WECZ

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WECZ
Broadcast area	Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania / DuBois
Branding	"News/Talk AM 1540"
First air date	March 18, 1953
Frequency	1540(kHz)
Format	News, talk, sports
ERP	5,000 watts (Daytime); 1,000 watts (Critical Hours)
Callsign meaning	EZ 1540 (former name)
Owner	Renda Radio, Inc. (Renda Broadcasting Corporation)

WECZ is a commercially-licensed daytime-only AM radio station, licensed to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The station operates at 1540 kilohertz with a maximum power output of 5,000 watts daytime, and 1,000 watts during critical hours. WECZ is owned by Renda Radio, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Renda Broadcasting Corporation of Pittsburgh.

[edit] Beginnings: The WPME Years

WECZ became Jefferson County's very first radio station, having signed on the air in 1953 as WPME-AM. The call letters were an acronym formed by the first letter of the last names of the station's three owners, headed by Charlie Erhart.

Like other small, community radio stations, WPME was a full-service station that offered music, news, and other local programming to local listeners daily from sunrise to sunset. Another AM radio station broadcasting on AM 1290 came on the air a couple years later, but later failed. The license ended up in Altoona, where it was assumed by WFBG.

WPME underwent a major change in 1973, when it was granted a license for an FM station and moved to a new, larger building in Young Township, just north of the Punxsutawney border on PA Route 36. The station signed on as WPME-FM and operated as a simulcast of the AM station's programming, allowing it to offer listeners local radio service after WPME-AM signed off at sunset.

[edit] Changes: As WPXZ-AM

Both stations were sold in 1981 to Anthony F. Renda, a native of Indiana, Pennsylvania, about 25 miles south of Punxsutawney. Renda had owned two other radio stations in McKeesport and Eastcentral Ohio before purchasing WPME-AM/FM for $300,000.

Upon purchasing the station, Renda changed the call letters of both stations to WPXZ, to more accurately reflect the station's image as that of a Punxsutawney community-based radio station. The station still continued its AM/FM simulcast until 1989, when the stations split off into separate programming entities.

[edit] WECZ: Both AM and FM Go Separate Ways

WPXZ retained its call letters for the FM station, but the AM adopted the calls WECZ and an easy-listening format of satellite-delivered MOR and nostalgia music. The new station became known as "Easy 1540" and continued operating under this format for about six years. The station also aired Pittsburgh Pirates baseball day games, and syndicated talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

The station underwent another image overhaul in the late 90's, switching to a classic country satellite-delivered format and taking the new name "The Groundhog AM 1540." Outcry from the community over the loss of the older music resulted in another format shift back to the MOR and Nostalgia music, but the Groundhog moniker was retained.

In 2002, the music was again dropped, with the increasing popularity of syndicated talk show hosts Laura Ingraham and Tom Martino. The station operated as "Groundhog Talk" for about a year until the moniker was dropped altogether and rebilled as "News/Talk AM 1540", which it continues to operate as today.