WHEN (620
kHz "Power 620") is a
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
AM 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 radi ...
in
Syracuse, New York. WHEN airs an
urban adult contemporary
Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music ...
radio format
A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...
and is owned by
iHeartMedia, Inc.
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
The station carries "
The Steve Harvey Morning Show
''The Steve Harvey Morning Show'' is a national radio program which is currently broadcast from Los Angeles. The nationally syndicated show features host Steve Harvey and a team of comedians and commentators.
The show runs approximately four ...
" and the "
Keith Sweat Hotel," which are
syndicated by iHeart
subsidiary Premiere Networks
Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. ...
. The offices and
studios are on Plum Street in Syracuse.
WHEN is powered at 5,000
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...
s by day, using a
non-directional antenna
In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is a class of antenna (electronics), antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an axis (mathematics), axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle ...
. To avoid interfering with other stations on
AM 620, WHEN reduces power at night to 1,000 watts and uses a
directional antenna. The
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...
is off Old Liverpool Road in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
. Programming is also heard on 50 watt
FM translator
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tra ...
W269DT at 101.7
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
. It is also simulcast on the
HD radio subchannel of
WSYR-FM
WSYR-FM (106.9 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Solvay, New York, and serving the Syracuse metropolitan area and Central New York. Owned and operated by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts a talk radio format, simulcast with WSYR 570 AM ...
-HD2 at 106.9 MHz.
History
WAGE
WHEN first
signed on
Signing may refer to:
* Using sign language
* Signature
A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...
in 1941 as a 1,000-watt
daytimer
A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-co ...
, started by local real estate agent Frank Revoir, under the
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...
WAGE. At first it operated as a
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...
network affiliate
In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...
. Then it carried the
NBC Blue Network
The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945.
Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the National Broadcasting Comp ...
and stayed with that service when it became
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
.
By the mid 1940s, WAGE got permission to broadcast at 1,000
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...
s around the clock. Daytime power was increased to its present 5,000 watts in 1949, while remaining at 1,000 watts at night.
Switch to WHEN
In 1954, the station was acquired by the
Meredith Corporation, founder of
WHEN-TV, the city's first television station, which had signed on in 1948. AM 620 became WHEN, sharing the television station's call letters. WHEN became an affiliate of
CBS Radio News
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 ...
and began airing
middle of the road music with a sizable news staff. This was part of a five-station agreement that also saw
KCMO-AM-
TV and
WOW-AM-
TV to switch network affiliations to
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
, as a compensation for Phoenix station
KPHO
KPHO-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside independent station KTVK (channel 3) and low-power LATV affiliate KPHE-LD (channel 44). KPHO-TV an ...
to lose its CBS network affiliation.
In the 1970s, the station became famous for playing a jingle during the testing of the
Emergency Broadcast System
The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), sometimes called the Emergency Broadcasting System or the Emergency Action Notification System (EANS), was an emergency warning system used in the United States. It replaced the previous CONELRAD system an ...
, a practice that was outlawed by the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
by the end of the decade. This jingle version was spoofed by the band
Negativland
Negativland is an American experimental music band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! track, while their record label (Seeland Records) is named after another Neu! track. The co ...
in the song "It's All In Your Head FM." The producer of the song was
Jerry Moss.
1970s and 1980s
During the 1970s and 1980s, WHEN became a dominant station in the Syracuse metropolitan area, once again affiliating with ABC for world and national news. Under the ownership first of Meredith Corporation and then of the
Roy H. Park organization (Park Communications), WHEN regularly topped the ratings in prime 18-49
demographic by offering a
full-service personality
adult contemporary
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, quie ...
format with a 24-hour-a-day, 7 day a week newsroom operation.
WHEN was one of the pioneer adult contemporary stations in the country during the early 1970s. It was aimed specifically at young adult listeners who had grown up with the first generation of rock music and still enjoyed upbeat contemporary songs, but had begun to regard most
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 "cont ...
stations as too juvenile in their presentation. The station blended an adult presentation with up-tempo music and full service information elements, serving as a model for other stations seeking a similar audience, along with format pioneers like
WGAR in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
WGR
WGR (550 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Buffalo, New York. Owned by Audacy, Inc., its studios and offices are located on Corporate Parkway in Amherst, and the transmitter site—utilized by WGR and co-owned WWKB—is in Ham ...
in
Buffalo and
WNBC
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo stati ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. The formula kept WHEN a market leader for a decade and a half, until late in the 1980s when many music listeners began moving to FM. A retro website that documents "62 WHEN," its programs, promotions and personalities during the late 1970s and into the 1980s, can be found at 62WHEN.com.
Sports talk
In the early 1990s, WHEN changed to a
talk
Talk may refer to:
Communication
* Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people
* Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people
* Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct
...
and
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
format. In addition to daytime talk shows, the station featured play-by-play of
Buffalo Bills football,
Syracuse Chiefs
Syracuse may refer to:
Places Italy
*Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa''
*Province of Syracuse
United States
*Syracuse, New York
**East Syracuse, New York
**North Syracuse, New York
* Syracuse, Indiana
*Syracuse, Kansas
*Syracuse, Miss ...
minor league
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
and
Syracuse Crunch AHL hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
.
Broadcasting Yearbook 1995 page B-290
/ref>
In 1999, the station was bought by Clear Channel Communications, a forerunner of current owner iHeartMedia. Clear Channel also owned WHEN's chief news/talk competitor WSYR, so WHEN became an all-sports station, allowing WSYR to concentrate on local news and talk programming. WHEN kept its schedule of Bills, Chiefs and Crunch play by play, and aired syndicated sports shows.
Power 620
On December 22, 2010, WHEN changed its format to urban adult contemporary
Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music ...
, branded as "Power 620." The format change preceded abandonment of the format on co-owned WPHR-FM
WPHR-FM (94.7 MHz "B-94.7") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Gifford, Florida, and serving the Treasure Coast including Vero Beach and Fort Pierce. The station has a country music radio format and is owned and operated by Mitchell ...
, which switched to a simulcast of WSYR (570 AM) on the FM band to fill in areas in Syracuse's western, southern and eastern suburbs where WSYR's AM directional signal pattern provides poor coverage.
The station uses the slogan "Central New York's Only R&B." An FM translator
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tra ...
at 101.7 MHz was added to broadcast WHEN programming on the FM dial in Syracuse and its adjacent suburbs.
References
External links
*
{{iHeartMedia
HEN
Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman.
Hen or Hens may also refer to:
Places Norway
*Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...
Radio stations established in 1941
1941 establishments in New York (state)
Urban adult contemporary radio stations in the United States
IHeartMedia radio stations