and license, in connection with the stations dropping their competing bids for television channel 18 in favor of a single application.[13] When the station relaunched as WGTH on February 14, 1954, it took on theABC Radio Network affiliation[14] that had been on WTHT;[13] it also continued WONS's Mutual and Yankee Network affiliations.[15]
TheGannett Newspapers–ownedTimes announced the sale of its 45-percent stake in the WGTH stations back to General Teleradio in 1955, in connection with the planned sale ofWGTH-TV toCBS.[16] The following year, what had becomeRKO Teleradio Pictures sold WGTH radio to H. Scott Kilgore's Tele-Broadcasting Inc., for $250,000, adding it to a group that includedWKXL inConcord, New Hampshire;WARE inWare, Massachusetts;WKXV inKnoxville, Tennessee; andKUDL inKansas City, Missouri.[17][18] As network programming moved from radio to television, WGTH switched to amiddle of the road format. It changed its call sign to WPOP on August 1, 1956,[7][19] signifying that it played popular music.
Tele-Broadcasters sold WPOP to Joseph C. Amaturo and Walter B. Dunn's Wire Broadcasting—owners ofWIRE inIndianapolis and partially co-owned withWFTL andWFTL-FM inFort Lauderdale, Florida;WESO inSouthbridge, Massachusetts; andWBFM in New York City—for $465,000 in 1963.[20] WPOP was a highly ratedTop 40 radio station during the 1960s and early 1970s. It was known for its aggressive promotion of new and upcoming music; it is credited with helping to breakThe Four Seasons to fame.[21] The station achieved its highest level of success during this era, as it vied with rivalWDRC for youthful listeners in the Hartfordradio market.
In August 1972, January Enterprises, the company owned by entertainer and TV talk show hostMerv Griffin, announced its $2.75 million purchase of WPOP.[22] The sale, which was part of a realignment of Amaturo's broadcast holdings, was approved in 1973,[23] and added WPOP to a group whose Connecticut holdings already includedWWCO andWIOF inWaterbury;[22][23] it coincided with Griffin's sale of WWCO.[24] After Merv Griffin's radio group was split as part of his 1976 divorce from Julann Griffin, he retained ownership of WPOP, WIOF, andWBAX inWilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.[25]
On July 1, 1975, WPOP dropped its hit music format, switching toall-news, carryingNBC's News and Information Service, with a sizable local news staff covering Connecticut news stories.[26] When the NIS network ended two years later, WPOP continued the all-news format using its own anchors supplemented byCBS Radio News and theAssociated Press radio service.[27]
By the late 1980s, talk shows were added WPOP's news format, and the station cut back on its news segments. Affiliation switched from CBS Radio to theABC Information Network.
The Griffin Group's radio stations, including WPOP and WYSR (the former WIOF), were merged with Liberty Broadcasting in 1994; the merger placed the stations under common ownership withWHCN, which Liberty concurrently acquired from Beck-Ross Communications.[28] SFX Broadcasting announced its $223.25 million purchase of Liberty on November 15, 1995; it immediately resold the Hartford stations, along withWMXB inRichmond, Virginia;WSNE,WHJY, andWHJJ inProvidence, Rhode Island; andWGNA,WGNA-FM,WPYX, andWTRY inAlbany, New York, to Multi-Market Radio.[29] Both SFX and Multi-Market were associated withRobert F. X. Sillerman's Sillerman Companies; the two companies merged in 1996.[30]
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On January 13, 1997, SFX Broadcasting switched WPOP's format toall-sports; most of its programming was provided byOne-on-One Sports, but it also carriedThe Fabulous Sports Babe and weekend programming fromESPN Radio, based in nearbyBristol, Connecticut.[31] The station ended its One-on-One Sports affiliation on February 28, 1999,[32] becoming a full-time ESPN Radio affiliate.[33]
Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst's Capstar Broadcasting announced its acquisition of SFX Broadcasting on August 25, 1997;[34] the merger was approved by theDepartment of Justice on March 31, 1998.[35] Capstar and Chancellor Media announced in August 1998 that they would merge (Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst was also a major shareholder in Chancellor);[36] upon the merger's completion in July 1999, the combined company was named AMFM Inc.[37][38] AMFM was in turn acquired by Clear Channel Communications (forerunner to iHeartMedia) in a deal announced on October 4, 1999,[39][40] and completed in August 2000.[41]
On January 27, 2012, a second Clear Channel station in the Hartford market began carrying ESPN Radio: WPKX (97.9 FM), previously acountry music outlet forSpringfield, Massachusetts.[42] The FM station eventually changed its call letters toWUCS, with the "CS" standing for "Connecticut Sports". WPOP switched from ESPN Radio to Fox Sports Radio on March 5, 2012, with ESPN Radio remaining on WUCS.[43]
On August 17, 2015, WPOP changed its format from all sports to a mix of talk and sports, branded as "News Radio 1410".[44] Connecticut news updates would be provided by co-ownedWELI inNew Haven. The WELI morning show, known asThe Vinnie Penn Project, would be shared with WPOP.
In January 2019, WPOP added anFM translator, W265EB at 100.9MHz. The translator allows listeners in Hartford and its adjacent suburbs to hear the station on FM as well as AM radio.[45]
| Call sign | Frequency | City of license | FID | ERP (W) | HAAT | Class | Transmitter coordinates | FCC info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W265EB | 100.9 FM | Hartford, Connecticut | 140333 | 220 | 167 m (548 ft) | D | 41°46′0.3″N72°40′36.3″W / 41.766750°N 72.676750°W /41.766750; -72.676750 (W265EB) | LMS |