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| Broadcast area | New York metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 710kHz |
| Branding | 710 WOR |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | News/talk |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | February 22, 1922 (103 years ago) (1922-02-22) |
Former frequencies |
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Call sign meaning | randomly assigned, backronym "World of Radio"[1] |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 7710 |
| Class | A |
| Power | 50,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 40°47′50.36″N74°5′22.51″W / 40.7973222°N 74.0895861°W /40.7973222; -74.0895861 |
| Repeater | 104.3 WAXQ-HD2 (New York) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | 710wor |
WOR (710kHz) is a 50,000-wattclass Aclear-channel AM radio station owned byiHeartMedia and licensed toNew York, New York. The station airs a mix of local andsyndicatedtalk radio shows, primarily from co-ownedPremiere Networks, includingThe Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,The Sean Hannity Show, andCoast to Coast AM withGeorge Noory.CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor, fromCBS News Radio is heard at night. Since 2016, the station has served as the New York outlet for co-ownedNBC News Radio. The station's studios are located at125 West 55th Street inMidtown Manhattan, with itstransmitter inRutherford, New Jersey. WOR began broadcasting on Wednesday, February 22, 1922, and is one of the oldest continuously operating radio stations in the United States with a three–lettercall sign, characteristic of a station dating from the 1920s. WOR is the only New York City station to have retained its original three-letter call sign, making those the oldest continuously used call letters in the New York City area.
WOR's original owner wasBamberger's Department Store inNewark, New Jersey. In the early 1920s the store was selling radio receivers and wanted to put a radio station on the air to help promote receiver sales, as well as for general publicity. Effective December 1, 1921, theU.S. Department of Commerce set aside a single wavelength, 360 meters (833 kilohertz), for radio stations to broadcast "entertainment" programs.[3] The store applied for a license which was granted on February 20, 1922, with the randomly assigned call sign of WOR.[4] The station's originalcity of license was Newark.
The station made its debut broadcast on February 22, 1922, from a studio located on an upper floor of the store. A 250-wattDe Foresttransmitter was constructed on the roof of the department store.[5] The station's first broadcast was made with a homemade microphone constructed by attaching amegaphone to a telephone mouthpiece.Al Jolson's "April Showers" was the first record played on WOR.[6]
Three other broadcasting stations were already on the air in the region transmitting on 360 meters:WJZ, also in Newark, operated by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA); WNO, operated byThe Jersey Journal newspaper inJersey City; andWDT, owned by the Ship Owners Radio Service in theStapleton section ofStaten Island.[7] The use of the common wavelength required a time-sharing agreement between the stations designating transmitting hours. This soon became complicated, for by June a total of ten regional stations were using 360 meters. This restricted the number of hours available to WOR, which was now limited to just a few hours per week.[8]
In September 1922 the Department of Commerce set aside a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz), for "Class B" stations that had quality equipment and programming.[9] In the New York City region, WOR, along with two New York CityAmerican Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) stations, WBAY and WEAF (nowWFAN), were assigned to this new wavelength. Additional "Class B" broadcasting frequencies were announced in May 1923, including three for the Newark/New York City area.[10]
WOR moved to 740 kHz, where it shared time with WDT (which shut down by the end of the year) and a new RCA station,WJY.[11] WJY rarely used the time periods assigned to it, and by the summer of 1926, WOR began operating full-time, stating that the silent WJY was considered to have forfeited its hours.[12] In June 1927, theFederal Radio Commission (FRC) moved WOR to 710 kHz, which it has occupied ever since. On November 11, 1928, under the provisions of the FRC'sGeneral Order 40, this assignment was designated a "clear channel" frequency, with WOR the dominant station.
In December 1924, although still licensed to Newark, WOR opened a second studio in Manhattan to originate programs, so that stars of the day based in New York City would have better access to the station. Later in 1926, WOR left its original New York City studio on the 9th floor of Chickering Hall at 27 West 57th Street. It relocated to 1440 Broadway, two blocks fromTimes Square.
WOR was a charter member of theCBS Radio Network (CBS), acting as theflagship of the 16 stations that aired the first Columbia Broadcasting System network program on September 18, 1927.[13]
In 1934, WOR in partnership with Chicago radio stationWGN, andCincinnati radio stationWLW, formed theMutual Broadcasting System and became its New York City flagship station. Mutual was one of the "Big Four" national radio networks in the United States during the 1930s–1980s.
In 1941, the station changed its city of license from Newark to New York City.
In 1957, WOR ended its relationship with Mutual and became an independent station. However, the station continued to carry Mutual's "Top of the News" withFulton Lewis for 15 minutes each evening, Monday–Friday at 7:00 p.m. for several more years.[citation needed]
On April 30, 2005, WOR moved from its offices and studios at 1440 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, where it had been based for 79 years. It relocated to a new facility at 111 Broadway near Wall Street in theFinancial District.[14]
After the station was acquired by Clear Channel Communications in 2012, it moved to its current location at Clear Channel's studios on Avenue of The Americas inTribeca.
In 1941, WOR put anFM radio station, W71NY, on the air. WOR had been experimenting with FM broadcasts as W2XWI from itsCarteret, New Jersey, transmitter site from 1938. For most of its first two decades, W71NY, later WOR-FM, largelysimulcast the same programming as WOR. In 1949, WOR signed on a sister television station, Channel 9 WOR-TV. It started as anindependent station, showing mostly movies and reruns of network shows, with some local children's and talk programs.
In 1952, WOR-AM-FM-TV were sold toRKO General. The TV station later becameWWOR-TV, relocated toSecaucus, New Jersey, after it and the radio stations, 710 WOR and 98.7 WOR-FM, were sold to separate companies in 1987 (due to an FCC regulation in effect then that forbade TV and radio stations with different owners from sharing the same call letters). WOR-FM today isWEPN-FM.
From the 1930s to the early 1980s, WOR was described as afull service radio station, featuring a mix of music, talk and news. There was an emphasis on news reports and talk programs, but music was played as well, usually a blend ofpop standards andadult contemporary tunes, often described asmiddle of the road music (MOR). WOR played several songs per hour weekday mornings from 6 am to 9 am, and again afternoons from 3 pm to 6 pm. WOR also featured music on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
In ratings reports, WOR was classified as an "MOR/Talk" station until 1984. From 1983 to about 1985, WOR gradually eliminated music altogether, evolving into its current talk format.
Past notable hosts includeEd and Pegeen Fitzgerald,Arlene Francis,Long John Nebel,Peter Lind Hayes andMary Healy,Bernard Meltzer,Barry Farber,Jean Shepherd,Bob and Ray,Bob Grant andGene Klavan. From April 15, 1945, to March 21, 1963, newspaper columnistDorothy Kilgallen and her husbandDick Kollmar co-hosted a late morning show on WOR calledBreakfast With Dorothy and Dick.[15]
WOR's morning showRambling with Gambling aired every weekday morning on the station, from March 1925 to September 2000, across three generations of hosts:John B. Gambling, his sonJohn A. Gambling, and his grandsonJohn R. Gambling. After John R. Gambling's edition of the show was dropped, he moved to 770WABC, where he hosted a late-morning show until January 2008. He returned to WOR mornings in May 2008. Although never aimed at young listeners, WOR was this group's radio station of record in the New York metropolitan area during bad winter weather. Students of all ages dialed up 710 AM on their radios as the Gamblings dutifully announced a comprehensive list of school closings for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, in strict alphabetical order. John R. Gambling later hosted middays on 970 WNYM for several years, after retiring from WOR in December 2013.
For many years the station aired detailed, 15-minute news reports on the hour. NewscastersHenry Gladstone,[16] Harry Hennessey, Jack Allen, John Wingate, Lyle Vann, Peter Roberts, Ed Walsh, Shelly Strickler, Sam Hall and Roger Skibenes were some of the on-air members of the news department. WOR introduced live, on-air, helicopter traffic reports with pilot-reporters "Fearless" Fred Feldman and George Meade. On January 10, 1969, fill-in pilot/reporter Frank McDermott died when the WOR helicopter crashed into an apartment building inAstoria, Queens as he was broadcasting a traffic update. The building caught fire and McDermott's body was found nearby.[17]
Beginning in October 2011, WOR extended its partnership withNBC News beyond hourly national news updates to include live simulcasts ofNBC Nightly News andMeet the Press.[18]
Beginning in 1935, WOR's transmitter was in Carteret, New Jersey. The site used two steel lattice towers and a steel cable as a third radiating element. The cable hung from a catenary connected to the top of each of the towers. This created a lopsided figure-8 pattern intended to cover both the New York City and Philadelphia markets, making WOR the first 50,000 wattdirectional station in the U.S. Over the years, construction affected WOR's signal strength and WOR sought a new location. Circa 1966, theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) issued aconstruction permit for a new location inLyndhurst, New Jersey. That location features three full half-wave (692 feet) guyed antennas in a triangular array. WOR was within one mile of bothAM 1190WLIB andAM 1010WINS. Thus each WOR tower hosted AM detuning apparatus to prevent adverse distortion of WINS and WLIB radiation patterns. Built on hydraulic landfill, the site provides excellent ground conductivity for daytime groundwave radiation.
At night when conditions are favorable, WOR could be picked up, using very sensitive radio receivers, in parts of Europe and Africa. It sharesclass A status on 710 kHz withKIRO inSeattle. WOR and KIRO must protect each other against interference by using directional antennas. On September 8, 2006, WOR moved its transmitter a short distance toRutherford, New Jersey, near the Western Spur of theNew Jersey Turnpike.[19]
On August 13, 2012, it was announced that WOR was to be purchased by Clear Channel Communications (nowiHeartMedia), pending FCC approval.[20] Alocal marketing agreement began on August 15. On December 20, the day Clear Channel officially took ownership of the station,TheDr. Joy Browne Show,TheGov. David Paterson Show, andTheMike Huckabee Show were removed from the WOR program schedule.[21]
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On January 2, 2013, WOR added former WABC weekend host Mark Simone to its weekday morning line up.[22] WOR offers ten hours of live and local programming on weekdays, with syndicated programs heard the rest of the day. Weekends feature mostly paidbrokered programming on health, money, real estate and other topics.
In late 2014, after WOR cancelled thehot talkElliot in the Morning show, simulcast from iHeartalternative rock stationWWDC in Washington, D.C., formerWNBC sportscasterLen Berman andTampa Bay area radio hostTodd Schnitt were hired as the station's morning hosts. Schnitt left WOR in October 2017, while Berman continued with guest co-hosts in the 6 am–10 am slot. A new co-host, NY Post Broadway columnist,Michael Riedel, was added in 2018. Riedel had been a regular contributor to the "Imus In the Morning" show.[citation needed]
On January 1, 2014, both theRush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity shows were transferred from rival talk radio station WABC, owned byCumulus Media. Since Premiere Networks, owned by iHeartMedia, syndicates both shows, the shows were brought in-house to WOR to boost the station's ratings and retain revenue.[23] Limbaugh died in February 2021, and the show was succeeded by the duo ofClay Travis and Buck Sexton in June 2021.
On November 4, 2013, WOR and theNew York Mets announced the team's games would be broadcast on 710 AM, as well as advertised on all local Clear Channel radio stations, beginning with the 2014 baseball season.[24] To act as a lead-in to the Mets, sportscaster Pete McCarthy was given an early evening show called "The Sports Zone".
The relationship with the Mets lasted through the 2018 season, after which the team announced a new seven-year agreement with Entercom to air games onWCBS 880.[25] McCarthy's show was also discontinued.[26]
WOR was once theflagship station of the now-defunct WOR Radio Network. The network distributed nationally syndicated programming, all from the WOR studios at 111 Broadway in New York. Following the sale of WOR to Clear Channel Communications, what was left of the WOR Radio Network was folded into Premiere Networks, Clear Channel's syndication wing.
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Past notable WOR program hosts and newscasters included these personalities.
The Airwaves of New York: Illustrated Histories of 156 AM Stations in the Metropolitan Area, 1921-1996 by Bill Jaker, Frank Sulek and Peter Kanze, 1998.
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