With studio on the 6th floor and showy antenna on the roof on its Newark store, Bamberger's launched WOR to sell more radios.
Bamberger's Department Store
WOR's original owner was Bamberger's Department Store in Newark, 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, the U.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 original city 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-watt De 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 a megaphone to a telephone mouthpiece. Al Jolson's "April Showers" was the first record played on WOR.[6]
750 to 710 kHz
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 by The Jersey Journal newspaper in Jersey City; and WDT, owned by the Ship Owners Radio Service in the Stapleton section of Staten 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 (750kHz), for "Class B" stations that had quality equipment and programming.[9] In the New York City region, WOR, along with two New York City American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) stations, WBAY and WEAF (now WFAN), 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 740kHz, 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, the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) moved WOR to 710kHz, which it has occupied ever since. On November 11, 1928, under the provisions of the FRC's General Order 40, this assignment was designated a "clear channel" frequency, with WOR the dominant station.
Manhattan studios and Mutual Broadcasting
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 from Times Square.
WOR was a charter member of the CBS Radio Network (CBS), acting as the flagship 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 station WGN, and Cincinnati radio station WLW, formed the Mutual 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" with Fulton Lewis for 15 minutes each evening, Monday–Friday at 7:00p.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 the Financial 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 in Tribeca.
FM and TV stations
In 1941, WOR put an FM radio station, W71NY, on the air. WOR had been experimenting with FM broadcasts as W2XWI from its Carteret, New Jersey, transmitter site from 1938. For most of its first two decades, W71NY, later WOR-FM, largely simulcast the same programming as WOR. In 1949, WOR signed on a sister television station, Channel 9 WOR-TV. It started as an independent 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 to RKO General. The TV station later became WWOR-TV, relocated to Secaucus, 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 is WEPN-FM.
Full service radio to talk
From the 1930s to the early 1980s, WOR was described as a full 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 of pop standards and adult contemporary tunes, often described as middle of the road music (MOR). WOR played several songs per hour weekday mornings from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and again afternoons from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. 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.
WOR's morning show Rambling with Gambling aired every weekday morning on the station, from March 1925 to September 2000, across three generations of hosts: John B. Gambling, his son John A. Gambling, and his grandson John R. Gambling. After John R. Gambling's edition of the show was dropped, he moved to 770 WABC, 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.
News department
For many years the station aired detailed, 15-minute news reports on the hour. Newscasters Henry 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. Joe Bartlett is WOR's current news director and morning news anchor, having held that position since 1986. 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 in Astoria, 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 with NBC News beyond hourly national news updates to include live simulcasts of NBC Nightly News and Meet the Press.[18]
New Jersey transmitters
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 watt directional station in the U.S. Over the years, construction affected WOR's signal strength and WOR sought a new location. Circa 1966, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a construction permit for a new location in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. That location features three full half-wave (692 feet) guyed antennas in a triangular array. WOR was within one mile of both AM 1190WLIB and AM 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 shares Class A status on 710kHz with KIRO in Seattle. WOR and KIRO must protect each other against interference by using directional antennas. On September 8, 2006, WOR moved its transmitter a short distance to Rutherford, New Jersey, near the Western Spur of the New Jersey Turnpike.[19]
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 paid brokered programming on health, money, real estate and other topics.
In late 2014, after WOR cancelled the hot talkElliot in the Morning show, simulcast from iHeart alternative rock station WWDC in Washington, D.C., former WNBC sportscaster Len Berman and Tampa Bay area radio host Todd Schnitt were hired as the station's morning hosts. Schnitt left WOR in October 2017, while Berman continued with guest co-hosts in the 6:00a.m.–10:00a.m. 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 the Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity shows were transferred from rival talk radio station WABC, owned by Cumulus 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 of Clay Travis and Buck Sexton in June 2021.
Mets baseball
On November 4, 2013, WOR and the New 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 on WCBS 880.[25] McCarthy's show was also discontinued.[26]
WOR was once the flagship 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.
KFI is a radio station in Los Angeles, California, owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. It began operations in 1922 and became one of the first high-powered, clear-channel Class A stations. It was the first U.S. station west of Chicago to broadcast at 50,000 watts.
WTVN – branded as "News Radio 610 WTVN" – is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Columbus, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station serves the Columbus metro area. The WTVN studios area located in the McKinley Avenue Corridor northwest of Downtown Columbus, and its transmitter site is near Obetz. In addition to a standard analog transmission, the station simulcasts over the HD digital subchannel of co-owned 93.3 WODC, and streams online via iHeartRadio. WTVN began broadcasting in HD Radio in June 2005, but the in-band on-channel subcarrier was discontinued by 2015.
WABC is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a conservative talk radio format known as "Talkradio 77". Owned by John Catsimatidis' Red Apple Media, the station's studios are located in Red Apple Media headquarters on Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and its transmitter is in Lodi, New Jersey. Its 50,000-watt non-directional clear channel signal can be heard at night throughout much of the Eastern United States and Canada. It is the primary entry point for the Emergency Alert System in the New York metropolitan area and New Jersey. WABC simulcasts on WLIR-FM in Hampton Bays, New York, on eastern Long Island.
WNYW is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship WWOR-TV. The two stations share studios at the Fox Television Center on East 67th Street in Manhattan's Lenox Hill neighborhood; WNYW's transmitter is located at One World Trade Center.
WEPN-FM (98.7 MHz) branded as ESPN New York, is an all-sports radio station licensed to New York City. The station is owned by Emmis Communications and its operations are controlled by Good Karma Brands, under a local marketing agreement. The station's transmitter is located at the Empire State Building.
WFAN is a commercial radio station licensed to New York City, carrying a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New York metropolitan area while its 50,000-watt clear channel signal can be heard at night throughout much of the eastern United States and Canada. WFAN's studios are located in the Hudson Square neighborhood of lower Manhattan and its transmitter is located on High Island in the Bronx. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WFAN is simulcast over WFAN-FM, and is available online via Audacy.
WWOR-TV is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the flagship of the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW. The two stations share studios at the Fox Television Center on East 67th Street in Manhattan's Lenox Hill neighborhood; WWOR-TV's transmitter is located at One World Trade Center.
John Raymond Gambling is an American radio personality. He is the son of John A. Gambling and the grandson of John B. Gambling, and as such is, the third-generation host of The Gambling family's very-long-running New York morning radio show. Through most of its run the show has been titled Rambling with Gambling, iterations from 2008 to 2016 were instead branded as The John Gambling Show.
WRKO is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by iHeartMedia, WRKO is a Class B AM station that provides secondary coverage to portions of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine during the day, but is highly directional at night to protect a number of clear-channel stations on adjacent frequencies. WRKO serves as the Boston affiliate for ABC News Radio, Coast to Coast AM and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal; syndicated personalities Joe Pags, John Batchelor and Bill Cunningham; the flagship station of The Howie Carr Show, and the home of radio personality Jeff Kuhner. The WRKO studios are located in the Boston suburb of Medford, while the station transmitter resides in nearby Burlington. Besides its main analog transmission, WRKO simulcasts over the HD2 subchannel of sister station WZLX, and streams online via iHeartRadio.
WNYM – branded "AM 970 The Answer" – is a commercial radio station licensed to Hackensack, New Jersey, and serving the New York metropolitan area. The station is owned by Salem Media Group and programs a conservative talk radio format. Its studios are shared with co-owned WMCA on Broadway in Lower Manhattan.
CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It is the last of the three original national U.S. radio networks still operating and still owned by its parent company, even though CBS sold its owned and operated radio stations in 2017. The current NBC Radio Network is actually owned by iHeartMedia but licenses use of the NBC name and NBC's TV news reports.
WDSM is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Superior, Wisconsin, serving the Duluth-Superior area of Northeastern Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin. WDSM is owned and operated by Midwest Communications and broadcasts a sports radio format. The radio studios and offices for WDSM, KDAL, KDAL-FM, KDKE, WDUL and KTCO are at 11 East Superior Street, Suite 380, in downtown Duluth.
KGNC is an AM radio broadcast station in Amarillo, Texas, United States with a news/talk format. The station is owned by Alpha Media LLC. Studios for KGNC and its partners are located in southwest Amarillo near the former Western Plaza shopping center. KGNC's programming is also broadcast on 97.5 FM by translator K248DE in Amarillo.
WHJJ is a commercial radio station in Providence, Rhode Island. It carries a talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are on Oxford Street in Providence.
KTRH is a commercial radio station licensed to Houston, Texas. It airs a news/talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. Its studios are along the West Loop Freeway (I-610) in the city's Uptown district. The transmitter site, a four-tower array, is in unincorporated Liberty County, off Cox Road in Dayton. KTRH is one of the oldest radio stations in the United States, first licensed to Austin on April 22, 1922. Programming is also heard on co-owned KODA's HD 2 subchannel at 99.1MHz, and on the iHeartRadio platform. KTRH is Southeast Texas' primary entry point station for the Emergency Alert System.
Rambling with Gambling was a news and talk radio program that aired in New York City from 1925 through 2016, almost uninterrupted, with one name change toward the end of its run. It was hosted by three generations of people named John Gambling throughout its entire 90+ year run.
Ted Steele was an American bandleader and host of several radio and television programs. He also held administrative positions at radio stations and had his own media-related businesses.
WJY was an AM radio station located in New York City, licensed to the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) from May 1923 to early 1927. It was operated jointly with RCA's primary New York City station, WJZ. After RCA took over operation of a third New York City station, WEAF, WJY was discontinued as being no longer needed.
WDT was a short-lived AM broadcasting station licensed to the Ship Owners Radio Service in New York City, which was issued its first license in December 1921, and deleted two years later.
WMGM-FM was a radio station in New York City, broadcasting at 100.3 MHz. It was owned by Loew's, Inc., a subsidiary of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio alongside radio station WMGM, which was previously WHN. One of New York's earliest FM outlets, WMGM-FM broadcast from 1942 to 1955.
References
↑ The WOR call sign had previously been assigned to the ship SS California of the Orient Lines. ("Ship stations", Radio Service Bulletin, February 1915, page 2.)
↑ "New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, March 1, 1922, page 2. Limited Commercial license with the call sign WOR, serial No. 297, issued for a three-month period to L. Bamberger & Company in Newark, New Jersey.
↑ "Radio Conference Recommendations: New Wave Lengths", Radio Age, May 1923, page 11. Beginning with these assignments, radio stations ended the practice of broadcasting their market reports and weather forecasts on the separate 485-meter wavelength.
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.
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.
