WEPN
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| Broadcast area | New York, New York |
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| Branding | 1050 ESPN Radio |
| Slogan | New York SportsRadio |
| First air date | March 18, 1922 (as WHN) |
| Frequency | 1050 (kHz) |
| Format | Sports |
| ERP | 50,000 watts |
| Class | A |
| Callsign meaning | W ES P N |
| Owner | ESPN Radio |
| Website | 1050espnradio.com |
WEPN, branded as 1050 ESPN Radio, is a 24-hour sports radio station in New York City featuring national and local sports talk programs and live broadcasts of sports matches. It is the New York affiliate for ESPN Radio.
It is the radio home for the New York Knicks of the NBA, the New York Jets of the NFL, the New York Rangers of the NHL, St. John's University men's basketball, Syracuse University men's basketball and football, and select nationally broadcast Major League Baseball games. There is also a partnership with the Army's football team, but those games usually air on sister stations WABC or WQEW because of scheduling conflicts.
WEPN bills itself as New York City's only all-sports station, since competitor WFAN's morning show, hosted by Don Imus, features a variety of subjects. Despite the fact that it is a 50,000 watt station, it cannot be heard clearly in many parts of the New York metropolitan area, especially west of New York City and in Suffolk County on Long Island. WEPN has a highly directional signal, due in some part to the fact that there is another 50,000 watt station, KYW, in nearby Philadelphia, right next door at 1060 AM. According to Arbitron data of as early 2006, WFAN's daytime ratings are generally 3 points higher on average than WEPN's, though WFAN's most-known Mike and the Mad Dog show has aired for over a decade longer than WEPN has existed. Because of WEPN's spotty signal, all Jets games are simulcast on WABC, which reaches more of the suburbs.
Contents |
[edit] Current shows
[edit] Monday-Friday
| Time | Program |
|---|---|
| 1 a.m. | AllNight with Jason Smith (2005) |
| 6 a.m. | Mike and Mike in the Morning (1999) |
| 10 a.m. | Max Kellerman (2006) |
| 12 p.m. | The Stephen A. Smith Show (2005) |
| 2 p.m. | The Dan Patrick Show (1999) |
| 4 p.m. | The Michael Kay Show (2005) |
| 7 p.m. | Brandon Tierney (2006) |
| 10 p.m. | Jim Rome (2006) |
[edit] Saturday
| Time | Program |
|---|---|
| 1 AM | The V Show with Bob Valvano |
| 6 AM | Inside Golf |
| 7 AM | Saturday RaceDay |
| 9 AM | College GameDay Tailgate |
| 12 PM | College GameDay |
| 7 PM | College GameDay Scoreboard |
| 9 PM | GameNight |
[edit] Sunday
| Time | Program |
|---|---|
| 1 AM | The V Show with Bob Valvano |
| 6 AM | RaceDay |
| 7 AM | Fantasy Focus |
| 9 AM | The Huddle |
| 11 AM | Countdown to Kickoff |
| 1 PM | NFL on ESPN Radio |
| 8 PM | GameNight |
[edit] Out of season shows
- GameDay
- The Baseball Show
- The Doug Karsch Show
- The Huddle
- The John Kincade Show
[edit] Game broadcasts
- BCS on ESPN Radio
- MLB on ESPN Radio
- NBA on ESPN Radio
- NIT on ESPN Radio
[edit] Daily segments
[edit] Detailed frequency history
The New York 1050 frequency had a long history prior to this format: starting in the 1920s as WHN it played a diversified format; renamed WMGM in the late 1940s the diversity continued until a switch to rock & roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s; as WHN again it played adult standards in the 1960s and country music in the 1970s and 1980s (the format it was best known for); in the late 1980s as WFAN it was the original frequency for the very successful all-sports station, which began a truly convoluted set of ownership, call letter, and format changes via Spanish language WUKQ; as the eventual WEVD it was a low-rated brokered station in the 1990s; and then became WEPN ESPN sports radio in the 2000s.
[edit] WHN
WHN was one of the first radio stations in New York City, going on the air on March 18, 1922 at AM frequency 833 and originally owned by the Ridgewood Times newspaper. Original shows included children's programming. A court case in the 1920s against AT&T established some of the early legal principles for American broadcasting. The station became noted for playing jazz and contemporary dance music, including Sophie Tucker, Fletcher Henderson, and Duke Ellington, as well as for broadcasting Columbia University football games.
In 1928 the station was bought by the Loew's Theatre Organization. During the 1920s the station's frequency changed to 830, 760, and then 1010.
In the 1930s it broadcast the Major Bowes Amateur Hour, which became so popular it was picked up by the CBS Radio Network.
WHN made its final frequency change to 1050 in 1941. During the 1940s the programs Radio Newsreel and Newsreel Theater were prototypes for what would later become the all-news radio format. The station broadcast Brooklyn Dodgers games with Red Barber as well as the New York Giants and New York Rangers with Marty Glickman.
[edit] WMGM
On September 15, 1948, the station changed its call letters to WMGM. The station had a diversified format that included pop standard hits, drama, talk, and sports, and briefly featured New York talk legend Barry Gray.
In the mid to late 1950s the station switched to playing rock and roll hits. They played records and were more up-tempo than the competition, such as those by Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Frankie Lymon, the Crystals, the Tokens, Ray Charles, Ricky Nelson, and Bill Haley. The deejay lineup included morning man Ted Brown and the Redhead (Ted's then-wife), Jerry Marshall, Norm Stevens, Dick Shepherd, Ed Stokes and Bob Callen. Among its newsreaders were Bill Edmunds, Dick DeFrietas and Aime Govin.
During its rock and roll incarnation, WMGM was for a time home to New York Yankees baseball with Mel Allen, Red Barber and Phil Rizzuto. Ex-athletes-turned-broadcasters Marty Glickman and Gussie Moran worked Yankees pre- and post-game shows from the studio. Ironically, the Yankees affiliation might have worked against WMGM's longterm viability as the dominant teenybopper station. While rivals WABC and WMCA were essentially wall-to-wall rock music, WMGM's sports programming breaks left a huge opening for demanding rock and roll listeners to turn elsewhere.
By 1962, with 1010 WINS, 770 WABC, and 570 WMCA also playing predominantly rock and roll music. WMGM-1050 was sold to Storer Broadcasting, which owned mostly TV stations, but also owned top-rated WIBG, a rock & roll radio station less than 100 miles away in Philadelphia. But alas, WIBG did not have three other stations competing with it.
[edit] WHN again
Storer immediately dropped Top 40 for slow-paced standards and beautiful music. The station was renamed WHN again on February 28, 1962.
Through the 1960s, WHN, unlike WNEW and WOR, played no rock music whatsoever. As New York City's Mutual Radio Network affiliate, on-air hosts included Jim Ameche (brother of actor Don Ameche), Jack Sterling, and, early on, the comedy team of Bob Elliot & Ray Goulding (Bob and Ray). (Morning host Ted Brown remained with WHN for only a short time of transition, heading eventually to MOR WNEW-AM.) They played artists like Nat King Cole, Al Hirt, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, Patti Page, Johnny Mathis, Percy Faith, and Ray Conniff. Ratings were decent, but the demographic was older by a generation or two.
WHN eventually picked up New York Mets baseball (Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner), after the team's original NYC flagship, WABC-AM 770, dropped the rights after the novelty of the new team, born in 1962, wore off.
Ratings were still low. On February 26, 1973, WHN became a country music station. The New York Metropolitan Area had never been a country music hot spot, and prior to WHN, the area had only had two country music stations: WJRZ in Hackensack, New Jersey (which changed to a Top 40 format with the call letters of WWDJ in 1971, and to a religious format in 1974), and WTHE in Mineola, New York, which also later changed to a religious format.
WHN started with on-air personalities such as Lee Arnold, Del Demontreux, Larry Kenney, "Big" Wilson, Ray Otis, Jack Spector, Ed Baer and others.
As a country music station, they played artists like Johnny Cash, Willy Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker, Lynn Anderson, Kenny Rogers, Mel Tillis, Charley Pride, Mickey Gilly, Ronnie Milsap, and many more. Also, they mixed in non-country artists that had country friendly songs such as The Eagles, Elvis Presley, Anne Murray, Olivia Newton-John, Linda Ronstadt, and others.
As the WHN evolved as a country station, on-air personalities such as Mike Fitzgerald, Dan Taylor, Sheila York, Dana Lauren, Bob "Wizard" Wayne, Dan Daniel, Jessie, Sheila York, Alan Colmes, Robbie Roman, Jerry Carroll, Brian Kelly, Stan Martin, and others moved in. During this era, WHN was programmed by Ed Salamon, who was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2006. WHN is conidered the most listend to Country radio station in history.
In the late 1970s Mutual Radio bought WHN from Storer. In 1980, WHN got some competition when WRVR was sold to Viacom and dropped jazz for country and became WKHK (also known as "Kick 106 FM"). As a result, ratings went down for WHN, but they stuck it out. They added New York Mets baseball to their lineup in 1983. WHN had previously carried the Mets from 1972 until 1974.
In 1984, WKHK became Lite FM WLTW, playing a soft adult- contemporary format. Without direct competition, WHN remained country, with decent ratings.
In 1985 Doubleday Broadcasting bought WHN. In 1986 Emmis Communications bought WHN in a corporate deal. Emmis added sports talk in the evenings, but kept the country format the rest of the day until 1987.
In late April 1987, Emmis announced that WHN would drop country on July 1st for an all-sports format, the first of its kind on radio. They would drop the WHN calls and become WFAN (The Fan). In May, NBC announced that Adult Contemporary WYNY 97.1 (today's WQHT) would go country on July 1, the same day as WHN ended the format.
The airstaff said their goodbyes at the end of June. Dan Taylor signed off at 3 p.m. with "For The Good Times" by Ray Price on July 1, 1987.
[edit] WFAN
- See WFAN (AM) for full history
At that time WFAN made its debut on 1050.
Ratings were low initially but slowly climbing. In 1988 NBC was leaving radio, so they sold their stations to Emmis; Emmis then had control of 97.1 and 103.5 FM and 660 and 1050 a.m.. Emmis opted to sell 103.5 to Westwood One and the WYNY intellectual country unit as well so Country 97 WYNY became Country 103.5 WYNY. Emmis kept 97.1 and moved their Dance/R & B format WQHT there.
Emmis moved WFAN from 1050 to 660 on 1988-10-20, replacing 66 WNBC. Infinity would later buy 660 WFAN in 1992. WFAN is still occupying 660 today with good ratings.
[edit] WUKQ
As for the 1050 license, Spanish Broadcasting System bought it, intending to swap it with cash to the Jewish Daily Forward for their FM station, WEVD 97.9. However, Spanish Broadcasting already owned WSKQ, AM 620 in Newark, New Jersey. The deal for WEVD could not be consummated at the same time as Emmis' purchase of 660, which left Spanish Broadcasting owning two AM stations in the New York market, which was not permitted under FCC rules at that time. The FCC granted them a temporary waiver to run 1050 on a noncommercial basis until it could be transferred. In October 1988 when WFAN moved from 1050 to 660, 620 WSKQ flipped from Spanish Adult Contemporary to Spanish Oldies while 1050 became KQ 1050 WUKQ playing Spanish Adult Contemporary music (commercial-free, to satisfy the FCC requirement).
[edit] WEVD
Shortly thereafter, the FCC approved the trade of 1050 WUKQ for 97.9 WEVD. WEVD had been the radio station owned by the Workman's Circle (Arbeter Ring) in New York City; its call letters stood for Eugene Victor Debs. By 1988 the station was mostly an outlet for leased access foreign language programming. Under the deal, the Spanish AC format on 620 would move to FM, and the station would become FM-98 WSKQ-FM. This happened early in 1989; at the same time, WEVD's call letters and programming moved to 1050. 1050 WEVD had a brokered format with Jewish programming, ethnic programs, talk shows, and a big band show with Danny Stiles. The station generated cash flow by selling blocks of airtime, which allowed it to be profitable despite minimal ratings.
By the mid 1990s WEVD had a talk format with a liberal emphasis on weekdays, with ethnic programming at night and on weekends. Talk hosts included New York sports legend Bill Mazer, former New York mayor Ed Koch, Jay Diamond, Sam Greenfield, and Alan Colmes.
During most of 1050's existance as WEVD, the station broadcast Mets, Jets, Knicks and Rangers games produced by WFAN, when WFAN was already broadcasting another game. WFAN game overruns are now broadcast on WBBR.
In 2001 WEVD entered into a local marketing agreement with ABC/Disney and added ESPN Radio's The Dan Patrick Show to the talk lineup. Despite a public campaign to save the old format, on September 2, 2001 1050 began running ESPN Radio fulltime.
[edit] WEPN
The station was renamed WEPN on April 28, 2003 after being sold to ABC/Disney outright, which continues to run the station as 1050 ESPN Radio. Like other Disney-owned ESPN Radio affiliates, the station is not part of Disney's sale of assorted radio stations to Citadel Communications.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- AIRWAVES RADIO Journal V9 #89 - "Re: 1050 NYC (was: Relate These Phrases For Me)" explains the complex callsign changes related to WHN.
- New York Radio Guide station history
- NYC AM Radio History station history
| AM radio stations in the New York market (Arbitron #1) | |
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(Arbitron #1) |
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(Arbitron #18) |
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(Middlesex-Somerset-Union) (Arbitron #39) |
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(Bridgeport and Stamford-Norwalk) (Arbitron #121 and 145) |
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(Poughkeepsie) (Arbitron #163) |
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Board of directors: John Bryson | John S. Chen | Judith Estrin | Robert Iger (President, CEO) | Steve Jobs | Fred Langhammer | Aylwin Lewis | Monica Lozano | Robert Matschullat | George J. Mitchell (Chairman) | Leo J. O'Donovan | John E. Pepper, Jr. | Orin C. Smith |
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Publishing Assets: Disney Adventures | ESPN The Magazine | Hyperion |
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Annual Revenue: |
