WHTB (1400 AM) is a

Portuguese language Portuguese ( or ) is a Western Romance language of the Indo-European language family originating from the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is the official language of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tom� ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States census, making it the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, tenth-largest city in the state, and the second- ...

, operating with 1 kW unlimited hours.

History

WALE began broadcasting May 6, 1948, on 1400 kHz with 250 watts of power (full-time). It was owned by Narragansett Broadcasting Company. The station's first location was at the corner of North Main Street and Central Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, known as the Durfee Theatre Building. The station's "Whale" was a plaster and chicken wire figure atop the building with the words "WALE 1400" on the sides in white paint. The transmitting antenna was on the roof and had a copper screen ground system. There was no real ground connection to the antenna, and the screen created an artificial grounding system, limiting the coverage area. The North Main Street/Central Street site was also the location of WCFR-FM and WCFR-TV, although it is not known if WCFR-TV ever produced a signal as after World War II the Channel 1 assignment (44-50Mc.) was dropped from television and given to the Business Radio Service. WALE moved to Rock Street in the early 1970s and the transmitter was relocated to the area along Interstate 195 West and Route 24 South at the end of Augustus St. and remains there today. The

WALE Wale or WALE may refer to: Places * Wale, Devon, a hamlet in England * Wale, Tomaszów Mazowiecki County, a village in Poland People * Wale (surname) *Wale (rapper), stage name of American rapper Olubowale Victor Akintimehin Radio and televisi ...

call sign moved to 990 AM in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, on July 20, 1989. On that date, SNE Broadcasting Ltd. (owned by local businessmen Robert and James Karam) took ownership of 1400 AM and introduced the WHTB call sign. The studios moved to Home Street in

Somerset, Massachusetts Somerset is a New England town, town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,303 at the 2020 census. It is the birthplace and hometown of Clifford Milburn Holland (1883–1924), the chief engineer and namesake of t ...

, when WHTB and WSAR became sister stations. In 2018, WHTB signed on FM translator W229DC on 93.7 from the AM tower. Effective December 30, 2022, SNE Broadcasting sold WHTB and translator W229DC to Frank Baptista's RVDE, LLC for $200,000.

Personalities

Personalities included Mike "Surfer" Sands (Arthur Lang) and long-time engineer Stephen J. Sorel, who was also an Amateur Radio operator with the call sign K1RFH. Sorel and Lang made the move to WICE in Providence, Rhode Island in the early 1970s. Steve Sorel ended his career as the Chief Engineer of WHTB and sister station

WSAR WSAR (1480 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Fall River, Massachusetts. Its studios and transmitter site are located in Somerset, Massachusetts. Its transmitter power output is 5,000 watts unlimited hours, using two towers in a full ...

FM translator

References

*1992 Broadcasting Yearbook, page A-164

External links

Portuguese-American culture in Massachusetts Portuguese-language radio stations in the United States Organizations based in Fall River, Massachusetts HTB Mass media in Bristol County, Massachusetts Radio stations established in 1948 HTB 1948 establishments in Massachusetts {{Massachusetts-radio-station-stub