WNTY (990 AM) is an

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 ...

radio station licensed to

Southington, Connecticut Southington ( ) is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region. As of the 2020 United States census, it had a population of 43,501. Southington contains the villages of Marion, Mil ...

, and serving the

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

area. The station is owned by John Fuller, through licensee Red Wolf Broadcasting Corporation, and broadcasts with 2.5 kilowatts daytime and 80 watts nighttime from a studio and tower site on Old Turnpike Road in Southington.

History

After

WBZY WBZY (105.7 FM) branded ''Z105.7'' is a commercial radio station licensed to Canton, Georgia, broadcasting a Spanish-language contemporary hits format. Owned by iHeartMedia, WBZY serves the Atlanta metropolitan area. The WBZY studios are loca ...

, a station in Torrington that operated on 990 kHz, was shut down, an application for a new station on the same frequency in Southington was made in 1964. The new station, WNTY went on September 2, 1969, initially as a daytime-only radio station. WNTY's original format would continue in some form until early 1999 when the death of then-owner Donato F. Sarapo, who had purchased the station from the original owners, led to WNTY being sold to ADD Radio Group for $850,000.

''La Brava 990''

In April 1999, WNTY was leased by Hartford-based El Principe Communications.''La Brava'' would last until September 15, 2000, when ADD Radio terminated El Principe's lease for reasons including non-payment of rent. In retaliation, El Principe vandalized WNTY's studios and transmitter which kept the station off the air for two weeks. The station would return to the air that October with an automated variety of music plus high school football and the Sunday brokered programming, as well as a Christian music program "Play it Again God" targeted at Christian youth and young adults.

''Xact Radio, 990 The X''

In April 2003, the 990 frequency would see a big change on paper as the WNTY calls were cast aside after 34 years and replaced by new calls of WXCT, chosen for the new slogan of ''Xact Radio, 990 The X''.

Spanish-language religion

On Tuesday May 8, 2007, it was announced that WXCT would be dropping its all-talk format and flipping to a foreign language format on Friday, May 11

WXCT officially switched to Spanish-language religious programming at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 10, 2007.

Kool Radio

Following Red Wolf Broadcasting's 2015 acquisition from

Davidson Media Group The Davidson Media Group (DMG) is a Charlotte-based broadcaster specializing in multi-cultural, community focused formats. The company runs stations in a number of markets in 10 states and also specializes in selling large blocks of time on some o ...

of WXCT and a sister station in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

, WACM (1490 AM), the stations'

format was merged with Red Wolf-owned oldies station WSKP in Hope Valley, Rhode Island. The new network retained WXCT and WACM's airstaff, but inherited WSKP's "Kool Radio" branding.

Translators

References

External links

* * {{Oldies Radio Stations in Connecticut Southington, Connecticut Mass media in New Haven County, Connecticut NTY Oldies radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1969 1969 establishments in Connecticut