Monday, July 25, 2011

660 kc New York City

On July 25th in In 1922, AT&T began broadcasting on radio station WBAY New York City, the predecessor of WEAF, WNBC, WRCA and the current WFAN. AT&T broadcast assets within a few years were early NBC properties. August 16, AT&T radio station WBAY becomes WEAF (New York City) ...Another post indicates that on September 1, 1922 The first daily news program on radio was "The Radio Digest", on WBAY radio. The program, hosted by George F. Thompson, the program’s editor, originated from New York City. WWW.OLDRADIO.COM states: The broadcasting industry in the United States was originally regulated by the Department of Commerce. Initially all stations shared a single entertainment wavelength of 360 meters -- roughly 833 kilohertz. (Note: From December, 1921 to May 15, 1923 many stations were also authorized use of 485 meters -- 619 khz -- for broadcasting Market and Weather reports. These authorizations are not included in the charts, because they were of limited importance and would make the charts too complicated). In the congested New York area the single wavelength meant that complicated, and hard fought, timesharing agreements had to be negotiated. In late September of 1922, a second entertainment wavelength of 400 meters (750 khz) was assigned for better quality, higher powered stations. Stations on the new wavelength were designated "Class B" outlets, while those on 360 became known as "Class A" stations. About thirty stations nationwide would eventually qualify to use 400 meters, including, among stations reviewed in the charts, WBAY, WEAF, WOR and WHAZ. Wikipedia indicates the 660 AM frequency in New York originated as WEAF on March 2, 1922, owned by AT&T. In 1926, WEAF became the flagship station of the NBC Red Network, one of two radio chains operated by the National Broadcasting Company. By 1928, WEAF was purchased by NBC's parent company, the Radio Corporation of America.
As a result of the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement of 1941, WEAF became a clear-channel station and could be heard across most of the eastern half of North America at night. In 1943, the United States Supreme Court, citing antitrust concerns, ordered RCA to sell off one of its radio networks. The company decided to keep the Red Network, and it was rebranded as the NBC Radio Network after the Blue Network was divested to Edward J. Noble.
WEAF's call letters were changed to WNBC in 1946, then to WRCA in 1954, and back to WNBC in 1960. During the 1960s, WNBC relied less on network programming and adopted a talk format, followed by a switch to a middle-of-the-road music sound. The station spent much of the 1970s and early 1980s flipping between the Top 40 and adult contemporary formats, with varying success. By the middle of the 1980s, WNBC played less music and relied more on personality-driven talk programs with hosts such as Don Imus, Howard Stern, Joey Reynolds, Alan Colmes, and Soupy Sales.

Wikipedia WFAN History | Wikipedia NBC History

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