WNJO (defunct)

This article is about the radio station broadcasting on 94.5 FM from 1998 to 2002. For the radio station broadcasting on 90.3 FM since 2008, see New Jersey Network.

WNJO

City of license	Trenton, New Jersey
Broadcast area	Central Jersey
Branding	August 7, 1965 (as WCHR-FM)
Slogan	"New Jersey's Oldies Station"
Frequency	94.5 MHz
First air date	1998
Format	Oldies
ERP	50,000 watts
HAAT	150 meters
Class	B
Facility ID	25013
Transmitter coordinates	40°11′22″N 74°50′47″W / 40.18944°N 74.84639°W / 40.18944; -74.84639
Callsign meaning	"New Jersey's Oldies"
Former callsigns	WCHR-FM
Website	http://www.wnjofm.com

WNJO (94.5 FM) was a radio station licensed to serve Trenton, New Jersey. It aired an Oldies music format.^[1] This station currently operates as WPST.

Launch

WNJO was launched on March 2, 1998, with then New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman kicking off "New Jersey's Oldies Station" with The Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand." The station was a success, debuting at the #1 spot, kicking out WKXW and outshining sister station WPST. The 94.5 filled in the lack of a strong oldies outlet in Central NJ, with WCBS-FM's signal blocked by co-channel WBEB, and interference with WOGL from 97.9 in NYC and WMGQ in New Brunswick.

Personalities

WNJO's program directors included, Scott "Boom Boom" Edwards and Jeff Rafter (now program director at WJRZ-FM & WMGQ). Full-time DJs included PD's Edwards and Rafter along with Tripp Rogers, Dave Collins, Max Vierra, and Nancy Hill as well as talk personality Roberta Gale (after leaving WKXW). Part-timers included Johnny Dark and Joe Stephens (both now at WJRZ-FM). Don Kellogg (now Operations Manager and morning personality in Texas) served as morning personality for a year. Station consultant was Oldies specialist Chris Elliot

Music

WNJO was focused on early- to mid-1960s oldies, with many late-1950s and early-1960s oldies and only a few 1970s songs.

Demise and revival

By 2001, WNJO had fallen to sixth place in the Trenton ratings behind three Philadelphia stations. With "NJ 101.5" music programming dropping all pre-1964 songs and focusing on the 1970s, WNJO lost the ability to keep WPST at the top of the ratings. Nassau had to change the station, but without causing WPST to drop (the main reason Oldies was launched in the first place). With that, WNJO as "New Jersey's Oldies" ceased to exist on November 1, 2001, and flipped to Classic Hits, focusing on rock songs from 1965 to 1982 to keep pace with WKXW. The WNJO calls were replaced on August 1, 2002 with WTHK.

In late 2006, WNJO was revived on the internet as a commercial-free, jockless web stream.

References