WNYW (Radio New York Worldwide) was a shortwave radio station that broadcasted from Scituate, Massachusetts, in the United States. On October 20, 1973, Family Stations, Inc., acquired the station to be part of its Family Radio network and changed the call letters to WYFR. Family Stations eventually progressively moved the transmitters to their current site in Okeechobee, Florida. The transmitter site in Scituate continued to operate until November 16, 1979 when it was switched off for the last time.
In 1931, Walter Lemmon, a radio inventor, began experimental shortwave station W1XAL in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1935, the station began transmitting non-commercial, educational, and cultural programs.
Four days after Britain and France declared war on Germany, on September 7, 1939, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) assigned call letters WRUL (for World Radio University Listeners)to the station. British Security Coordination, a covert organization that by the British Secret Intelligence Service established in New York City, operated the broadcast service.[1] From 1939 to 1942, WRUL broadcasted radio lectures to Europe and South America in eight languages, and also in the United States over an informal network of over 300 stations, including WNYC in New York City. Like all United States shortwave stations, in November 1942 the U.S. government leased WRUL for further wartime propaganda broadcasts. WRUL was allowed to resume partial independent programming in 1947, and full independent programming in 1954.
Metromedia bought the station in 1960. In June 1962, International Educational Broadcasting Corporation (now Bonneville International), owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, bought WRUL. The station adopted the slogan "Radio New York Worldwide" and switched to an adult contemporary format, with ABC Radio or CBS Radio hourly newscasts and half-hour newscasts from its sister station, WRFM. There were rumors that the station was being partially controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency to broadcast anti-communist propaganda.
On June 1, 1966, WRUL changed its call letters to WNYW, which stood for Radio New York Worldwide. The station attempted to do some commercial programming, but there were few advertisers because it was difficult to estimate audience ratings for the wide geographical area that shortwave stations typically covered.
In 1970, Bonneville offered to sell the station to the U.S. government for a token payment of one dollar, for use by the Voice of America, but no sale materialized.
In 1974 the Bonneville sold WNYW. The callsign was assigned to a Fox Broadcasting Company station, WNYW (formerly Metromedia station WNEW-TV and DuMont Television Network station WABD), in New York City.