WPST (94.5 FM, "94-5 PST") is a commercial

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

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.CHR format known as "94-5 PST". Owned by

Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

, the station serves

Central Jersey Central Jersey is the central region of the U.S. state of New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, ...

, the

Delaware Valley The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and its northern and eastern suburbs. Studios and offices are on Alexander Road in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

. Its broadcast tower is located west of Morrisville, Pennsylvania at (). In addition to a standard

analog transmission Analog transmission is a transmission method of conveying information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that information. It could be the transfer of an analog signal, using an ana ...

, WPST is available online.

History

On August 7, 1965, 94.5 signed on as WTTM-FM. It was owned by the Scott Broadcasting Company, Inc. of New Jersey and was the adjunct to WTTM (920 AM). On February 1, 1969, WTTM-FM became WCHR, a religious station; in 1974, it was approved to increase its effective radiated power to 50,000 watts. The Scott family sold WTTM and WCHR in 1996 for $20 million to

Nassau Broadcasting Partners Nassau Broadcasting Partners LP was a company based in Princeton, New Jersey that owned radio stations in New England and the Mid-Atlantic United States. Nassau's stations, which included both AM and FM frequencies, were located in Maryland, New J ...

. The sale prompted immediate speculation that a format change was in the offing for WCHR. That November, WCHR's religious programming began being simulcast on 920 AM. On February 27, 1998, the 94.5 frequency began stunting with construction sound effects. On March 2, 1998, at 5:00 p.m., 94.5 relaunched as "New Jersey's Oldies Station", with new WNJO call letters. The station's format of primary 1960s oldies was selected so as to avoid cannibalizing Nassau's other Trenton station, WPST (97.5 FM). The first request on the new WNJO was made by Governor Christine Whitman, who attended the launch. WNJO brought in morning personality Don Kellogg Who was a ratings winner, but facing competition from

WKXW WKXW (101.5 FM, "New Jersey 101.5") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Trenton, New Jersey. It is owned by Townsquare Media. Its studios and offices are located in Ewing and its broadcast tower, which is shared with WPRB, is l ...

which was moving in a 1970s direction, and inspired by the revenue success of a similar flip at Nassau's station in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

, WNJO became

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

"The Hawk" on December 1, 2001 and adopted WTHK call letters on August 1, 2002. WPST's

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

format moved from 97.5 to 94.5 on February 14, 2005 at 5pm. At the same time, WTHK's programming moved to 97.5, which had been approved to move its community of license to

Burlington, New Jersey Burlington is a city in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 9,743. Burlington was first incorporated on October 24, 1693, and was r ...

, closer to Philadelphia. The new WPST at 94.5 cut into the audience for Philadelphia's

hot 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, quiet ...

95.7 WMWX, which became adult hits two months later and the following year switched its call letters to

WBEN-FM WBEN-FM (95.7 MHz, "95.7 Ben FM") is a commercial radio station licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts an adult hits radio format. The studios and offices are in Bala Cynwyd and t ...

. The station, along with nine other Nassau stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, was purchased at bankruptcy auction by NB Broadcasting in May 2012. NB Broadcasting is controlled by Nassau's creditors —

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

, Pluss Enterprises, and P.E. Capital. In November, NB Broadcasting filed a motion to assign its rights to the stations to

Connoisseur Media Connoisseur Media LLC is an American media company. It is based in Westport, Connecticut and led by Jeff Warshaw. Connoisseur operates radio stations and digital assets in markets across the U.S. cities of Billings, Fredrick, Maryland; Bay Shore, H ...

. The sale to Connoisseur Media, at a price of $38.7 million, was consummated on May 29, 2013. On March 22, 2018, it was announced that the station had been sold by Connoisseur Media to Townsquare Media (along with

WNJE WNJE (920 AM) is a sports talk radio station in Trenton, New Jersey. The station is owned by Townsquare Media. History This station first operated as WTTM in 1942. It was affiliated with NBC in its early years, eventually shifting to the Mutu ...

and WCHR) for a deal totaling $17.3 million. The acquisition was finalized on July 2, 2018.

Signal note

WPST is short-spaced to two other Class B stations:

WXBK WXBK (94.7 FM, "94.7 The Block") is a classic hip hop-formatted radio station that is licensed to Newark, New Jersey and serves the New York City area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. WXBK’s studios are located in the combined Audacy facil ...

''94.7 The Block'' (licensed to serve

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.WDAC (licensed to serve

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

). They are also short spaced due to

WJLK WJLK (94.3 FM "The Point") is a commercial radio station licensed to Asbury Park, New Jersey, and serving Monmouth County, Northern Ocean County and Middlesex County. It broadcasts a Top 40 radio format and is owned by Townsquare Media, al ...

on 94.3 in

Asbury Park, NJ Asbury Park () is a beachfront City (New Jersey), city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States ce ...

WPST and WXBK operate on first adjacent channels (94.5 MHz and 94.7 MHz) and the distance between the stations' transmitters is 59 miles as determined by FCC rules. The minimum distance between two Class B stations operating on first adjacent channels according to current

FCC 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 ...

rules is 105 miles. WPST and WDAC operate on the same channel and the distance between the stations' transmitters is 76 miles as determined by FCC rules. The minimum distance between two Class B stations operating on the same channel according to current

rules is 150 miles.

References

External links

* {{Contemporary Hit Radio Stations in New Jersey PST Trenton, New Jersey Radio stations established in 1965 Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States Townsquare Media radio stations

History

Signal note

See also

References

External links