WWDJ

WWDJ
City Boston, Massachusetts
Broadcast area Greater Boston
Branding "Radio Luz 1150 AM"
Frequency 1150 kHz
First air date August 26, 1935 (1935-08-26)
(as WCOP)
Format Spanish Christian
Power 5,000 watts
Class B
Facility ID 25051
Transmitter coordinates 42°24′48.00″N 71°12′40.00″W / 42.4133333°N 71.2111111°W / 42.4133333; -71.2111111Coordinates: 42°24′48.00″N 71°12′40.00″W / 42.4133333°N 71.2111111°W / 42.4133333; -71.2111111
Callsign meaning "W-W-Disc Jockey"
Former callsigns WCOP (1935–1977)
WACQ (1977–1979)
WHUE (1979–1981)
WSNY (1981–1982)
WHUE (1982–1985)
WMEX (1985–1996)
WROR (1996)
WNFT (1996–1999)
WAMG (1999–2003)
WBPS (2003)
WTTT (2003–2008)
Former frequencies 1120 kHz (1935–1941)
Owner Salem Media Group
(Salem Communications Holding Corporation)
Sister stations WEZE, WROL
Webcast Listen live
Website www.radioluzboston.com

WWDJ (1150 AM, "Radio Luz") [Light Radio in Spanish] is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish Christian format. Licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, it serves the Boston metropolitan area. The station is owned by Salem Media Group.

History

WWDJ first signed on August 26, 1935[1] as WCOP (for the studio location, the COPley Plaza Hotel). Originally a daytime station, WCOP got the go-ahead to expand to 24-hour-a-day broadcasting in 1941. A In June 1945, it became Boston's home of the ABC Radio Network, an affiliation it would keep until the early 1950s. The station adopted a music format in 1956, and became one of the first stations in New England to utilize disk jockeys. In the late 1950s, one such DJ was Bob Wilson, who later became the radio play-by-play voice of the Boston Bruins hockey team.

After stints as Top-40 (1956–62), and middle-of-the-road (1962–68), WCOP switched to a country music format, and was an affiliate of NBC Radio Network (WCOP became an NBC affiliate in 1966, two years before the switch to country). In 1977, WCOP dropped NBC Radio, and flipped from country to top-40 under the call letters WACQ. The new format lasted only until the station was sold and new owners came in on January 1, 1979. At that time, WACQ and then-sister station WTTK (now WZLX) flipped to a partially simulcast beautiful music station as WHUE and WHUE-FM. Stints as an all-news station and a soft adult contemporary format under the call letters of WSNY followed. In 1985, the station became an oldies station under the well-known WMEX callsign, after a sale to Greater Media. Although enjoying some moderate success at first, WODS flipped to an oldies format in late 1987, and WMEX never recovered. By 1990, the oldies format was replaced by business talk; this gave way in 1991 to a simulcast of WMJX, and then to leased ethnic programming shortly afterwards.

After a brief stint with the WROR callsign (to hold it until it could be placed on 105.7 FM), the station became WNFT with the KidStar children's radio network on October 17, 1996. The network ceased operations in February 1997, at which time the station simulcasted first WKLB-FM (at that time on 96.9 FM, now WBQT), and, after a sale to American Radio Systems in May, WAAF (the simulcast switched on June 2). During its time simulcasting WAAF, it was noticed one day that WNFT was airing the rhythmic top 40 sound of WJMN instead. It turned out that a cleaning crew went into the station and decided to change the radio to a more desired station—and didn't know that they were actually changing what the station was re-broadcasting.

Mega Communications acquired the station in 1998, after CBS Radio, which merged with American Radio Systems shortly beforehand, was forced to sell WNFT to comply with FCC and Department of Justice regulations. After a period carrying the syndicated "The Touch" urban adult contemporary service, the station became WAMG with a tropical music format on December 1, 1998, and the following year, added a simulcast with WLLH in Lowell.[2] In 2003, the station was sold to Salem Communications, and then swapped call letters with 890 AM (which inherited the "Mega" format and the simulcast on WLLH) and became WBPS, which was retained until the sale went through. Later in the year, the station adopted a talk format and the WTTT call sign. Originally, this primarily consisted of conservative talk hosts from the Salem Radio Network, but in 2006 WTTT added Paul Harvey's news and commentary segments (which were dropped from WBZ at the conclusion of 2005) and Sean Hannity (who was previously airing overnights on tape delay on WTKK). In 2007, the station took on the moniker "Boston's Conservative Talk."

On January 28, 2008, WTTT discontinued the talk format and began stunting with a Spanish contemporary Christian music format. The station launched a Spanish-language Christian teaching/talk format on February 4, 2008. The station then became the Spanish-language flagship station for the Boston Red Sox, replacing sister station WROL.

On July 25, 2008, WTTT swapped call signs with sister station WWDJ in Hackensack, New Jersey (which shortly afterwards was renamed to WNYM).

References

  1. ↑ "The Boston Radio Timeline". The Archives @ BostonRadio.org. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
  2. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1998/RR-1998-12-04.pdf
  • "Archives at BostonRadio.org". The Boston Radio Dial: WTTT(AM). Retrieved November 4, 2005.
  • "History of WWDJ". Retrieved November 9, 2008.
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