WWCO

WWCO (1240 AM; "Viva") is a radio station licensed in Waterbury, Connecticut, broadcasting a Spanish-language tropical music format. WWCO is a simulcast of WRYM (840 AM) in New Britain. The station is owned by Trignition Media.

History

WWCO first went on the air in 1946 with a 250-watt signal. It was a Mutual Network affiliate with studios in the Mattatuck Historical Society Building at 119 West Main Street. In the 1950s, the format was mostly pop music and it was the first station in Waterbury to play rock and roll records.

On-air personalities during this era included Bob "Records" Crager, Les Davis, Joe Mulhall (later known as Ken Griffin in Hartford and Los Angeles), Bob Rouge, "Wildman Steve" Gallon and Davis and WWCO were featured in an article in the April 25, 1955, edition of ''Life''.

During the 1960s and the 1970s, WWCO was owned by Merv Griffin and operated as "1240 Super Music C-O", a Top 40 station. On-air personalities during this era included Tom Collins, later known as Joe Cipriano, the voice of the Fox network, CBS and NBC.

The station evolved from Top 40 to an adult contemporary format (called "All-Star Music WWCO") at about the same time as WKCI switched to an adult contemporary top 40 as "KC-101." Many believe that WKCI's switch to the new format hastened WWCO's departure from top 40 with some WWCO personalities leaving to take jobs at KC-101. In 1984, the station was sold to Westport resident Sam Brownstein and abandoned the "All-Star" format for oldies under the direction of Program Director Mike Dowling.

The station found success with a night–time Urban Contemporary format called "Nightflight" which it used from 1984 to 1989 with Ricky "J". Later financial issues caused WWCO to terminate some of its personalities and to carry Unistar's "Niche 29" Adult Oriented Rock (AOR) format.

Having been sold to Winthrop Broadcasting, whose relatives owned Waterbury's WQQW (1590 AM), WWCO relocated from its longtime location on the Straits Turnpike in Middlebury to a brand new studio in Waterbury. By 1990 WWCO again returned to its Top 40 format as "1240 Super Music 'C-O." Steve Skipp returned for a short tenure as Program Director although Wally Mann succeeded him and continued in that position as the station switched to an oldies format.

General Manager Tom Coffey and former WWYZ salesman Rob Johnson formed Mattatuck Communications and purchased the station moving it to a new location. While most AM stations had already abandoned contemporary music WWCO, and its on-air talent, continued into the early 1990s with an adult contemporary format. WWCO was then sold to Buckley Broadcasting (parent of WDRC in Hartford) and moved to WDRC's studios in Bloomfield. WWCO then began broadcasting the same programming as WDRC. On March 5, 2014, Buckley Broadcasting announced that it would sell its Connecticut radio stations, including WWCO, to Connoisseur Media. The sale was consummated on July 7, 2014 at a price of $7,922,035.

WWCO was not included in the 2018 sale of WDRC and the other Talk of Connecticut stations to Red Wolf Broadcasting. the sale was completed on March 29, 2018. Instead, the station was sold to Trignition Media, owner of WRYM in New Britain, for $260,000. In February 2018, WWCO left the Talk of Connecticut network and began simulcasting WRYM's "Viva" tropical format. Trignition Media's purchase of the station was completed on February 22, 2019.

References

External links

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{{Spanish Radio Stations in Connecticut

Waterbury, Connecticut
Mass media in New Haven County, Connecticut
WCO
1946 establishments in Connecticut
Radio stations established in 1946
WCO