WXKW
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is the article about NJ 101.5 in Atlantic City. For the NJ 101.5 in Trenton, please refer to WKXW.
| WXKW-FM | |
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| City of license | Millville, New Jersey |
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| Broadcast area | Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| Branding | New Jersey 101.5 |
| Frequency | 97.3 (MHz) |
| Format | talk/oldies/news |
| ERP | 50,000 watts |
| HAAT | 142 meters |
| Class | B |
| Owner | Millennium Atlantic City Ii License Holdco, LLC |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.nj1015.com |
WXKW is the simulcast of New Jersey 101.5 near Atlantic City, New Jersey. Its transmitter is located in Corbin City, New Jersey. See also WKXW-FM.
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[edit] History of WMVB/WBSS The Boss 97
The date was September 20,1987 when a little known 5,000 watt radio station, WMVB 97.3 “The Spirit of South Jersey” flipped from a Hot Adult Contemporary radio station playing everything to what would become to be known as “The Boss 97” WBSS Millville/Vineland/Bridgeton, NJ. WBSS was purchased by Wintersrun Communications and soon upgraded to 50,000 watts, to cover much of South Jersey including Cumberland, Atlantic, Cape May and Salem counties. Broadcasting from a small 30 x 30 2 story "shack" in the woods just off Rt 55, "From the Bridges to the Beaches"'' the Switch is (was) On to the New Boss97 FM, Your Number 1 choice for All Hits and More Music"
The Boss also was a favorite station among listeners of Philadelphia and Delaware. The Boss music mix help break such artists as: Stevie B, TKA, Sweet Sensation, George LaMond, Collage, Lisa Lisa, Madonna (even though by then she had already released several #1 hits over the previous 7 years), C&C Music Factory, Black Box and many more. The Boss 97 had its own personality, it made you feel good, it evoked a Passion, an Emotion! From the “12 Noon Classic Showcase,” to the “The Midnight Chill (Between The Sheets),” from the legendary Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday night LIVE dance parties, to the “The Sunday Night Classic Showcase.” The Boss was a lifestyle! Who could forget “Boss Bash 1, 2 and 3?” The Boss was the first radio station to EVER throw a concert for its listeners in a casino, in this case the world famous Copa Room inside the Sands Hotel & Casino (yes, the one that Frank Sinatra made famous!). In doing so The Boss helped Atlantic City realize that the world’s playground needed more than Wayne Newton and Don Rickles and wasn’t just about senior citizens and slot machines! The Atlantic City market has since boomed with contemporary music acts in every casino but the music on the radio lacks that passion and the DJs who you wouldn’t think twice about wanting to hang out with. The Boss 97 made its name in the streets, with the people. It played music that the listeners wanted to hear, but it also programmed music they knew the listeners would like. They knew from being in the cities and towns that its listeners lived in. The Boss showed up at the opening of an envelope with it giant Boom Box. No event was too small or too big for The Boss.
Back in the day The Boss became so big locally that it was recognized nationally by many national music trade publications including Billboard, Radio & Records, FMQB, Gavin and Hitmakers as an influential radio station. It became one of the market’s first Top 40/Pop music reporting stations thus becoming a part of the influence that helped records climb the national charts.
The Boss played host to numerous area clubs, like Déjà vu (Tattingers), The Key Club, The Shark Club, The Dutch Mill, Club Cheers, Club QV, The Coastline South, Polo Bay and even a live broadcast from Skater's Choice roller skating center as well as many others.
The Disc Jockeys became our friends and nearly a part of our family, Joe Ciapanna, Lisa Del, Nicky G, Bob Burke, Alan Fox, Hollywood Sean Phillips, Christina Joyce, Dangerous Doug Parks,Suzzanne Leigh,K.C. McCarty, Mark the Shark, Unique Monique The Rebel Johnny Treble, Walt Cannon, Samantha, Dave Lavender, Dominic, Captain Johnny Stevens, Hotshot Hamilton, Ralphie Marino,The Hitman (Michael J), Big Al, J.J. DePhillips, J.C. Chill, Jackson T. Chase, T. J. O'Brien, Jay Towers, Mike Brooks, promo guy Julio Perez, Club Mixers: Charlie Ford, Bill Borelli, Jerry McGee, Tony Morris, Jeff Rice and Gary Q, Plus so many more. And our General Manager that let it all come together, Joe Mitchell. While most still reside in South Jersey a chosen few have gone on to become Operation Managers, Program Directors or Music Directors and DJs in other markets such as Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, Florida, Las Vegas and Boston. While others are helping to promote and break the artists of tomorrow today!
On October 31, 1995 Boss 97 FM signed off the air for the last time. 1995 and a simulcast with WKXW began....
[edit] History of the WXKW call letters
WXKW was a radio station in upstate New York, and later in eastern Pennsylvania. The station was originally licensed to Albany to operate on 850 kHz with 10,000 watts of power. The XK in the call sign stands for Ten Thousand. The station signed on in 1947 under a Program Test Authority from the FCC, operating at the same power day & night. The transmitter, using a 6 tower array, was located in the Town of Bethlehem, about 10 miles south of the city of Albany.
[edit] Troubled from the beginning
Ever since the station's sign-on, another radio station in the area (WGY) was uncomfortable that a powerful radio station be allowed to operate so close to them on the dial. However, WGY owner General Electric had no legal basis for this argument, and therefore enrolled radio station KOA in Denver (which GE formerly owned) to protest WXKW's use of the channel. KOA is the dominant clear channel station on 850, and had a better footing in which to object, alleging that WXKW was interfering with KOA's protected nighttime skywave service area. It was under this light that WXKW never actually received a formal license to operate. The station was subject to having to go off the air for brief times at scheduled intervals during the course of the day for signal measurement, thus repeatedly interrupting their broadcast day.
[edit] How TV killed the radio star
WXKW had landed the ABC Radio affiliation early on, which was important in that era of broadcasting. However, because television broadcasting was now on the horizon, things were about to change. AM radio station typically started and owned companion television stations in the early days of TV, and the Albany market would be no exception. General Electric, which already owned WGY AM and an experimental FM radio station in the region, had been broadcasting television programming since 1928. WRGB would come to be regarded as the first TV station in the USA, and because of GE ownership, already had a lock on NBC affiliation.
Another local station, WTRY, was the local CBS affiliate and it was planned that their future TV station would be the CBS TV affiliate.
Yet another radio station, WROW, was the Mutual radio network affiliate and also wanted to put a TV station on the air. Mutual didn't offer a TV network, WXKW already had ABC, and the remaining Dumont TV network wasn't performing very well and was a much less attractive alternative for programming. At that time (much as it is today), it was considered essential that a TV station have a network affiliation in order to survive. A deal was struck between the owners of WROW and WXKW owner Stephen Rintoul. WROW would pay $50,000 to have WXKW go off the air permanently, so it could clinch the ABC affiliation for both the radio and TV stations. And so in September 1952, WXKW left the air for good.
[edit] WXKW call letters return, but not for long
The mighty WXKW calls were once again issued to an Albany radio station in 1961. This time for a 500 watt daytime only station operating at 1600 kHz in Watervliet, New York, 6 miles north of Albany. This station went through a number of format changes in its short history, to include Easy-Listening, Middle-of-the-road hits, R&B and soul music, Old Time Radio, Ethnic, Religious, and even some country music. The studios were located in the Hendrick Hudson Hotel in downtown Troy, New York, while the transmitter tower was located off 19th Street in Watervliet. That station had a very difficult time becoming financially stable, and late in its history it's said that employee paychecks frequently bounced. In 1966, during a period when the owner owned several months of back rent, the landlord cut off the electricity to the station's studio. Later that evening, a fire completely destroyed the facility. The disc jockey's attempted to keep the station on the air by playing records at the transmitter site. However, the owner decided that it time to give up on the venture, and ordered the station off the air. The Chief Engineer proceeded to transmitter site, turned off the station, and smashed the main transmitter tube. That ended the second chapter of WXKW radio. Just a couple of small corrections and additions here. It was not the owner who decided to take the station off the air. It was the staff (program director, chief engineer, secretary and unpaid intern, me). The general manager called around 7:30 and said he would be there to pay with cash. The program director told him that if he came with checks that would be the end. He was so sure he would come with checks that the decision was made to end it when the general manager arrived with checks. I did the last show on the station starting at 8 a.m. playing music commercial free with just cut ins on the hour and half hour to announce, "WXKW, Troy, NY broadcasting from our transmitter site in Watervliet, NY". Shortly before 11 a.m., the general manager arrived with checks and the program director went on the air at 10:55 and said, "Due to circumstances beyond our control, WXKW will cease operations at this time." He played Auld Lang Syne, then the National Anthem and the Chief Enginneer smashed the main transmitter tube.
[edit] WXKW calls move to eastern PA
From the 1970s to the spring of 1985, WXKW was an FM station on 104.1 MHz located in the Allentown, Pennsylvania area, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, United States. From 1980 to 1985 the station had a country music format. In the spring of 1985 the entire station (format, equipment, library, personnel, and all) was transferred to on the AM band. The station was acquired by Holt Broadcasting in 1992; the country music format remained in place. In 1996, Holt Broadcasting sold 1470 WXKW (and FM 95.1 WZZO) to Capstar, who changed the AM station's call letters to WKAP and changed the format to oldies.
[edit] Today's WXKW
WXKW is now the simulcast station in southern New Jersey for New Jersey 101.5. It is at 97.3 FM in southern New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania and Delaware.
[edit] External links
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