WSKQ-FM

WSKQ-FM

City of license	New York, New York
Broadcast area	New York City
Branding	Mega 97.9
Slogan	La Mega Se Pega
Frequency	97.9 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date	1941 (as W47NY at 44.7) 1947 (as WGYN at 97.9)
Format	Tropical
ERP	6,000 watts
HAAT	415 meters
Class	B
Facility ID	61641
Transmitter coordinates	40°44′54.36″N 73°59′08.36″W / 40.7484333°N 73.9856556°W / 40.7484333; -73.9856556 (Empire State Building)Coordinates: 40°44′54.36″N 73°59′08.36″W / 40.7484333°N 73.9856556°W / 40.7484333; -73.9856556 (Empire State Building)^[1]
Former frequencies	44.7 Mc. (1941–1947)
Owner	Spanish Broadcasting System (WSKQ Licensing, Inc.)
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	www.lamega.com

WSKQ-FM, known on-air as Mega 97.9, is a radio station in New York City owned by Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS). Currently located at 97.9 FM, the station has a tropical format, which consists of such musical styles as salsa, merengue, bachata, and reggaeton. The station has a transmitter atop the Empire State Building.

History

The 97.9 FM facility's heritage goes back to 1941, when the Muzak Corporation went on the air as W47NY at 44.7 Megacycles. The call letters changed to WGYN in 1943, and the frequency ended up at 97.9 Megacycles on the new F.M. band in 1947.

In 1952 the call letters became WEVD-FM. The station was owned by The Jewish Daily Forward with brokered ethnic programming, Jewish programming, and some pop standards and big band music.

Norman B. Furman was general manager of WEVD from 1968 to 1972. He initiated a variety of programs to serve the many ethnic communities in New York. The call letters were announced as WEVD, "the station that speaks your language." These languages included Yiddish, Hebrew, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, German, Russian, Japanese and Irish, all serving their various communities. The "Forward Hour", a popular variety show, was MC'd by Furman for many years. He had a major role in developing and procuring the most popular of all Jewish jingles: "Joe and Paul a fargenigen ... A suit, a coat kenst du krigen."

In October 1983 SBS brought WVNJ in Newark, New Jersey, and converted what had been big band/adult standards-format into a Spanish adult contemporary music station with the callsign of WSKQ. Known on-air as Super KQ, the station was led by Rafael-Diaz Gutierrez, Raul Alarcon (former DJ in Cuba), and Adriano Garcia Sr. (CEO of SAR Records). WSKQ would become the New York market's fourth full-time Spanish station at that time, after WADO, WJIT (now WZRC), and WKDM.

In 1988, SBS negotiated a deal that would enable them to acquire the 97.9 FM frequency that was occupied by ethnic WEVD. SBS had acquired the 1050 AM frequency in October 1988, as the frequency's previous occupants, WFAN, had just replaced WNBC on the 660 AM frequency. Since it was illegal in 1988 for the same company to own two AM stations in a market, there was a problem in regards to what to do with the 1050 frequency. To solve this problem, the FCC allowed SBS to operate the 1050 frequency as a non-commercial station. The call letters would be WUKQ, and would play Spanish adult contemporary music without commercial interruptions, while 620 AM would become a Spanish oldies station. Finally, on February 1, 1989, the deal between SBS and WEVD closed, and SBS instituted a Spanish music format with the call letters WSKQ-FM on 97.9 FM, while WEVD moved to 1050 AM.

The Spanish oldies music format on 620 AM would remain for several years after the deal, and in 1995, that station would take on a tejano format as WXLX. A couple of years later, SBS would sell the station to One-on-One Sports (now Sporting News Radio), and it would become a sports-talk station.

As for WSKQ-FM, the Spanish adult contemporary format initially obtained mediocre ratings. Then in 1993, with the hiring of Vice President and General Manager Alfredo Alonso, the station moved to an upbeat tropical format playing a lot of salsa, merengue, and dance music and using the name "Mega 97.9". At that point the station would flourish; as of 2005, it was one of the highest rated radio stations in New York City. Its morning show, the syndicated El Vacilón de la Mañana, has sometimes reached number one among all morning shows in New York. The shows, such as the Luis Jimenez-era El Vacilon and its former Sunday night programs "On Fuego: The Daddy Yankee Show" and TRL Latino, were syndicated by CBS Radio and ABC Radio Networks.

The Spanish adult contemporary format was resurrected in January 1996, when SBS acquired WPAT-FM's license and transmitter.

References

↑ National Geodetic Survey datasheet KU3602, Retrieved July 26, 2009

External links

Mega 97.9 website

Query the FCC's FM station database for WSKQ

Radio-Locator information on WSKQ

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WSKQ

Preceded by WEVD	FM 97.9 in New York City 1952 – February 1, 1989	Succeeded by WSKQ

Preceded by WSKQ	AM 620 in New York City 1983–1995	Succeeded by WXLX (now WSNR)

Preceded by WUKQ	AM 1050 in New York City February 1, 1989 – Present	Succeeded by WEVD (now WEPN)

Spanish Broadcasting System

Radio Stations

New York	WSKQ WPAT

Los Angeles	KLAX KXOL

Miami	WRMA WXDJ WMFM¹ WCMQ-FM WRAZ¹

Puerto Rico	WRXD/WIOB WODA/WNOD WMEG/WEGM WZNT/WZMT/WZET²

Chicago	WLEY-FM

San Francisco	KRZZ

Television

Broadcast network	Mega TV

Mega TV network affiliates	KTBU WSBS-TV WTCV/WVEO/WVOZ-TV

¹SBS operates this station under a local marketing agreement by South Broadcasting System.
²SBS operates this station under a license management agreement by IBC-AERCO.

Radio stations in the New York City market

By AM frequency	570 660 ¹ 710 ¹ 770 ¹ 820 880 ¹ 1010 1050 1130 ¹ 1190 1280 1330 1380 1480 1560 ¹ 1600 1620 New Jersey 620 930 970 1430 1500 1530 1660 Westchester County, N.Y. 1460

By FM frequency	87.7 88.9 89.1² 89.9 90.3 (New York) 90.3 (Brooklyn) 90.7 91.5 92.3 93.9 95.5 96.3 97.1 97.9 98.7 99.5 101.1 101.9 102.7 103.5 104.3 105.1 106.7 107.5 New Jersey 88.3 89.1² 89.5 90.3 91.1 93.1 94.7 99.1 100.3 102.3 105.5 105.9 106.3 107.1 Westchester County, N.Y. 88.1 88.9 90.3 93.5 96.7 100.7 103.9 106.3 107.1 Long Island, N.Y. 92.7 103.5

Via FM subcarrier	67 kHz Chinese Radio New York Gatewave radio reading service Radio Maria Stati Uniti (Italian) 92 kHz Chung Wah Chinese Broadcasting Company ICN Radio Radio Maria Estados Unidos (Spanish) RBC Radio

Digital Radio	710 880 1010 1280 1560 88.3-1 88.3-2 89.5-1 89.5-2 89.9-1 89.9-1 89.9-2 89.9-3 90.7-1 90.7-2 90.7-3 92.3-1 92.3-2 93.1-1 93.1-2 93.5-1 93.5-2 93.5-3 93.5-4 93.9-1 93.9-2 93.9-3 94.7-1 94.7-4 95.5-1 95.5-2 95.5-3 97.1-1 97.1-2 97.9-1 98.7-1 100.3-1 100.3-2 101.1-1 101.1-2 101.1-3 102.7-1 102.7-2 102.7-3 103.5-1 103.5-2 103.5-3 103.9-1 104.3-1 104.3-2 105.1-1 105.1-2 105.9-1 105.9-2 106.7-1 106.7-2 107.5-1 107.5-2

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.550

By callsign	KWO35 WABC ¹ WADO WARY WAWZ WAXQ WBAI WBBR ¹ WBGO WBLS WBMP WCBS ¹ WCBS-FM WEPN WEPN-FM WFAN ¹ WFAN-FM WFDU² WFME ¹ WFME-FM WFMU WFUV WGHT WHCR-FM WHTZ WHUD WICR WINS WJDM WKCR-FM WKDM WKLV-FM WKMK WKRB WKTU WLIB WLTW WMCA WMSC WNBM WNSH WNSW WNYC WNYC-FM WNYE WNYM WNYU-FM² WNYZ-LP WOR ¹ WPAT WPAT-FM WPLJ WQBU-FM WQHT (HD2) WQXR-FM WQXW WSIA WSKQ-FM WSNR WSOU WVIP WVOX WWES WWFS WWPR-FM (HD2) WWRL WWRU WWRV WWZY WXNY-FM WXPK WZRC

Defunct	WHN ³ WNBC WNBC-FM ³ WNEW WYNY ³

New York radio markets Albany–Schenectady–Troy Binghamton Buffalo–Niagara Falls Elmira–Corning Hudson Valley Nassau–Suffolk (Long Island) New York City Olean Plattsburgh Poughkeepsie Rochester Syracuse Utica–Rome Watertown Other New York radio regions Ithaca Jamestown–Dunkirk North Country Saratoga NYC Metro Markets Long Island Hudson Valley [partial] Poughkeepsie Middlesex-Somerset-Union Monmouth-Ocean Morristown Bridgeport Danbury New Haven Stamford-Norwalk See also List of radio stations in New York ¹ = Clear-channel stations with extended nighttime coverage. ²= Stations share time on the frequency. ³= Technically still active, but on a different frequency with new call letters and different intellectual property.

Spanish-language radio stations in the state of New York

Stations	WADO – New York WBON – Westhampton WEPN – New York WLIM – Patchogue WQBU-FM – Garden City WSKQ – New York

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in New York See also Classical Jazz Religious Spanish Smooth Jazz Other

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