| Broadcast area | Central New Jersey -Eastern Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1040kHz |
| Branding | WCHR 1040 AM |
| Programming | |
| Format | Christian talk and teaching |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WKXW,WNJE,WPST | |
| History | |
First air date | 1998; 27 years ago (1998) |
Former call signs |
|
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 28130 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 40°30′18.0″N74°58′37.0″W / 40.505000°N 74.976944°W /40.505000; -74.976944 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | wchram |
WCHR (1040kHz) is acommercialAM radioradio stationlicensed toFlemington, New Jersey, and servingCentral New Jersey andEastern Pennsylvania. It airs aChristian talk and teachingformat and is owned and operated byTownsquare Media, with studios and offices inEwing, New Jersey.
By day, WCHR is powered at 15,000watts. But at night it greatly reduces its power to 1,500 watts.AM 1040 is aclear channel frequency reserved forClass AWHODes Moines so WCHR must avoid interference. It usesdirectional antenna with a three-tower array by day and fourtowers at night. Duringcritical hours it broadcasts at 7,500 watts. Thetransmitter is off Locktown Road inKingwood, New Jersey.[2]
WCHR is abrokered programming station. It sells blocks of airtime, where hosts may use their shows to seek donations to their ministries. National religious leaders heard on WCHR includeJohn MacArthur,Jim Daly,Chuck Swindoll,James Dobson,Kay Arthur,J. Vernon McGee,Michael Youssef,Joni Eareckson Tada andAdrian Rogers.
The stationsigned on in 1998; 27 years ago (1998). Originally itscall sign was WJHR ("Jersey Hometown Radio") with anadult contemporary format. In February 1998, the station began broadcasting inAM stereo using theC-QUAM system.[3]
In December of that year, the station changed its format tocontemporary hit radio (Top 40).[4] It briefly broadcast atalk radio format called "Chat Radio" on May 3, 1999, and the station turned off the AM stereo system. It later had short stints as a business talk station and anESPN Radiosports station before adopting the call letters and religious format of WCHR. WCHR which had been operating on 920 AM inTrenton, in 2002.
On January 3, 2008,Nassau Broadcasting Partners announced that 1040 AM would drop the religious format and switch to a full-time simulcast of New York City's sports stationWEPN 1050 AM.[5] Nassau moved the religious programming and the WCHR call sign back to 920, which had been broadcasting as a Philadelphia-oriented ESPN Radio affiliate under the call letters WPHY.[6] On February 5, 2008, the station took the WNJE call sign.
On May 21, 2012, WNJE ended the simulcast of WEPN and joinedESPN Deportes Radio, a Spanish-language sports station. This came in advance of WEPN's own switch to ESPN Deportes Radio in September, after ESPN Radio took over the operations ofWEPN-FM in April.
WNJE and nine other Nassau stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were purchased at abankruptcy auction by NB Broadcasting in May 2012. NB Broadcasting is controlled by Nassau's creditors —Goldman Sachs, Pluss Enterprises, and P.E. Capital.[7][8] In November, NB Broadcasting filed a motion to assign its rights to the stations toConnoisseur Media.[9]
On December 3, 2012, WNJE dropped ESPN Deportes Radio and began simulcasting the religious format of sister station WCHR 920. The sale to Connoisseur Media, at a price of $38.7 million, was consummated on May 29, 2013.
On November 13, 2013, the simulcast of the religious format ended, and the Christian programming was subsequently heard only on 1040. AM 920 adopted a seculartalk radio format, changed its call letters back to WNJE and later was sold. (It is now aRegional Mexican station.) The WCHR call sign was once again moved to 1040.
Effective July 2, 2018, WCHR and sister stations WNJE and 94.5WPST were sold to Townsquare Media for $17.3 million.
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