WBBR

WBBR (1130 AM) is a clear-channel radio station licensed to New York, New York, United States. It serves as the flagship station of Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg L.P.'s radio service. The station offers general and financial news reports 24-hours a day, along with local information and interviews with corporate executives, economists, and industry analysts.

WBBR broadcasts with 50,000 watts, the maximum authorized power for AM stations, from a four-tower antenna array located in Carlstadt, New Jersey. A single tower is used during the day, at night, power is fed to all four towers in a directional pattern to protect KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana, the other Class A station at 1130 AM. Even with this restriction, it can be heard across much of the Eastern United States and Canada, but is strongest in the Northeast. Studios are located at 731 Lexington Avenue ("Bloomberg Tower") in Midtown Manhattan.

History

Early years as WNEW: 1930s–1940s

WNEW was created by consolidation of two existing New York City-area stations that were sharing time on 1250 kHz: WAAM in Newark, New Jersey, and WODA in Paterson, New Jersey. WAAM was first licensed on April 10, 1922, to the I. R. Nelson Company in Newark. WODA was initially licensed in April 1925, to the James K O'Dea Radio and Victrola Shop, 115 Ellison Street in Paterson.

WNEW debuted February 13, 1934, as "New York's newest radio station", and with new call sign representing its city of license, NEWark, NEW Jersey. The station had rights to 6/7ths time, with the other 1/7th time assigned to WHBI. WNEW was known for its popular adult music selection as well as its staff of radio personalities (including Martin Block, Dee Finch, Gene Rayburn, Gene Klavan, Al "Jazzbo" Collins, Ted Brown and William B. Williams), as well as for developing modern morning radio. In addition to its music and entertainment programming, WNEW featured an award-winning news staff and became "The Voice of New York Sports" for its coverage of New York Giants football team as well as the New York Rangers hockey and New York Knicks basketball. The new owners moved the license to New York City, though for all intents and purposes it had been a New York City station since its launch.

As an independent radio station, WNEW lacked the funds larger networks National Broadcasting Company, Columbia Broadcasting System and Mutual Broadcasting System used to produce daily programming, such as comedy shows, soap operas, game shows and dramatic programs. However, Judis was not discouraged, and welcomed the opportunity to develop her own schedule of innovative programming that included creating the first all-night radio show, dubbed Stan Shaw's Milkman's Matinee, and cultivating a line-up of popular morning radio show personalities.]]

In 1935, WNEW pioneered the concept of a disc jockey when staff announcer Martin Block needed to fill time between news bulletins during his coverage of the Lindbergh kidnapping trial of Bruno Hauptmann. Block did not have access to a live orchestra to play music during the breaks as most network stations did, so he played records instead. Soon afterward, he piloted a 15-minute experimental show called the Make Believe Ballroom, during which he played records from popular bands and singers, posed as a live performance in an imaginary ballroom. During Block's tenure as host of Make Believe Ballroom, the show attracted 25% of the listening audience in New York City. The show continued in sporadic runs until the station's end in 1992. On March 29, 1941, the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) went into effect, which moved the stations on 1250 kHz to 1280 kHz, with WNEW now authorized for 5,000 watts both day and night.

November 12, 1941, call letter swap between WNEW and WOV

In late 1941, stations WNEW and WOV traded identities, with the call letters and programming of WOV moving from 1130 to WNEW's 1280 kHz assignment, while WNEW did the reverse, with its call letters and programming moving from 1280 to WOV's 1130 kHz assignment. The FCC approved the call sign changes on November 12, 1941, and the transfer was finalized on December 1, 1941, consisting of an "exchange of power, call letters and transmitting equipment between WOV and WNEW". Thus, following this exchange, the WNEW call letters were now used on the station at 1130 kHz, with a boost to 10,000 watts full-time.

In 1942, Judis set up a broadcast desk at the New York Daily News and WNEW became one of the first stations to carry hourly newscasts, something that would become commonplace in the industry over the next 15 years.

1950s

thumb|[[Boris Karloff hosted a weekly children's radio program on WNEW in the early 1950s. The program also became popular with adults.]]

WNEW was acquired in March 1954, by a group led by Richard D. Buckley, the future founder of Buckley Broadcasting. Less than eighteen months later, in October 1955, the station changed hands again with Buckley joining two new partners, television producer and investor Jack Wrather and banker John L. Loeb. Then, in March 1957, WNEW was purchased by the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation, the former owner of the DuMont Television Network; the sale to DuMont made WNEW a sister station to former DuMont network flagship WABD (channel 5). The TV station changed its call letters to WNEW-TV in 1958, and DuMont Broadcasting would later evolve into Metromedia.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, WNEW's programming was largely based on a personality-driven format, with a line-up of DJs who were ground-breaking at the time. Comedian Dee Finch teamed up with Gene Rayburn, and later Gene Klavan, on the long-running morning show Anything Goes. It often playfully mocked its own advertisers, who in turn were still eager to have their products touted on the popular show. Still, the station played a couple standards per hour and a big band song every few hours but also played many soft to mid-tempo top 40 hits one would not expect to hear on a MOR station. WNEW was classified by trade publications as Adult Contemporary and Pop Adult. Many of the current songs were AC only hits. Also, WNEW played a moderate amount of 50s and 60s rock and roll artists, along with some Motown hits. WNEW also had "Million Dollar Weekends" focusing on oldies from the 50s and 60s along with an occasional standard.

With FM radio taking a larger share of young listeners, WNEW as an AM station opted to return to its roots in pop standards in 1976, reinstating Milkman's Matinee on overnights. In October 1979, Make Believe Ballroom was reinstated in middays. Initially, the station mixed in additional big bands and standards in with the AC format. In 1980, WNEW slowly began reducing AC hits. Later in the fall, the station went to all big bands and standards with the exception of morning and afternoon drive times. Million Dollar Weekends also became strictly Standards and Big Bands. In January 1981 WNEW converted to big bands and standards 24 hours a day and deepened the selection of songs.

Even with new additions to programming such as Larry King's overnight radio show, the station's ratings continued to decline. Westwood One was forced to cut costs and downsize staff in an effort to attract potential buyers. Ahead of this shift, WBBR, which had largely operated off of a hard drive since its 1993 launch, moved to a live presentation from 6am to 6pm; it also hired several former WCBS and WINS staffers, with morning drive being co-anchored by former WCBS anchor Ben Farnsworth. By March 2002, WBBR's programming during non-market hours began to emphasize talk shows, with hosts that included Caroline Baum, Ellis Henican, Jim Cramer, and Ed Koch.

References

External links

This card set starts with WNEW's creation in 1934, as a consolidation of WODA and WAAM, which was eventually assigned to AM 1280. On November 12, 1941, the WNEW call letters were swapped to AM 1130, while AM 1280 became WOV. Still later, on November 1, 1959, this station on AM 1280 became WADO.
This card set starts with formation of "new" WOV, a consolidation of "old" WOV, WPG and WBIL, which was eventually assigned to AM 1130. On November 12, 1941, the WOV call letters were swapped to AM 1280, while AM 1130 became WNEW. Still later, in 1992, this station on AM 1130 became WBBR. (Guide to reading History Cards)