WATX (1220
AM Stereo
Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...
; "Connecticut Gold") is a
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant". The population was 61,169 at the 2020 census.
History
The peaceful tribe of Quinnipiacs were the first residents of the ...
. The station is owned by Clark Smidt, and broadcasts an
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...
format. Under its previous call sign WQUN, the station aired the
adult standards format
America's Best Music
America's Best Music is the on-air branding of a soft oldies and adult standards 24-hour radio network, formerly known as AM Only. The service is syndicated by Westwood One, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. It was one of the original Transtar R ...
from
Westwood One
Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming.
The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The compan ...
before going
silent on May 31, 2019. The station resumed broadcasting on May 28, 2020, to satisfy FCC requirements and retain the license for another six months until returning to the air with reduced power on May 8, 2021.
History
The beginning: WDEE
WATX first signed on the air as WDEE. The WDEE call letters were assigned in 1959, and the license to broadcast was awarded in 1960. There was also a license to build an FM sister station, to be known as WDEE-FM. But delays in building both stations ensued, and neither station could get on the air for several years. When WDEE finally began to broadcast, in mid-1962, it had 1,000 watts of power and was only allowed to operate from sunrise to sunset. By 1965, it had become one of the principal Top-40 rockers in the New Haven area. In the early hours of the morning of January 21, 1965, a fire broke out that destroyed the station's studios at 473 Denslow Hill Road in Hamden. The AM station returned to the air within a week, in new premises, but the FM station was unable to return to the air. WDEE-FM remained dark for more than fourteen months, at which time it was sold to new owners, New Haven-based Kops Communication. WDEE's ownership did not change at that time. However, WDEE was sold in June 1967, to Noel Coté, Frank Delfino, and Ted Quale, the owners of Bridgeport radio station,
WICC.
WDEE becomes WCDQ
The station changed format in 1967 from
top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
to "Middle of the Road" (now "
adult contemporary music
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
"). With the change in ownership came a change in format, and an accompanying change in call letters: the new call letters were WCDQ, the initials of the station's new owners Cote, Delfino & Quayle. As WCDQ, the station switched to a
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
format in the early '70s, then to
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...
before returning to top 40 by the mid-1970s. Among the featured programming of the mid-'70s "1220 'CDQ", was "Ken Jordan's Jukebox" hosted by Ken Berger (on-air name of Ken Jordan). The show featured
doo-wop and pre-
Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
on Sunday afternoons until the station's sign-off at sundown. Other DJs during this era were Jerry Kristafer, Ken DeVoe and Jay McCormick.
Woman Radio and "PLR2"
In 1978, Robert Herpe, owner of
WPLR
WPLR-FM (99.1 MHz, also known as "99.1 PLR" or Connecticut's #1 Rock Station). licensed to New Haven, Connecticut, is a classic rock station owned by Connoisseur Media as of May 10, 2013. The station's playlist includes Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppel ...
in New Haven, purchased the station and adopted a format targeted specifically to women. Changing the call letters to WOMN, the new format debuted on August 28, 1978, calling itself "WOMAN Radio". Although it gained national attention, the new format failed, as it was unable to attract enough advertiser support. Scarcely more than a year after its debut, WOMN dropped the all-woman orientation and switched to a Top 40 format in September 1979, dropping all on-air references to WOMAN radio by February 1980. Later in 1980, the station changed to
album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock.
Album-orien ...
, seeking to ride the coattails of its sister FM station WPLR by calling itself "PLR2" on air.
1980s & '90s: from country to Spanish language (and several formats inbetween)
The early 1980s saw another call letter switch, to WSCR, "Suburban Country Radio", in recognition of a new country format. In 1986, Pete Salant bought the station and changed it back to oldies as WNNR, "Winner Radio." Within months, Hartford's
WDRC-FM
WDRC-FM (102.9 FM) is a radio station with a classic rock format licensed to Hartford, Connecticut. The station began broadcasting in 1959 and was the first commercial FM station in the Hartford radio market. The station is owned by John Fuller ...
shifted to oldies and forced Hamden's 1220 AM into its next incarnation in 1988, as WXCT ("Exciting 'XCT") with a locally produced adult contemporary format. In 1988 or '89, the station changed format to the Business Radio Network (now the
Business Talk Radio Network
BizTalkRadio is a radio network in the United States. Its programming focuses on the entrepreneur, small business owner and listener who wants to manage their family's assets. Formerly known as the Business Talk Radio Network, BTR was purchased ...
). Around the spring of 1991, WXCT changed to all Spanish-language programming.
Quinnipiac buys 1220
In September 1996, Quinnipiac College acquired the Spanish-language WXCT. The station closed down as the college relocated the station's studios and offices to new facilities at 560 New Road in Hamden. The transmitter site remains at Denslow Hill Road. On February 7, 1997, following five months of silence as construction proceeded, WQUN signed on the air at 6:00 p.m. with the Music Of Your Life network. In January 2019, Quinnipiac announced that WQUN would cease operations at the end of May, citing the AM station's decreasing relevance to the student population. The license and transmitter was offered up for sale shortly thereafter. The station signed off at 6:00 p.m. on May 31, 2019.
On May 27, 2020, the call letters were changed to WATX. The station briefly returned to the air that May and June with
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
forecasts, allowing Quinnipiac to maintain the
broadcast license
A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary f ...
while it sought a buyer for the station. In October 2020, the university agreed to sell WATX to
Nashua, New Hampshire
Nashua is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester. Along with Manc ...
-based Clark Media; the company's owner, Clark Smidt, had worked at WDEE during the summer of 1967.
The sale was consummated on December 7, 2020.
On May 8, 2021 WATX returned to the air with an oldies format, branded as "Connecticut Gold".
Connecticut Gold 1220 WATX Debuts In New Haven
Radioinsight - May 13, 2021
References
External links
*
{{AM Stereo radio stations in the United States
ATX
ATX (Advanced Technology eXtended) is a motherboard and power supply configuration specification developed by Intel in 1995 to improve on previous de facto standards like the AT design. It was the first major change in desktop computer enclo ...
Radio stations established in 1960
1960 establishments in Connecticut
Oldies radio stations in the United States