WNAM (1280 AM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station licensed to

Neenah Neenah ( ) is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. It is situated on the banks of Lake Winnebago, Little Lake Butte des Morts, and the Fox River approximately northeast of Oshkosh and southwest of Green Bay. Neenah's popul ...

Menasha, Wisconsin Menasha () is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Winnebago and Calumet County, Wisconsin, Calumet counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 18,268 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Of this, 15,144 were in Winn ...

, that serves the Appleton- Oshkosh radio market. The station is owned by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

. WNAM uses the " America's Best Music"

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

supplied by co-owned

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

, that combines soft

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

with a few

adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...

and middle of the road songs each hour. The station also carries Wisconsin Timber Rattlers baseball. Most hours begin with

ABC News Radio ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News (United States), ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five-minute newscasts on the hour ...

History

The station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on May 23, 1947, with 1,000 watts of power. WNAM was owned by Neenah-Menasha Broadcasting Company, with studios on Wisconsin Avenue in Neenah. The station was originally a

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

, required to go off the air at night, when radio waves travel farther. In the 1960s, the station got authorization from the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) to broadcast at night at 1,000 watts, with its daytime power raised to 5,000 watts. Ron Ross began working at WNAM in 1973 as afternoon host and eventually became program director when WNAM was a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

radio station. In 1976, Ross was named by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' one of the country's top five Top 40 personalities for markets with fewer than 1 million people. During his time at WNAM, the station achieved a 17.6

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

rating. Jim Roberts was hired by WNAM in the fall of 1987 to host the afternoon show. He stayed until late 1998. In the 1990s Value Radio Corp., owner of

WOSH WOSH (1490 AM) is a radio station serving the Oshkosh, Wisconsin area with a news/talk format including the ABC News Radio network. This station is under ownership of Cumulus Media. The station began broadcasting on December 31, 1941. Dur ...

, purchased WNAM and WUSW in

Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh () is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the western shore of Lake Winnebago and had a population of 66,816 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List o ...

, from Odon Communications Group. Cumulus Broadcasting already owned WNAM, WOSH,

WVBO WVBO (103.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a classic hits formatted radio station city of license, licensed to Winneconne, Wisconsin, that serves the Appleton, Wisconsin, Appleton-Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Oshkosh area. The station is owned by Cumulus Media. ...

and WWWX when the company bought WPKR and WPCK from Midwest Dimensions Inc. in an $8.1 million deal announced July 2, 2003. "Mad Dog and Merrill" joined WNAM in 2008 for a cooking-related show airing weekdays from 10 to noon. In 2008, WNAM began carrying Wisconsin Timber Rattlers baseball games. The station's contract has been extended through 2021.

References

External links

*
FCC History Cards for WNAM
{{coord, 44, 06, 01, N, 88, 32, 02, W, type:landmark_region:US, display=title Adult standards radio stations in the United States NAM Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Wisconsin Cumulus Media radio stations