WMYF (Portsmouth, New Hampshire)

Last updated
WMYF
WMYF new logo.png
Final logo as "Classic Country 1380"
Broadcast area Seacoast Region
Frequency 1380 kHz
Programming
Format Defunct
Ownership
Owner
WERZ, WHEB, WPKX, WQSO, WTBU
History
First air date
December 5, 1960 (as WBBX) [1]
Last air date
December 9, 2015
Former call signs
  • WBBX (1960–1985)
  • WAVI (1985–1987)
  • WQMI (1987–1989)
  • WCQL (1989–1995)
  • WTMN (1995–1998)
  • WMYF (1998–2016)
  • WMGE (2016; unused on air)
  • WPLA (2016–2017; unused on air)
Technical information
Facility ID 35217
Class B
Power 1,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
 43°3′48″N70°47′9″W / 43.06333°N 70.78583°W / 43.06333; -70.78583 (WPLA)

WMYF (1380 AM) was the call sign assigned from 1998 to 2016, and the last call sign used on the air, for radio station WPLA in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States. The station, which was established in 1960 as WBBX and operated until 2015, served the Seacoast Region. The station was last owned by iHeartMedia. [2] Following call sign changes to WMGE and WPLA—both transferred other iHeartMedia stations, and never used on the air—the station's license was canceled in June 2017.

Contents

History

Seacoast Broadcasting Corporation was granted a construction permit for a new station on 1380 kHz in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on June 15, 1960, and was assigned the call sign WBBX on June 27. [3] WBBX went on the air December 5, 1960. [1] The station affiliated with ABC Radio in April 1963; [4] in January 1965, WBBX became part of the New Hampshire State Network, which also included WKBK in Keene, WEMJ in Laconia, and WFEA in Manchester. [5]

Sportscaster Curt Gowdy bought WBBX for $316,000 in 1969, adding it to a broadcast group that already included WCCM AM-FM in Lawrence, Massachusetts; KOWB in Laramie, Wyoming; and a minority interest in KFBC AM-TV in Cheyenne, Wyoming, KSTF in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and KTVS in Sterling, Colorado. [6] Under Gowdy, the station programmed contemporary music, with national news supplied by ABC's Information network. [7] Gowdy sold WBBX to J. Harrison Holman's Kressman Broadcasting for $590,000 in 1977; [8] Kressman, in turn, sold it to Earl and Lois Goldstein's Seacoast Broadcasting Company three years later in a $550,000 deal. [9] By 1983, WBBX had moved to an adult contemporary format, with news now being supplied by ABC's Contemporary network. [10]

The Goldsteins sold WBBX to Portsmouth Broadcasting Corporation for $485,000 in 1985; principals David and Robert Sassler owned WARE in Ware, Massachusetts. [11] The new owners changed the call sign to WAVI on May 17, 1985, [12] and moved the station to an oldies format; its network affiliation shifted to the ABC Direction Network. [13]

WAVI was silent by 1987, when Ware Communications—by this point owned by Richard L. Sadowsky, who also held a stake in the Precht Communications television station group—sold the station to Windward Communications for $325,000; principal Richard Walsh owned WQMI in York Center, Maine; WQZN and WABK-FM in Gardiner, Maine; and WPNH AM-FM in Plymouth. [14] [15] Windward changed the call sign to WQMI on July 23, 1987, [12] again programming an oldies format. [16] WQMI and WQMI-FM were sold to Sunshine Group Broadcasting, owner of WGAN and WMGX in Portland, Maine; WFEA and WZID in Manchester; and WIXY and WAQY in Springfield, Massachusetts, for $3.1 million in 1989; [16] Sunshine renamed the station WCQL on March 13, 1989, [12] with oldies being supplemented with NBC Talknet programming. [17] Talk programming was dropped in October 1991 in favor of a full-time simulcast of WCQL-FM's oldies programming; [18] in January 1992, the station broke from this simulcast to become a sports radio station. [19] That November, WCQL and WCQL-FM turned their ad sales over to WZNN and WWEM, effectively becoming part of a five-station group in the Portsmouth market that also included the newly-launched WXBB. [20]

WMYF's logo under "The Greatest Music Ever Made" branding Wmyf logo.png
WMYF's logo under "The Greatest Music Ever Made" branding

Sunshine Group Broadcasting sold WCQL and WCQL-FM to Knight Quality Stations for $16 million in 1994; the deal added the stations to an eight-station group that included WHEB in Portsmouth. [21] Knight changed WCQL's call sign to WTMN on February 19, 1995. [12] Knight Quality Stations announced the sale of its eight New England radio stations, including WTMN, to Capstar Broadcasting Partners in April 1997; [22] upon assuming control in January 1998, the stations were operated by Capstar's Atlantic Star Communications subsidiary. [23] Capstar replaced WTMN's One-on-One Sports programming with Christmas music in December 1998, as part of a transition to the adult standards programming that had recently been dropped by WMYF (1540 AM); [24] the WMYF call sign, for "Music of Your Life", moved to this station on December 1. [12] [25]

Capstar and Chancellor Media announced in August 1998 that they would merge (Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst was a major shareholder in both companies); [26] upon the merger's completion in July 1999, the combined company was named AMFM Inc. [27] AMFM was in turn acquired by Clear Channel Communications (forerunner to iHeartMedia) in a deal announced on October 4, 1999, [28] and completed in August 2000. [29]

On November 22, 2010, WMYF changed its format from adult standards to sports, branded as "The Sports Animal" and featuring ESPN Radio programming. [30] WMYF's lineup also included Portland Sea Dogs baseball games. [31] As of October 1, 2013, WMYF had returned to a standards format, with sports programming continuing on sister station WPKX (the former WZNN); [32] by 2015, the station was playing classic country music. [33]

WMYF went silent on December 9, 2015, [34] after losing its transmitter site. [35] The station's programming continued to be available online at its website. [33]

The call sign was changed to WMGE on September 16, 2016, [12] taking on the former call sign of an iHeart station in Miami, [36] and to WPLA on December 14, 2016, [12] swapping with a sister station in Georgia. [37] On May 17, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission informed WPLA that it was in the process of cancelling the station's license for not returning to the air within a year of going silent; [38] the license was canceled on June 29, 2017. [39] The closure of the station, following the 1991 shutdown of WHEB (750 AM), left the city of Portsmouth without any AM radio stations. [33]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWRI (AM)</span> Radio station in West Warwick, Rhode Island

WWRI is a radio station licensed to West Warwick, Rhode Island, and serving the Providence metropolitan area. The station is owned by Chris DiPaola, through licensee DiPonti Communications, LLC, and broadcasts a classic rock radio format.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WBIG-FM</span> Classic rock radio station in Washington, D.C.

WBIG-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Washington, D.C. It has a classic rock radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are in Rockville, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WSNE-FM</span> Radio station in Massachusetts, United States

WSNE-FM is a commercial radio station, licensed to Taunton, Massachusetts, and serving Southeastern Massachusetts and the Providence, Rhode Island, area. It broadcasts a hot adult contemporary radio format branded as Now 93.3, and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The radio studios and offices are on Oxford Street in Providence. The station carries the syndicated On Air with Ryan Seacrest in afternoons. Several of the other shifts are voicetracked by DJs working at other iHeart stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WSRS</span> Radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts

WSRS – branded 96-1 SRS – is a commercial radio station licensed to Worcester, Massachusetts, and serving Central Massachusetts. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., the transmitter site and studios are located in the Worcester suburb of Paxton. WSRS broadcasts an adult contemporary radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. The station is the local network affiliate for the Delilah and Ellen K programs.

WKHL is a non-commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Palmyra, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Educational Media Foundation and is an affiliate of K-LOVE, EMF's contemporary Christian music network.

WNNK-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Owned by Cumulus Media it carries a hot adult contemporary format. The station's studios are on Vartan Way in Harrisburg, with its transmitter atop Blue Mountain in East Pennsboro Township.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WAEB (AM)</span> Radio station in Allentown, Pennsylvania

WAEB is a news, talk and sports AM radio station in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WUCS</span> Radio station in Windsor Locks, Connecticut

WUCS is a commercial sports formatted radio station licensed to Windsor Locks, Connecticut. It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and serves as the Hartford media market's ESPN Radio network affiliate, whose signal reaches Bristol, where the ESPN Inc. headquarters are located. The station broadcasts from studios and offices are located on Columbus Boulevard in Hartford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WGIR (AM)</span> Radio station in Manchester, New Hampshire

WGIR is a commercial AM radio station in Manchester, New Hampshire with a news/talk radio format. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. WGIR's studios and offices are on Foundry Street in Manchester. Much of the programming and news, but not the commercials, can be heard on co-owned WQSO 96.7 MHz in Rochester, serving the New Hampshire Seacoast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WPKX (AM)</span> Radio station in Rochester, New Hampshire

WPKX is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Rochester, New Hampshire, that broadcasts a sports radio format, largely supplied from Fox Sports Radio. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and serves the Portsmouth-Dover-Rochester media market, also heard in Southern Maine. WPKX broadcasts at 5000 watts around the clock from a transmitter off Route 108 in Rochester. To protect other stations on 930 kHz, WPKX uses a directional antenna at night.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WVEI-FM</span> Radio station in Westerly, Rhode Island

WVEI-FM is a radio station broadcasting a sports radio format, largely simulcasting Boston-based WEEI-FM. Licensed to Westerly, Rhode Island, United States. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. In addition to WEEI programming, WVEI-FM carries Providence Friars men's basketball, Boston Bruins hockey, and ESPN Radio. Its transmitter is in Exeter, Rhode Island, but due to it being mostly a simulcast, its operations are run out of WEEI-FM's studios in Boston's Brighton neighborhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WEEX</span> Radio station in Easton, Pennsylvania

WEEX is a radio station in Easton, Pennsylvania, owned by Cumulus Media through licensee Radio License Holding CBC, LLC. The station airs a sports radio format branded as "Fox Sports Lehigh Valley", carrying the Fox Sports Radio network. It is also the flagship radio station for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs minor league baseball team and Lehigh University Athletics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WODZ-FM</span> Radio station in Rome, New York

WODZ-FM, branded as "The Eagle", is a radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to Rome, New York, United States, the station serves the Utica-Rome market. The station is owned by Townsquare Media as part of a cluster with news-talk station WIBX, classic rock-formatted WOUR, hot AC-formatted WLZW, and country-formatted WFRG.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WKAL</span> Radio station in Rome, New York

WKAL is a radio station licensed to Rome, New York, United States, and serving the Utica-Rome-Syracuse radio market. The station is owned by Tune In Broadcasting, LLC, a company based in Santa Clarita, California. It broadcasts a talk radio format, with an emphasis toward Rome-area sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WJMP (AM)</span> Radio station in Plattsburgh, New York

WJMP is an AM radio station broadcasting a classic hip hop format. Licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, United States, the station serves the Champlain Valley, including Burlington, Vermont. The station is owned by Loud Media. WJMP's programming is also heard on translator station W279DE in Plattsburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WEEY</span> Radio station in Swanzey, New Hampshire

WEEY is a radio station licensed to serve Swanzey, New Hampshire. The station is owned by Great Eastern Radio, LLC and serves as the Keene affiliate for WEEI-FM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WZBR</span> Radio station in Dedham, Massachusetts

WZBR is a radio station that is silent. Licensed to Dedham, Massachusetts, United States, the station serves the Greater Boston area. The station is owned by Langer Broadcasting Group, LLC, which also owns WSRO in the area. WZBR also operates translator station W251CR in Medford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WQVD</span> Radio station in Orange–Athol, Massachusetts

WQVD is a radio station licensed to serve Orange–Athol, Massachusetts, United States. The station is owned by Kurt Jackson's Hampden Communications Co. It broadcasts a classic country radio format, under the "92.3 The Outlaw" branding.

WAKC is an American licensed radio station in Concord, New Hampshire. The station is owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) and is part of its K-Love network of contemporary Christian music outlets. EMF also owns WLKC in Campton, serving the White Mountains and Lakes Region.

WPKC is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Exeter, New Hampshire, and covering the New Hampshire Seacoast region and Southern Maine. The station's format is contemporary Christian music, supplied from the K-Love network. The station's license is held by the Educational Media Foundation. The station simulcasts its sister station, 92.1 WPKC-FM in Sanford, Maine. In addition, WPKC operates two FM translators: W246BP in Exeter, and W298CU (107.5) in Chester.

References

  1. 1 2 Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1999 (PDF). 1999. p. D-282. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  2. ↑ "WPLA Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. ↑ "WBBX (WPLA) history cards" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission . Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  4. ↑ "ABC Radio announces 12 new affiliations" (PDF). Broadcasting . April 22, 1963. p. 66. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Four N.H. AM's band, name Segal, Stone" (PDF). Broadcasting . January 11, 1965. p. 63. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting . December 3, 1969. p. 42. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  7. ↑ 1973 Broadcasting Yearbook (PDF). 1973. p. B-126. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting . July 4, 1977. p. 29. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  9. ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting . September 29, 1980. p. 58. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  10. ↑ Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1984 (PDF). 1984. p. B-163. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting . February 4, 1985. p. 83. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "WPLA Call Sign History". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  13. ↑ Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1984 (PDF). 1986. p. B-180. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting . April 13, 1987. p. 85. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  15. ↑ "JACOR, Shamrock Score Denver Combos" (PDF). Radio & Records . April 17, 1987. p. 12. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  16. 1 2 "Santa Brings In Big Bagful Of Holiday Season Deals" (PDF). Radio & Records . January 6, 1989. p. 12. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  17. ↑ The Broadcasting Yearbook 1990 (PDF). 1990. p. B-199. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Format Changes" (PDF). The M Street Journal. October 7, 1991. p. 1. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Format Changes" (PDF). The M Street Journal. January 6, 1992. p. 1. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Elsewhere" (PDF). The M Street Journal. November 4, 1992. p. 8. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Sillerman Doubles In San Diego With $17 Million For KYXY" (PDF). Radio & Records . April 6, 1994. pp. 6, 8. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  22. ↑ "Cash-Rich Capstar Continues Capitalization" (PDF). Radio & Records . April 25, 1997. p. 6. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  23. ↑ "Capstar buys New England radio stations". Austin Business Journal . January 9, 1998. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  24. ↑ Fybush, Scott (December 11, 1998). "Big Apple's Big Changes, and, We Visit The Midwest". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  25. ↑ "Call Letter Changes" (PDF). The M Street Journal. December 9, 1998. p. 6. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  26. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (August 28, 1998). "Chancellor, Capstar ink merger". Variety . Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  27. ↑ "Chancellor/Capstar merger creates AMFM Inc". Austin Business Journal . July 13, 1999. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  28. ↑ "Clear Channel, AMFM deal". CNN Money . October 4, 1999. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  29. ↑ Variety Staff (August 30, 2000). "Clear Channel brings AMFM into focus". Variety. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  30. ↑ Fybush, Scott (November 29, 2010). "Entercom to Buy Phoenix's WFNX?". NorthEast Radio Watch. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  31. ↑ Fybush, Scott (April 4, 2011). "NERW Special: Baseball on the Radio". NorthEast Radio Watch. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  32. ↑ Fybush, Scott (December 16, 2013). "NERW 12/16/2013: Lee's Research Prompts B101 Rebranding". Fybush.com. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  33. 1 2 3 Fybush, Scott (December 14, 2015). "NERW 12/14/2015: Ugly CH-CH-Changes in Hamilton". Fybush.com. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  34. ↑ "Station Search Details".
  35. ↑ "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. December 10, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
  36. ↑ Fybush, Scott (October 17, 2016). "NERW 10/17/2016: WNRI Survives Midnight SUV Crash". Fybush.com. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  37. ↑ Fybush, Scott (December 19, 2016). "NERW 12/19/2016: NBC Boston Adds Third Signal". Fybush.com. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  38. ↑ Doyle, Peter H. (May 17, 2017). "Notification of License Expiration" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission . Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  39. ↑ "Broadcast Actions" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. July 5, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2017.


Radio svg icon.svg Flag of New Hampshire.svg

This article about a radio station in New Hampshire is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.