Talk:WXCT
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[edit] ORIGINAL ARTICLE
WXCT AM 990 Southington, Connecticut
[edit] The Early Years (1969-1999)
WXCT debuted in 1969 as WNTY, a 2500 watt daytime only radio station, owned by The Rice Family who at that time also owned WINY (1350 AM) in Putnam. Broadcasting from studios and a tower on Old Turnpike Road in the Plantsville section of Southington, WNTY did its best to serve the community.
[edit] La Brava 990
After the death of Donato F. Sarapo (WNTY's owner) in 1999; WNTY was sold to Peter Aprin's ADD Radio Group for $850,000. - Northeast Radio Watch 2/12/99 - Scroll Down The ADD Radio Group leased out WNTY's entire broadcast day to El Prinicpe Communications (the company that had formerly owned Meriden's WMMW 1470). El Principe programmed the station (which had gone to a 24 hour broadcast schedule) with a Hispanic format as "La Brava 990". (La Brava was the name El Principe had used when they owned WMMW).
El Prinicpe Communications continued programming WNTY until September 2000, when they were forced off the air by a Court judge for non-payment of rent (among other things) to The ADD Radio Group. El Principe's last day running WNTY was September 15, 2000. They shut down at 9:30PM. The following day (Saturday) WNTY's General Manager Hipolito Cuevas went to put the station back on the air and he found the station trashed, with equipment damaged or destroyed. El Principe was officially off of WNTY, but so was the other programming the station ran on Sundays, which included a Lithuanian Show, an Italian Show, A Church Service Broadcast, and a Polka Show. WNTY remained off the air for about 2 weeks.
[edit] After La Brava
WNTY returned to the air on Friday September 29, 2000. Programming was commercial free Spanish Music. On October 1st the Sunday programming resumed as well. Monday morning the station began playing a mixture of Classic R&B Music, Disco Music, and Caribbean Music. In between songs were announcemnets that Southington High School Blue Knights Football would be retuning to the station that Friday. - New Britain Herald - 9/30/00. (Note: it is a mistake on the part of the Newspaper that said WNTY would have an all Michael Jackson Format).
[edit] Blaze 990
At 6AM on Monday October 24, 2000 BLAZE 990 debuted on WNTY. BLAZE 990 was a hip-hop format programmed by Dr. Phillip Duncan (not a real doctor), who had recently been fired from JAMZ 910 (also an urban formatted radio station). Dr. Phillip Duncan's Blaze Communications leased the station's broadcast day 6AM-6PM Monday-Saturday. Saturday's featured 12 straight hours of Caribbean Music. Since the overnight hours (6PM-6AM) weren't yet leased out, a CD of various hip-hop songs was played.
In July 2001 (several months after an FM hip-hop station signed on) Charlie Profit was hired as the General Manager of WNTY. Several weeks later the contract with Phillip Duncan was canceled due to non-payment. The station took back the airtime and continued to program Hip-Hop and expanded to 9PM weeknights. All of the Saturday Caribbean programming which was brokered through Phillip Duncan was replaced by Football Talk Shows and by College Football Play By Play. The weeknight overnight hours (9PM-6AM) were leased out to a Spanish Language Ministry. That contract ended in October 2001. During the overnight hours they played FOX News Channel audio. (WNTY had run mostly FOX News Channel audio for a good portion of the broadcast day on 9/11/01 and the days after the attacks).
[edit] The Death of Blaze 990
BLAZE 990 programming abruptly ended on Thanksgiving Day 2001. A DJ didn't get to the station until 7:15AM. As scheduled he switched over to the live broadcast of the Southington High School Football game at 10AM. When the game was over after 12:45PM it was obvious he had left the station, as there was no programming. By 1PM someone was able to get down to the station and switched over to the FOX News Channel, which ran non-stop until Saturday Morning.
FOX News Channel programming was now being heard on the station 24 hours a day, except for the football play by play on Saturdays and Sundays and the Sunday brokered shows.
[edit] Notty 99/Xact Radio 990 The X
The next chapter in WNTY's life began in February 2002. The station switched to a news/talk format as "NOTTY 99" (Naughty). NOTTY was a play on the WNTY call letters. And the station's motto was "Breaking All The Rules - NOTTY 99". By October they began to discontinue the NOTTY 99 slogan on air and became just WNTY AM 990. WNTY rebranded itself as "Xact Radio 990 The X" WXCT in April 2003, keeping it's news/talk format in tact. The station gradually grew a small, but loyal following.
WXCT kept chugging along growing slowly, but steadily. A new morning show launched in February 2004. It featured Thom Morgan who provided a mixture of music, talk, and entertainment. (Morgan had worked at WNTY in the 70s). After a slow start the show began to catch fire, but all this was about to come to an end. In mid-March 2004 it was announced that WXCT was being sold by The ADD Radio Group to the Davidson Media Group. Based on the other stations Davidson Media Group owned rumours were flying the talk format would soon be history and the station would flip to some sort of Spanish Programming. - Meriden Record-Journal 4/7/04. Trying to prevent the inevitable a "Save WXCT" Campaign was started. Letters were written to the new station owners. Stories ran in the local papers. All of this was to no avail. WXCT became Spanish SuperMax 990 on May 4, 2004. (A WXCT Farewell Breakfast was held on Good Friday 2004. Over 60 people showed up). - Meriden Record-Journal 4/10/04
[edit] SuperMax 990/Power 990
SuperMax 990 debuted at 6AM on Monday May 4, 2004. Initially the station simulcast the popular show "Anda Pa'l Cara" from rival Spanish Station WPRX (1120 AM). As it turned out SuperMax was being programmed by the hosts of Anda Pa'l Cara - Hipolito Cuevas (yes him) and Paul Nunez. Their show eventually ended its run on WPRX and began to air exclusivly on SuperMax 990. At first SuperMax was programmed 6AM-6PM Monday-Saturday and the programming originated from Southington. Brokered Programming in English and left over talk shows aired 6PM-6AM. SuperMax soon moved into temporary studios in Hartford next door to WPRX. SuperMax went 24 hours in mid August 2004. In November they moved into new studios in the penthouse of the Channel 3 Building in Hartford. Paul Nunez left the station in early 2005. That ended the advertising campaign the station had with the local Telemundo affiliate.
In July 2005, the SuperMax contract was canceled. Davidson Media Group took back the airtime to program the Spanish format in-house (based in Southington). The station then known as Power 990 lasted from July 2005 until October 2005.
[edit] Talk Radio 990 - Central Connecticut's Talk Radio For Women
In October 2005 Davidson Media Group rehired Charlie Profit as WXCT's General Manager and asked him to bring back the news/talk format. The news/talk programming returned on October 3 as "Talk Radio 990 - Central Connecticut's Talk Radio For Women"; though the station runs many gender-friendly oriented shows.
