WNTJ
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| WNTJ | |
| City of license | Johnstown, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Johnstown, Pennsylvania |
| Branding | News Talk 1490 WNTJ |
| Frequency | 1490 kHZ (AM) |
| Format | News/Talk |
| Power | 1,000 Watts |
| Class | C |
| Callsign meaning | W News Talk Johnstown |
| Former callsigns | WPRR (2005-2008) WSPO (2004-2005) WNTJ (1991-2004) WKQS (1990-1991) WJNL (c1970-1990) WARD (signon-c1970) |
| Affiliations | Fox News Radio |
| Owner | Results Radio - 2510 Licenses, LLC. (LMA to Forever Broadcasting) |
| Website | http://www.ntjnetwork.com |
WNTJ (1490 AM) is a radio station in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The channel broadcasts a news/talk format. (The station's official call letters remain WPRR, pending approval for the "WNTJ" calls.)
Prior to 2008, this station was home to ESPN Radio affiliate WPRR, and before that, was the first home for WNTJ.
[edit] History: Beginnings as WARD-AM
First coming on the air in 1948, this station began as WARD-AM. Over the next decade, WARD would be joined by a same-named FM station (now WKYE), and a UHF television station also bearing the same call letters (now known today as WNPA).
For many years, these three stations would be under common ownership, and operating as affiliates of the CBS radio and television networks. The call letters for all three were changed from WARD to WJNL following its acquisition by Johnstown-based Jonel Construction Company in 1970. This station was typical of one owned with a TV station, programming a full-service format with heavy emphasis on local news. This business model continued into the start of the 1980s, when the organization fell onto hard times. It began with the downturn of WJNL-TV, which lost its CBS affiliation to WTAJ after the Johnstown and Altoona TV markets were merged into one. The radio stations, already crippled by the fall of Johnstown's lucrative coal and steel industries, were unable to sustain the TV station's sudden drop in revenue, and the TV station was eventually sold off, leaving WJNL-AM/FM to continue on.
The radio stations continued to operate until the end of the decade, when both were acquired by Pennsylvania Broadcast Associates (dba Dame Media). WJNL-FM underwent a format change and WJNL was reduced to simulcasting its FM sister 100 percent (as the new though irrelevant WKQS-AM)until a plan could be developed for its future.
WJNL-AM then became WNTJ, programming a format of full-service news and talk. The station would maintain this format for approximately a decade until its subsequent purchase by Forever Broadcasting.
Forever relocated WNTJ's talk format and call letters to their 850 kHz signal, turning the 1490 signal into an ESPN Radio affiliate - first recycling the WSPO call letters originally used on the 850 signal, then as WPRR with a sale of the station to 2510 Broadcasting.
In November 2007, a deal was reached to sell WPRR plus co-owned stations WCCL, WBVH, and WLKH to Forever Broadcasting Inc. (Carol Logan, president) for a reported combined sale price of $3 million. 2510 Licenses LLC (Nicholas Galli, managing member) still owns all four stations, pending FCC approval of the sale.[1]
Forever has since moved back the WNTJ format and call letters back to the 1490 kHz signal.
[edit] References
- ^ Changing Hands. Broadcasting & Cable (2007-11-12).
[edit] External links
- WPRR's website
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WPRR
- Radio Locator Information on WPRR
- Query Arbitron's AM station database for WPRR
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