WEZE

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WEZE

City of license	Boston, Massachusetts
Branding	590 AM The Word
Slogan	Boston's Christian Talk
Frequency	590 kHz
First air date	September 29, 1924 (1924-09-29) (as WEEI)^[1]
Format	Religion
Power	5,000 watts
Class	B
Facility ID	73594
Transmitter coordinates	42°24′24.00″N 71°5′14.00″W / 42.4066667°N 71.0872222°W / 42.4066667; -71.0872222 (WEZE)
Callsign meaning	EZE = Easy
Former callsigns	WEEI (1924–1994) WBNW (1994–1997)
Former frequencies	990 kHz (1924–1925) 630 kHz (1925–1926) 800 kHz (1926–1927) 860 kHz (1927) 670 kHz (1927) 820 kHz (1927)^[1]
Affiliations	Salem Radio Network
Owner	Salem Communications (Pennsylvania Media Associates, Inc.)
Sister stations	WROL, WWDJ
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	www.wezeradio.com

WEZE is an AM radio station in Boston, Massachusetts on 590 kHz. The station is owned by Salem Communications and airs religious programming.

History

The history of the 590 frequency dates back to 1924 as WEEI, owned by (and whose callsign meant) Edison Electric Illuminating. In its earliest days, the station was a public relations vehicle for Edison. In 1926, the station had become a charter member of NBC Radio, broadcasting NBC Red Network programming, before CBS leased them out in 1936 in response to WBZ being leased by NBC for its Blue Network in 1932. Soon after, CBS completely bought WEEI from Edison.

CBS was the last network to maintain a full schedule of radio comedy programs, dramatic series, variety shows, and soap operas in the traditional sense, so such programming took up much of WEEI's schedule until 1960. By the early 1960s, WEEI had a MOR format interspersed with talk programming, making the station a talk radio pioneer. By the mid-sixties, WEEI was all-talk, except in the overnight hours, where "Music 'Til Dawn" would continue for a few more years. Popular WEEI talk hosts ("talkmasters") of the period included Paul Benzaquin, Howard Nelson, and Len Lawrence.

However, in 1974, this format was scrapped in favor of CBS's standard all-news format, which continued after Helen Broadcasting bought WEEI in 1983. (Its FM sister station remained—and continues to be—owned by CBS.)

By 1991, the Boston Celtics had become the owners of the station, and had interspersed sports programming into WEEI's schedule, before the remaining news programs were finally cancelled, taking the station all-sports. The station also took over operations of WVEI in Worcester to simulcast its programming in central Massachusetts.

In 1994, American Radio Systems purchased the WEEI intellectual property, but FCC regulations prohibited them from actually taking over 590 AM. As such, the station was spun off and became WBNW, while ARS merged the old WHDH radio into WRKO and installed WEEI's programming on the 850 frequency. (WVEI was given up and became WWTM, but was later purchased by WEEI and has returned to WVEI.)

WBNW's new business format (mostly supplied from Bloomberg) failed to catch fire, and so the station was sold to Salem Communications in 1996. Salem moved the religious programming and call letters of WEZE 1260 onto WBNW (which remains on the station to this day), while 1260 became WPZE and later spun off (and became WMKI).

For more of the history of WEZE prior to its move to 590 kilohertz, see WMKI.

WEZE-FM

For a short period, Salem Communications operated WEZE-FM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, billed as "Easy 104.7". Though unusual, FCC rules allow co-owned stations in different cities to share call letters between themselves. Salem purchased the Pittsburgh station as part of a strategic move to compete against a Christian-formatted AM/FM competitor, but would have to run another format until the contracts with the client ministries could be obtained. Salem chose to run an easy-listening format until the contracts were obtained in October 1991, when WEZE-FM evolved into WORD-FM.

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 Halper, Donna; Wollman, Garrett. "The Eastern Massachusetts Radio Timeline: The First Fifteen Years". The Archives @ BostonRadio.org. Retrieved December 28, 2011.

External links

Query the FCC's AM station database for WEZE

Radio-Locator Information on WEZE

Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WEZE

v t e Radio stations in Boston, including Eastern Massachusetts

By AM frequency	590 650 680 740 800 850 890 950 980² 1030¹ 1060² 1090 1120 1150 1170 ² 1200 1230² 1260 1300 1330 1360 1390² 1410 1430 1460² 1470 1490² 1510 1550 1570² 1600

By FM frequency	88.1 88.9 89.7 90.3 90.9 91.5 91.5 91.5 91.7 91.9 92.5² 92.9 93.7 94.5 95.3 95.9² 96.9 97.7 98.5 99.1² 99.5 99.9 100.1 100.7 101.7 102.5 103.3 104.1 104.9² 104.9 105.7 106.7 107.3² 107.9

By callsign	WAAF² WAMG WATD-FM² WAZN WBMX WBNW² WBOQ WBOS WBQT WBRS WBUR-FM WBZ WBZ-FM WCAP² WCEC² WCRB WDIS² WEDX WEEI WEEI-FM WERS WESX² WEZE WGBH WHHB WHRB WILD WJDA WJIB WJMN WKAF WKLB-FM WKOX WLYN WMBR WMFO WMJX WMKI WMLN-FM WMVX WMWM WNTN WODS WPLM² WPLM-FM² WQOM WRBB WRCA WRKO WROL WROR-FM WSRO WUFC WUMB-FM WUML² WUNR WWDJ WXBR² WXKS WXKS-FM WXRV WZBC WZBR WZLX

Former stations	WBCN WFNX

Internet Stations	RadioBDC

Massachusetts radio markets Boston Cape Cod New Bedford-Fall River Springfield Worcester Other Massachusetts radio regions Pittsfield See also List of radio stations in Massachusetts Manchester Radio ¹ = Clear-channel stations with extended nighttime coverage. ² = A station from a neighboring market that serves Boston and area, and is considered a "Boston station" by Nielsen Radio

v t e Salem Communications

FM radio stations	KAIM-FM KBIQ KDAR KDIS-FM KFIS KFSH-FM KGBI-FM KGFT KHCM-FM KGU-FM KKHT-FM KKFS KKLA-FM KKOL-FM KLTY KPDQ-FM KRKS-FM KRYP KSAC-FM KWRD-FM WAVA-FM WBOZ WFFH WFFI WFHM-FM WFIA WFSH-FM WGTK-FM WORD-FM

AM radio stations	KBJD KCBQ KCRO KDOW KFAX KFIA KGBN KGNW KGU KHCM KHNR KKOL KKMS KKNT KLFE KLUP KNTH KNTS KNUS KPDQ KPRZ KPXQ KOTK KRKS KRDY KRLA KSKY KSLR KTEK KTIE KTKZ KTNO KXYZ KYCR KZNT WAFS WAVA WDTK WEZE WFIA WFIL WGKA WGTK WGUL WHIM WHK WHKW WHKZ WIND WKAT WLSS WLTA WLQV WMCA WNIV WNTP WNYM WORL WPIT WRFD WROL WTBN WTLN WTWD WWDJ WWRC WWTC WYLL WZAB¹

Salem Radio Network	FamilyTalk Solid Gospel The Word In Praise Today's Christian Music

Salem Publishing	FaithTalk Homecoming Magazine Preaching Magazine Singing News Townhall Xulon Press YouthWorker Journal

Salem Web Network	CCMmagazine.com Christianity.com Crosswalk.com Godtube Hot Air Oneplace.com Townhall.com

¹ = Co-owned with Florida City Radio under LMA. AaBbCc = Acquisition from Radio Disney Group, LLC (ABC, Inc.) pending.

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