WPAT (AM)

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WPAT is the callsign of a radio station licensed to Paterson, New Jersey. Located at 930 kHz in the medium-wave AM band, the station runs paid ethnic programming.

WPAT first went on the air in 1941, originally from their studios in Newark, New Jersey, before eventually moving to new studios on Church Street in Paterson and finally from their last studio on Broad Street in Clifton, New Jersey.

For many years, the station, along with its FM counterpart, would broadcast a beautiful music format. In 1951, its Gaslight Revue program debuted. It was a skilfully assembled montage of music pieces that would become widely imitated within the industry. Indeed, it was so popular that albums of its selections and segues were made and released. WPAT was the essence of a mellow sound and feel; the requirement for different programming between the AM and FM was met simply by repeating the previous week's AM programs in a slightly different order on FM.

The station for many years would be owned by Capital Cities Communications until 1985, when the company would buy ABC. As a result of FCC regulations at the time, the company decided to sell WPAT AM and FM, due to the fact that ABC already owned WABC and WPLJ. The stations would be sold to Park Communications.

In the early 1990s both frequencies of WPAT evolved to an adult contemporary format. In addition, WPAT would start to offer programming different from those of its FM counterpart. This programming would include sporting events that would normally be on WFAN whenever WFAN was carrying another event, public affairs shows, Broadway shows, and Sunday mass.

In January 1996, WPAT-FM would be sold to SBS, and would switch to a Spanish language adult contemporary format. Around the same time, WPAT would be sold to Heftel Broadcasting (now Univisión Radio), and would switch to a Mexican music format on March 26. Eventually, the station would start adding ethnic and paid programming, and in 1997, the station would become all-Korean. By the next year, the station's ownership would change again when its current owners, Multicultural Broadcasting, would buy the station in exchange for WNWK (now WCAA) at 105.9 FM. The new owners would switch the station's format to its current paid ethnic programming format.

WPAT's transmitter is still located in Clifton at the old Broad Street studios.

[edit] Trivia

Three announcers who worked at WPAT in the late 1940s and early 1950s — Tom Gregory, Ed Ladd and Lou Steele — went on to become staff announcers for New York television station WNEW-TV (now WNYW), channel 5, remaining there into the 1980s.

[edit] External links

• WPAT tribute