WPWA

WPWA
Broadcast areaPhiladelphia metropolitan area
Frequency1590 kHz
Programming
Language(s)Spanish
FormatReligious
Ownership
OwnerMount Ocean Media, L.L.C.
History
First air date
October 17, 1947; 77 years ago (1947-10-17)
Former call signs
WPWA (1947–1954)
WDRF (1954–1959)
WEEZ (1959–1976)
WQIQ (1976–1985)
WCZN (1985–1994)
WAWA (October 12–24, 1994)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID37843
ClassB
Power2,500 watts day
1,000 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
39°52′40″N 75°27′22″W / 39.87778°N 75.45611°W / 39.87778; -75.45611
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.wpwa.net

WPWA (1590 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish religious format. Licensed to Chester, Pennsylvania, it serves the Philadelphia area. The station is currently owned by Mount Ocean Media, L.L.C.

History

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WPWA was authorized in 1947. The station was owned by Lou Poller and broadcast with 1,000 watts[2] from a site in Brookhaven.[3] Poller, who had previously owned part of a station in Scranton before World War II, also proposed to build aluminum fabricated homes on the site and sell them.[3] The tower was erected in June of that year,[4] and the station signed on October 17.[5] The station programmed primarily for Chester and surrounding areas. Its first music director, a young Bill Haley, hosted a country and Western show, sold advertising, and announced the sports and weather; he also recorded songs for James E. Myers, who would be credited five years later as writing Haley's "Rock Around The Clock".[6] In 1950, WPWA began nighttime broadcasts.[2]

In 1954, Poller sold WPWA to the Eastern Broadcasting Company, changing its call letters to WDRF for Delaware River Ferry upon FCC approval of the sale on November 24.[2] Eastern's owner, Louis Kapelski, also was the general manager of the Chester-Bridgeport Ferry Company.[7] When WDRF, Inc., acquired the station in 1959, it changed the callsign to WEEZ.[2] Radio Del-Val, Inc., owned by Ernest Tannen, acquired WEEZ in 1965; the same year, the station filed to sell part of its land to build a supermarket.[8] WEEZ was a country music station in the late 1960s and early 1970s, hosting more than 20 "Country Shindig" concerts headlined by acts such as Buck Owens, Conway Twitty,[9] and Merle Haggard.[10]

By 1974, however, WEEZ was a talk station, featuring several former WCAU radio personnel in its lineup.[11] Additionally, in 1973, WEEZ relocated from 3500 Edgmont Avenue in Brookhaven, where "Radio Park Drive" remains a local street, to a new industrial park in Aston, where it built a $200,000 circular structure.[12] The move came a year after WEEZ and Brookhaven authorities clashed over the station hosting concerts on its land on Sundays.[13]

WEEZ was sold in 1976 to the Upland Broadcasting Corporation,[2] which assigned new WQIQ calls and branded the station "Delaware County's Only 24 Hour Local Voice".[14] Robe Communications acquired WQIQ in 1981 and reformatted it as a nostalgia station;[15] it also broadcast Villanova Wildcats men's basketball. In 1985, when 1590 AM was sold to Lloyd B. Roach, the station became WCZN and changed formats from adult contemporary to country.[16]

In 1994, the station, which began airing adult standards music as "Unforgettable 1590" the previous year, made news with its call letters. Roach filed to change WCZN's call letters to WAWA, with the station being only a mile from the unincorporated community. While the FCC approved the application in September,[17] the proposal drew interest from another Wawa: the Philadelphia-based convenience store chain, which filed suit in federal court and claimed the change in call letters violated state and federal trademark laws.[18] The chain was successful in coercing another change of call letters; on October 24, WAWA became WPWA,[19] restoring the original call letters after 40 years.

In 1996, after receiving an unsolicited offer from the Children's Broadcasting Corporation,[20] Roach sold WPWA for $1.3 million; CBC flipped the station to the Radio AAHS network, airing children's programming. After Radio AAHS discontinued operations on January 30, 1998,[21] Children's Broadcasting Corporation, WPWA's owner, needed programming for the ten CBC-owned and operated Radio AAHS stations until it could find buyers. In February 1998, WPWA, along with the other nine CBC stations, became an outlet for Beat Radio, which broadcast electronic dance music 12 hour each night until late October 1998, when the sale to the Catholic Radio Network was consummated. CRN sold the station for $675,000 to Mount Ocean, owned by Rev. Son Young Joo,[22] in 2001. Under Mount Ocean ownership, the station has primarily offered ethnic and religious programming, including shows in Korean, gospel music, and, in 2005, Spanish-language coverage of the Philadelphia Phillies.[23]

In 2012, former station employee Al Edmondson, Jr., began buying airtime on WPWA and programmed some local shows on Sunday mornings.[24]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WPWA". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ a b c d e FCC History Cards for WPWA
  3. ^ a b "Brookhaven to be Site of Radio Broadcasting Studio". Delaware County Daily Times. May 10, 1947. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  4. ^ "Antenna Erected For Radio Station". Delaware County Daily Times. June 18, 1947. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  5. ^ "WPWA Makes Its Bow On The Air". Delaware County Daily Times. October 17, 1947. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  6. ^ Jim Dawson (2005). Rock Around the Clock: The Record that Started the Rock Revolution!. Backbeat Books. pp. 31–33. ISBN 9780879308292. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  7. ^ "WPWA Call Letters Changed To WDRF". Delaware County Daily times. November 25, 1954. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  8. ^ "Rezoning Proposal Is Argued: Residents Debate Radio Station Site". Delaware County Daily Times. August 6, 1965. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  9. ^ "Country Shindig Wows Philly" (PDF). Record World. March 9, 1968. p. 52. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  10. ^ "WEEZ Country Shindig". Philadelphia Inquirer. February 1, 1970. p. 90. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  11. ^ O'Brien, Jim (April 16, 1974). "Tuning in 'People Power'". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  12. ^ "WEEZ plans new facilities". Delaware County Daily Times. August 8, 1972. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  13. ^ Maitland, Harry (June 13, 1972). "Brookhaven seeks new home for 'rock'". Delaware County Daily Times. p. 13. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  14. ^ "WQIQ Radio, 16 On Your AM Dial". Delaware County Daily Times. November 4, 1976. p. 19. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  15. ^ "AM Radio Stations". Philadelphia Inquirer. July 31, 1983. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  16. ^ Shister, Gail (December 23, 1985). "Ch. 29 luring WCAU reporter". Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 9-D. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  17. ^ Carter, Kevin L. (September 19, 1994). "New letters in Delco". Philadelphia Inquirer. p. E6. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  18. ^ Carter, Kevin L. (October 3, 1994). "WAWA vs. Wawa". Philadelphia Inquirer. p. F5. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  19. ^ Carter, Kevin L. (October 17, 1994). "A new morning team at 'IOQ". Philadelphia Inquirer. p. E5. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  20. ^ Blakinger, Mary (July 9, 1996). "Delco to get children's radio shows". Philadelphia Inquirer. p. B6. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  21. ^ "Children's Broadcasting selling stations". Clarion-Ledger. Associated Press. January 8, 1998. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  22. ^ "Changing Hands". Broadcasting & Cable. August 12, 2001. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  23. ^ Bostrom, Don (March 15, 2005). "Spanish Beisbol Network will broadcast Phils on radio". Morning Call. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  24. ^ Kopp, John (May 1, 2012). "Radio returns to Chester: Churches gain voice on local AM airwaves". Delaware County Daily Times. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
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