WRNJ

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WRNJ is an AM radio station licensed to Hackettstown and broadcasting on 1510 AM. The station is locally owned by Norman Worth and Larry Tighe. WRNJ offers a local news intensive format featuring local and national news, oldies from 1955 to 1985, talk shows pertaining to the community, and local sports. The station is known as "Oldies 1510 WNRJ".

1 History
2 1510 License
3 AM 1000 License/WRNJ Intellectual Property History
4 Past Air Personalities

[edit] History

[edit] 1510 License

Its still disputed as to whether the 1510 license was the same license occupied by WRAN/WMHQ from the 1964 to 1988. Some say yes because while the station left the air in 1988, the license being put on 1510 AM could not have if WRAN still occupied the dial there. Still most say it was a different license. AM 1510 was licensed to Dover until 1988. Since 1996, AM 1510 was licensed to Hackettstown. While these are different towns, they are only about 25 miles apart. WRAN/WMHQ's towers were several miles from Dover in Randolph Township, New Jersey. WRNJ's towers are in Washington Township, New Jersey on the Morris County side of the Warren/Morris county line.

This station had an unusual signal day and night. During the day the station transmitted 10,000 watts. This was a very directional signal resembling an hourglass. The station reached about 10 miles east and west but about 70 miles north and south. About 15 miles north of the transmitter point the station had about a 30 mile reach each way. About 35 miles north, the station had about a 50 mile reach each way. So in some places 50 miles away WRAN had a better signal than some points only 10 miles away. At night the station only put out 500 watts and reached about 10 miles all around.

WRAN began operation on 1510 on August 19, 1964. They employed a full service contemporary music format. By the 1970's, the station employed a hybrid format of adult contemporary, Top 40, and oldies. Musically the format resembled the early 70's WOR-FM or the late 70's WCBS-FM. They even called themselves "Solid Gold WRAN" at one point. They were locally owned until 1980 when Silverman and Morrow Broadcasting (owned by Cousin Brucie Morrow) purchased it, along with several other AM and FM radio stations in the outskirts of the New York City metropolitan area.

WRAN was upgraded with new equipment and the music was adjusted. But the solid gold Top 40/AC/Oldies hybrid format continued. Silverman and Morrow sold WRAN along with their other stat stations to Bell Broadcasting in 1982. In 1984 WRAN was sold to Saddle River Holdings. The station was profitable under Cousin Brucie, but once he was no longer associated with WRAN, many advertisers pulled their ads. WRAN continued on with an adult contemporary format until the spring of 1987. At that point the station switched to an Oldies format using satellite programming most of the time. The station at that point became WMHQ. Saddle River Holdings eventually put WMHQ up for sale in 1988, but no one was interested in the station. As a result, they would shut down WMHQ and turn the license over to the FCC. A website[1] devoted to the history of the Dover station, which includes jingles, photos, and memorabilia, was created by a former employee.

[edit] AM 1000 License/WRNJ Intellectual Property History

WRNJ began operation on AM 1000 on August 26, 1976. They were a daytime only station with no pre-sunrise or post-sunset authorization, except for local emergencies. WRNJ employed a full service adult contemporary format with a strong emphasis on local and national news. They also had a lot of local shows pertaining to the community. Larry Tighe originally owned the radio station.

For many years WRNJ was not profitable. By the early 1980s, there were rumors that the station may even go dark. At that point, Norman Worth, who was the only person selling a substantial amount of advertising, became sales manager. Months later the station began turning a profit. After a couple years the station became extremely profitable and was sold out in most dayparts. By the late 1980s, Norman Worth became part owner of the station and took over as General Manager and eventually as Chief Operating Officer.

In 1992, Norman Worth was awarded an FM license on 107.1 FM. That station became WRNJ-FM and employed a COuntry music format. In 1996, WRNJ was granted a 24 hour license on 1510 AM. They then would sell AM 1000 to Westinghouse, freeing them to boost the power of their New York City AM station WINS. That year WRNJ would move off AM 1000 and onto 1510. They kept the Adult Contemporary format initially. They also began operation from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

In 1997, it was determined that their current towers could not transmit the correct night-time patterns. Therefore WRNJ reverted to daytime only on AM 1510. The current music also was phased out and the station evolved to more of an oldies format. By 1998, they were known as "Oldies 1510 WRNJ". The station still continued to be very profitable despite the fact they were daytime only. At the same time, they sold their FM station 107.1 to Big City Radio. WRNJ-FM became WWYY and joined the Country Music Y 107 triplecast making that station a Quadcast. That Quadcast became a Spanish format in 2002. In 2003 those stations were sold to Nassau and Nassau broke up the quadcast selling three of these stations to other owners. They kept 107.1 WWYY and today that station remains licensed to Belvidere, but broadcasts from Stroudsburg. That station employs an Adult Contemporary format.

In 1999, Oldies 1510 WRNJ would finally begin 24 hour a day operations. They added satellite oldies programming for much of the day. But they retained their morning shows, specialty shows, local news, and local talk shows. In 2004, WRNJ dropped the satellite programming. They continue to employ a full service format that plays oldies but talk shows have become more of the focus on the station.