WSTL (1220
AM, "La Mega 94.9") 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 radi ...
licensed to serve
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
. The station broadcasts a
Spanish Tropical
Tropical music ( es, música tropical) is a term in the 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 Cuba, Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republ ...
format programmed by Radio Sharon Foundation. Its programming is also heard on
translator stations in Providence, W229AN (93.7
FM) and W235CN (94.9 FM).
Known as WRIB from 1947-July 7, 2006, the station changed callsigns to WSTL on July 7, 2006.
History
1940s
1947
The station was started as a 250-watt daytimer, WRIB with studios at the old Narragansett Hotel.
1950s
1952
WRIB increased its daytime power to the current 1 kilowatt. It was still a daytime-only station at this point.
2000s
2006
For many years, WRIB had aired mostly
brokered programming
Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot comm ...
, serving as an outlet for primarily ethnic broadcasters. Faith Christian Center, an evangelical megachurch in nearby
Seekonk, Massachusetts
Seekonk is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Massachusetts border with Rhode Island. It was incorporated in 1812 from the western half of Rehoboth. The population was 15,531 at the 2020 census. Until 1862, the town o ...
, bought WRIB in 2005. While the station's time brokers had expected to be forced to find new homes for their programming, Faith Christian took WRIB off the air at 12:30 on July 7, 2006, with no advance warning, angering many of WRIB's former time brokers. The church only gave the time brokers a few hours to get their equipment out of the studios or face charges for trespassing. Some shows continue on other stations (e.g.: the Armenian Radio Hour is now on
WARA) but others disappeared.
2010s
2017
On the morning of Friday, June 23, 2017, the station reported to be going off the air soon; they then went silent. On November 29, 2017 WSTL returned to the air with Spanish tropical, branded as "''Mega 94.9''" (simulcast on FM translator W235CN 94.9 FM Providence).
Mega 94.9 Launches in Providence
Radioinsight - November 29, 2017
Translators
References
External links
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Boston Radio essay on Providence radio (incomplete)
{{Spanish Radio Stations in Rhode Island
Radio stations established in 1947
STL
1947 establishments in Rhode Island
STL