WPMZ (1110 AM, "Poder 1110") 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 to serve

East Providence, Rhode Island East Providence is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 47,139 at the 2020 census, making it the fifth-largest city in the state. Geography East Providence is located between the Providence and Seekonk ...

, United States. The station is owned by Video Mundo Broadcasting Co., LLC. It airs a

Spanish Tropical Tropical music ( es, música tropical) is a term in the Latin music, Latin music industry that refers to music genres deriving from or influenced by the Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean. It includes the islands of Music of Cuba, Cuba, Music ...

format. WPMZ is relayed on 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 tran ...

: W271CR on 102.1

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 ...

. The station has been assigned the callsign WPMZ 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 jurisdiction ...

since November 1, 1995.

History

WPMZ was known as

WHIM Whim may refer to: * Whim, U.S. Virgin Islands, a settlement * Whim (mining), a capstan or drum with a vertical axle used in mining * Whim (carriage), a type of carriage * ''Whim'', a reissue of ''Adventures of Wim'', a book by George Cockroft as ...

from its inception in 1947 until the 1990s. It was the first radio station to employ

Jefferson Kaye Martin Jeff Krimski, known by the stage names Jefferson Kaye and Jeff Kaye (December 12, 1936 – November 16, 2012) was an American radio, television and film announcer. Among his credits were announcing gigs at WHIM and WRIB in Providence, Rho ...

as an announcer; Kaye (then known as Jeff Krimm) would move on to stations in Boston, Buffalo and Philadelphia.

As WHIM

A construction permit for a new daytime-only radio station was filed by Inter-City Broadcasting on July 29, 1946, and granted on October 17, 1946. The station's first callsign was WKID, but was changed to WHIM on March 6, 1947, before the station signed on-air. WHIM signed on the air on April 15, 1947 with 1,000 watts of power (daytime only). A license to cover was filed for on June 24, 1947. Intercity Broadcasters would own the station until 1957, when it was sold to Buckley-Jaeger Broadcasting. Buckley-Jaeger owned the station until 1964, when it was sold to Golden Gate Corporation. Golden Gate would also sign on an FM sister station: WHIM-FM (now

WHJY WHJY (94.1 MHz) is a commercial mainstream rock iHeartRadio station in Providence, Rhode Island. WHJY has been a rock station since September 4, 1981. Its broadcast center, also used by its sister stations, is on Oxford Street, just west of Inte ...

). Golden Gate sold WHIM-AM-FM to Culligan Communications Corporation in 1969. WHIM-AM-FM's ownership would change again 2 years later in 1971 to Franks Broadcasting. In 1979, Franks Broadcasting applied to increase the power on WHIM to 5,000 watts daytime & change the community of license to East Providence, Rhode Island. Franks sold WHIM-AM-FM to East Providence Broadcasting in 1980. East Providence Broadcasting sold WHIM to Bear Broadcasting (owner of then- WERI (AM) on March 8, 1989.

As WWRX (AM), back to WHIM, & to WPMZ

The next callsign change would occur on February 22, 1992, when it changed to WWRX. The format would change to a relay of

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

as "1110 CNN". During this time, current

WPRI-TV WPRI-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to dual Fox/ CW affiliate WNAC-TV (channel 64) und ...

WNAC-TV WNAC-TV (channel 64), branded on-air as Fox Providence, is a television station in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, affiliated with Fox and The CW. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) ...

anchor Mike Montecalvo would be an anchor on the station. The WHIM callsign would return on June 1, 1993, until changing to WPMZ on November 1, 1995. On the same date, the intellectual property of WHIM would switch to the former WKRI. Bear Broadcasting sold WPMZ to current owner Video Mundo Broadcasting in 1998.BAL-19971015GL; retrieved March 28, 2019.
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Former personalities

(as Jeff Krimm) *Mike Montecalvo (1992, during the "1110 CNN" era)

Translator

References

External links

* * * {{Daytime-only radio stations in Rhode Island Hispanic and Latino American culture in Providence, Rhode Island PMZ PMZ Radio stations established in 1947 East Providence, Rhode Island 1947 establishments in Rhode Island PMZ