WESX (1230 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a religious and multi-cultural format, licensed to broadcast in the

Nahant, Massachusetts Nahant () is a New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,334 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, which makes it the smallest municipality by population in Essex County. With just of l ...

, precinct. The station is owned by Real Media Group, LLC. Programming is in Spanish, Portuguese, Creole, and English. The transmitter is located in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

, with studios located in Chelsea.

History

WESX made its debut on December 10, 1939, at 1200 kHz on the AM band, with studios in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one ...

; the transmitter was in Marblehead. The station's original owner was Charles W. Phelan, who had been the director of sales for the

Yankee Network The Yankee Network was an American radio network, based in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, with affiliate radio stations throughout New England. At the height of its influence, the Yankee Network had as many as twenty-four affiliated radio stati ...

in Boston from 1928 to early 1939. The station's first program manager also came from the Yankee Network— Van D. Sheldon, who had most recently been in charge of the Artists Bureau, where he auditioned and hired the bands that performed on the air. The programming and advertising on WESX targeted the cities and towns north of Boston, the area known as the North Shore. But by 1949, Phelan was in poor health; in early November, he sold the station to James D. Asher and Joseph H. Tobin, who also owned radio station

WJDA WJDA (1300 AM) is a radio station with a broadcast tower in Quincy, Massachusetts, serving the Greater Boston area with a reggaeton format. The station's studios are in Chelsea. Its programming is also heard on FM translator W260DS (99.9) in B ...

in Quincy. After James D. Asher died in 1973, his son Jay ran the stations until May 2006, at which time they were sold to Otto Miller, who changed both stations from their full-service (news, talk, local sports, music) format to a Spanish-language format. In 2017, the Principle Broadcasting Network sold its stations — WESX, WJDA, and WLIE in

Islip, New York Islip ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island. The population was 339,938 at th ...

— to Universal Stations for $2.3 million; Universal's principals were also associated with Principle. Universal Stations sold WESX and WJDA to Real Media Group effective August 9, 2018.

BBC ''Up All Night''

In 2004,

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

presenter

Rhod Sharp Rhoderick Sharp (born 1953 in Perth, Scotland, Perth) is a Scottish broadcaster, best known as a former presenter of ''Up All Night (radio show), Up All Night'' on BBC Radio 5 Live. Early life After being educated at Perth Academy, Sharp took a ...

moved to

Marblehead, Massachusetts Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, along the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsu ...

. Wishing to continue to broadcast the

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

show '' Up All Night'', he made an arrangement with WESX's owners to use the studios and

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network. ...

line to connect him with

Broadcasting House London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...

in London, England. The arrangement came to an end in 2007, when Sharp and his wife moved to an 18th-century house in Marblehead's Old Town section, which included a suitably equipped home-studio.

References

External links

{{Religious Radio Stations in Massachusetts ESX Radio stations established in 1939 Nahant, Massachusetts Salem, Massachusetts Mass media in Essex County, Massachusetts 1939 establishments in Massachusetts