WNBH

WNBH (1340 AM) is a New Bedford, Massachusetts radio station, owned by Hall Communications and currently broadcasting a classic hits format. The station's branding refers to its FM translator station, W267CY. The station is also carried on the HD2 sub-channel of sister station WCTK.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records list WNBH's first license date as January 9, 1924.AM Query Results: WNBH
"WNBH's first license was granted 1-09-1924". This date is when predecessor station WBBG received its first license, and comes from the "First License Date" entry on WNBH's FCC History Cards, which were created in the late 1920s and based on earlier Department of Commerce records. (FCC.gov) However, the station has generally traced its founding to May 1921, when one of WNBH's original owners, Irving Vermilya, began making broadcasts over an amateur radio station.

Programming

The longest-running program on WNBH is ''The Happy Bible Hour'', presented by "People's Christian Church" of New Bedford. It began in the fall of 1927 with the Rev. Russell W. Baldwin. Pastor Baldwin hosted the program until his death in 1978. The Rev. Ellsworth B. McAfee continued the program until his death in 2008. Since that time, Pastor Ardyth Bednarz has hosted the program, which has also been broadcast on New Bedford station WBSM (1420 AM). It is also believed to be one of the longest-running religious radio programs in the United States.

WNBH broadcasts local high school football and boys basketball games for New Bedford High School, Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School, Fairhaven High School, Dartmouth High School, Bishop Stang High School and Old Rochester Regional High School. The station also broadcasts girls basketball state tournament games for these schools. Ed Perreira and Mark Enwright announce the games. Perreira also hosts the public affairs program ''Up Front'' on Sunday mornings.

Translator

History

Origin

WNBH's founder was Irving Vermilya, a Marconi company employee who called himself "Amateur Number One" and was one of the earliest and best known amateur radio operators. Following World War One, he was issued a standard amateur radio license for a station located at his home at 24 Allen Street in Marion, Massachusetts, with the call sign 1HAA. In the spring of 1921, Vermilya's station was upgraded to a Special Amateur license, with the new call sign of 1ZE.

In May 1922 the Slocum & Kilburn company of New Bedford, where Vermilya managed the radio department, was issued a license for a new broadcasting station with the sequentially assigned call letters WDAU. The station's transmitter was constructed by Vermilya and Fred Stock. WDAU eventually went silent and was deleted on November 18, 1924.

WNBH publicity has commonly traced the station's history to broadcasts conducted by Vermilya beginning in May 1921, and Vermilya's 1964 obituary stated that, based on this date, WNBH was "the third radio station in New England and the 11th in the United States". However, contemporary Department of Commerce records treated Vermilya's amateur stations, and Slocum & Kilburn's WDAU, as separate stations that were not directly tied to WNBH's history.

WBBG

In January 1924 Vermilya was issued his own broadcasting station license, with the sequentially assigned callsign WBBG, located at his home at 24 Vermilya Street in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, transmitting on 1250 kHz. In the spring of 1924 the station moved to 1210 kHz. The new station's slogan was "The Voice from Cape Cod". WBBG was deleted in the fall of 1925, as Vermilya made plans to move his broadcasting activities to New Bedford.

WNBH

In October 1925 Vermilya, along with A. J. Lopez, was issued a license for station WNBH in New Bedford, operating on 1210 kHz. Initially the Department of Commerce reported WNBH as a new station, however, based on the fact that WBBG and WNBH had a common owner in Vermilya, and both transmitted on 1210 kHz, the department ultimately concluded that WBBG and WNBH were functionally the same station, and a contemporary report stated that "This month brings a change of call to WBBG, Mattapoisett. This station will hereafter be known by the letters WNBH."

WNBH's studios were located at the New Bedford Hotel, whence it derived its call letters. An early transmitting antenna for the station was lifted onto the chimney of Atlas Tack Company in Fairhaven by helium-filled balloons. When the rig was in the right spot, the balloons were deflated by shotgun blasts. The operation took place at 5 a.m., and the gunshots prompted a neighbor to call the police.

Before March 1932, WNBH had joined the Yankee Network. On June 18, 1932, the Federal Radio Commission authorized the station to increase its daytime power from 100 to 250 watts; output remained at 100 watts at night. In March 1941, under the provisions of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, WNBH was assigned to transmit on 1340 kHz, which has been its assignment ever since. In 1948 WNBH added FM service with WFMR (now WCTK) on 98.1  MHz, which had signed on two years earlier. These two stations are still co-owned. In 1997, WCTK moved its studios from New Bedford to Providence, Rhode Island to concentrate on fully serving the Providence Arbitron metro. In 2014, the station's tower was moved from the South Terminal area to behind St. Mary’s Cemetery and near Route 140 in New Bedford.

Some of the most recent formats broadcast by WNBH include talk, classic country, urban oldies, middle of the road from the former Unforgettable Favorites satellite service, adult standards from the former Timeless satellite service, and sports from ESPN Radio. After 10 years as a full-time ESPN Radio affiliate, WNBH switched to a classic hits format on February 1, 2019. Also at that time, sister station WPVD 1450 in West Warwick, Rhode Island, which had simulcasted WNBH programming since Hall acquired the station in 2001, switched to a simulcast of WCTK's "Cat Country 98.1" programming. WNBH officially debuted its new format on February 11, 2019 with the launch of FM translator station W267CY. The station took on the branding of "Big 101.3," referring to the frequency of the translator.

Notable alumni

* Gil Santos: DJ, play-by-play announcer for high school sports (1950s); play-by-play announcer for New England Patriots radio broadcasts (1966-2013) (deceased)
* Mike Gorman: play-by-play announcer for high school sports (1960s); sports director at WPRI-TV (1970s); play-by-play announcer for Boston Celtics broadcasts on NBC Sports Boston (1982–present)
* Russ Baldwin: news and sports director (1977-1993) (deceased)

References

External links

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FCC History Cards for WNBH
(covering 1929–1981)
"Irving Vermilya: America's #1 Amateur"
by Donna L. Halper (bostonradio.org)

by M. L. Baron, 1992 (westislandwearther.com)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wnbh
NBH
Classic hits radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1925
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Mass media in Bristol County, Massachusetts
1925 establishments in Massachusetts