WNBP (1450
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
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes p ...
, United States, and serving the
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston, the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England, and its surrounding areas, home to 4,941,632. The most s ...
radio market. The station is owned by
Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately-held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Ze ...
and serves as a
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
of Bloomberg-programmed
WBOS
WBOS (92.9 MHz, "Bloomberg 92.9") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Brookline, Massachusetts, and serving Greater Boston. WBOS is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group, with studios and offices in Waltham. WBOS airs a financial news rad ...
(92.9
FM) in
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...
. WNBP and WBOS carry financial news from
Bloomberg Radio
Bloomberg Radio is a radio service of Bloomberg L.P. that provides global business news programming 24 hours a day. The format is general and financial news, offering local, national and international news reports along with financial market ...
.
WNBP has a power of 1,000 watts. Its
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
is located off Ferry Road in
Salisbury, Massachusetts
Salisbury is a small coastal beach town and summer tourist destination in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The community is a popular summer resort beach town situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of Boston on the New Hampshire borde ...
. The station's programming is simulcast on two
FM translator
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...
s, W291CC (106.1 MHz), transmitting from
Haverhill, and W221EE (92.1 MHz) in
Topsfield.
Radio-Locator.com/W221EE
/REF>
History
On March 10, 1958, WNBP 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 as a 500 watt daytime only station at 1470 AM, owned by Puritan Broadcasting of 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 ...
. (The call letters represented Newburyport.) Puritan also owned WLYN
WLYN is a brokered time radio station in the Greater Boston area broadcasting ethnic programming. The station is licensed to Lynn, Massachusetts, and is owned by Multicultural Broadcasting. Its programming is broadcast on 1360 Kilohertz, kHz on ...
(1360 AM) and WLYN-FM (101.7), as well as stations in Brattleboro, Vermont
Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a New England town, town in Windham County, Vermont, United States, located about north of the Massachusetts state line at the confluence of Vermont's West River (Vermont), West River and the Connec ...
, and Nashua, New Hampshire
Nashua () is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester. It is on ...
.
Through the late 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the station changed hands several times. In 1982 the station moved to 1450 kHz, added nighttime operation and changed call letters to WCEA. In 1987 it was purchased by longtime WBZ newscaster Ted Larsen and Dan Friel for $195,000. They changed the call sign to WNCG, representing "Newburyport, The Coast and Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...
, Your Coastal Home Companion". In 1989 they sold the station to New Hampshire broadcaster Win Damon for $425,000. He changed the call sign back to WNBP in 1991.
In 1998, Damon sold the station to Radio Newburyport LLC, owned by Robert "Doc" Fuller for $225,000. Fuller, along with partner J.J. Jeffrey, owned several other stations under their company name Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting. WNBP was a sole venture of Fuller with his longtime friend Al Mozier as general manager. Although J.J. Jeffrey was not part of the ownership, his voice was used for all the recorded imaging and promotional announcements. Many improvements to the station were made by Fuller and Mozier including purchasing all new studio equipment, Audisk and later Air-Traffic-Control automation, new BE-1 transmitter and installing a new tower and ground system at the transmitter site on Ferry Road in Salisbury, Massachusetts
Salisbury is a small coastal beach town and summer tourist destination in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The community is a popular summer resort beach town situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of Boston on the New Hampshire borde ...
.
In September 2004, Radio Newburyport LLC (Robert Fuller, president) announced a deal had been reached to sell WNBP to Westport Communications LP (Todd Tanger, managing member) for a reported sale price of $500,000. The deal was brokered by Frank Boyle of Frank Boyle and Associates. At the time of the sale, Westport Communications owned only one other station, WBOQ (104.9 FM). WNBP's studios were relocated to nearby Beverly, Massachusetts
Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Sho ...
, but the station still focused its local news and community coverage on the greater Newburyport area.
In March 2009, WNBP was sold by Westport Communications to Port Broadcasting, LLC, owned by Carl Strube, Peter Falconi and Robert Couture. The station began broadcasting from new downtown Newburyport studios at 6 Federal Street on March 13. The format remained the same. On January 1, 2013, WNBP shifted their format from 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 ...
to 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 ...
. Among WNBP's air staff were former WBOQ disc jockey Jacky Ankeles as well as Jeff Lawrence.
On July 28, 2017, Port Broadcasting agreed to sell WNBP and W291CC to Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately-held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Ze ...
for $1 million; Bloomberg began operating the station under a local programming and marketing agreement on August 1. The station began to simulcast Bloomberg Radio
Bloomberg Radio is a radio service of Bloomberg L.P. that provides global business news programming 24 hours a day. The format is general and financial news, offering local, national and international news reports along with financial market ...
programming with WRCA
WRCA (1330 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Watertown, Massachusetts, and serving the Greater Boston area. The license is held by the Beasley Media Group, LLC, part of the Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. WRCA airs the classic r ...
(1330 AM); that station also operates a translator at 106.1 MHz, which is required to limit its signal to the northeast of Boston to protect W291CC. As a result of the sale, WNBP's staff was let go. The sale was completed on November 28, 2017.
Translators
References
External links
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{{Bloomberg
NBP
Bloomberg L.P.
Business talk radio stations
Business mass media in the United States
Radio stations established in 1957
Mass media in Essex County, Massachusetts
Newburyport, Massachusetts
1957 establishments in Massachusetts