WAXB (850 AM), 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 A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York ...

, United States, one of three area stations owned by The Berkshire Broadcasting Corporation. The others are

News/Talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

800 AM

WLAD WLAD (800 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Danbury, Connecticut. It broadcasts a talk format. WLAD is owned by Berkshire Broadcasting. The studios and offices are located on Mill Plain Road in Danbury and the transmitter is off ...

and

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 ...

98Q/98.3 FM

WDAQ WDAQ (98.3 FM), "98Q") is a Hot AC radio station licensed to Danbury, Connecticut, and serving part of Western Connecticut and Putnam County, New York. The station is owned by The Berkshire Broadcasting Corporation, along with sister stations ...

. WAXB airs a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

adult hits

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 broadcasting, ...

for the

Danbury Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

region of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. The station uses the identification "Juan 850". Because

850 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 850 kHz: 850 AM is a United States clear-channel frequency. KOA and KICY share Class A status of 850 kHz. In Argentina * La Gauchita in Morón, Buenos Aires In Mexico * ...

is a clear channel frequency reserved for KOA in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and KICY in

Nome, Alaska Nome (; ik, Sitŋasuaq, ) is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of Alaska, United States. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. It had a population of 3,699 recorded ...

, WAXB must

sign-off A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonwealth countries exce ...

at night to avoid interference with those stations.

History

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 ...

assigned the

call letters 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 assigne ...

WREF to the frequency on January 18, 1984. WREF began broadcasting on March 15, 1985, nearly a decade after getting the original construction permit, programming an adult standards format from

sign-on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonwealth countries exce ...

through its sale to Berkshire in 1996, when the new owners switched the format to

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

. In late March 2004, WREF became the first station to air

Scott Shannon Michael Scott Shannon (born July 25, 1947) is an American radio disc jockey who hosted the morning show for WCBS-FM in New York City from 2014 to 2022 as well as ''Scott Shannon Presents America's Greatest Hits'' which is syndicated nationally wi ...

's "

True Oldies Channel Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel (also known more recently as ''The True Oldies Channel: Greatest Hits'') is a radio network begun in the spring of 2004. Originally distributed by ABC Radio Networks via satellite, the service plays a hybrid ol ...

." After a period of tweaking on WREF, Shannon put the format into nationwide

radio syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...

in July 2004. On February 1, 2011, WREF rebranded as "B107.3," adopted the call letters WAXB and began a

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

of the 850 AM signal on FM translator W297AN (107.3 FM licensed to Danbury). The WAXB calls had previously been in the market at 105.5 FM before

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

abandoned the oldies format on that frequency in 2002 (which is now WDBY, a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

station). B107.3 switched to a locally programmed Classic Hits format, featuring pop and rock hits of the 1970s and 1980s on January 31, 2013. On July 1, 2016, WAXB rebranded as "B94.5", switching translators to W233CF 94.5 FM Danbury. On February 26, 2020, at 3 p.m., WAXB changed their format from classic hits to classic rock, branded as "94.5 The Hawk". On December 17, 2020, WAXB changed format to Spanish Adult Hits "Juan 850." "94.5 The Hawk" moved to WDAQ-HD4 and continued to be relayed by W233CF.

References

*1992 Broadcasting Yearbook, page A-63 *http://meduci.com/stations.html

External links

WAXB official website

FCC History Cards for WAXB
AXB Radio stations established in 1985 AXB 1985 establishments in Connecticut AXB {{Connecticut-radio-station-stub