WNWR (1540 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 in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. It broadcasts a

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

format and is owned by Wilkins Broadcasting LLC. Program hosts include Jim Daly, John MacArthur,

Greg Laurie Greg Laurie (born December 10, 1952) is an American evangelical pastor, evangelist, and Christian author who serves as the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, based in Riverside, California. He also is the founder of Harvest Crusa ...

and Charles Capps. The studios are at 200 Monument Road, Suite 6, in

Bala Cynwyd Bala Cynwyd ( ) is a community and census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on the Philadelphia Main Line in Southeastern Pennsylvania and borders the western edge of Philadelphia at U.S. Rou ...

. By day, WNWR is powered at 10,000 watts, non-directional. As

1540 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1540 kHz: 1540 AM is a United States clear-channel frequency. KXEL Waterloo, Iowa, and ZNS-1 Nassau, Bahamas, share Class A status on 1540 AM. Argentina * LU 28 in General Madariaga, ...

is a clear channel frequency, to protect other stations from interference, at night it reduces power to 7 watts. The

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 in the Belmont Village neighborhood of Philadelphia, off Conshohocken Avenue. Programming is also heard on 250-watt

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 ...

W237EH at 95.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

Pennsauken, New Jersey Pennsauken Township is a township in Camden County, in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and it is located outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which it borders directly on the Delaware River. As of the 202 ...

History

Christian programming

The station first signed on the air on July 11, 1947. Its

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

was WJMJ which stood for "Jesus, Mary, Joseph". The station broadcast middle-of-the-road music and

religious programming Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...

. It was owned by Patrick Joseph Stanton and had its offices and studios in the St. James Hotel. WJMJ was 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 ...

, powered at 1,000 watts and forced to

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

at sunset to avoid interfering with other stations on 1540 kHz. In the late 1950s, the station got a boost to 50,000 watts, but it still had to stay off the air at night. One of the programs carried on WJMJ in the 1950s was George A. Palmer's popular ''Morning Cheer'' daily broadcast.

Country and oldies

In 1965 it was acquired by the

Rust Craft Greeting Card Company The Rust Craft Greeting Card Company was an American greeting card and printing company and owner of television stations. The company The company was founded in a bookstore in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1906 by its owner, Fred Winslow Rust. The c ...

, which changed the call letters to WRCP (for "Rust Craft Philadelphia"). In 1967, Rust Craft changed the sound to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

, a format not found on the Philadelphia radio dial. In 1981, after

WFIL WFIL (560 AM) is a radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, with a Christian radio format consisting of teaching and talk programs. Owned by Salem Media Group, studios and transmitter facilities are shared with co-owned ...

also adopted a country format, WRCP switched 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 ...

. Later in 1985, the call sign was changed to WSNI to match

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

104.5 WSNI-FM (now

WRFF WRFF (104.5 FM, "ALT 104-5") is a commercial FM radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, and broadcasts an alternative rock radio format. The studios are in Bala Cynwyd. WRFF has an effective radiated ...

). For a time, the AM station broadcast an all-

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

-and-

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

format. After two years, a more conventional

mix returned and the station became WPGR ("Philly Gold Radio").

Ethnic programming

In 1995, the station was sold to new owners operating as Global Radio LLC, becoming WNWR. The call letters stood for "New World Radio". It switched to mostly ethnic

brokered programming Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot com ...

, where show hosts bought time on the station and sold advertising in their communities to pay for their broadcasts. On June 13, 2011, WNWR's entire brokered program schedule moved to

WWDB WWDB (860 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with its studios and offices in the "555 Building" on City Avenue in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts ...

. The station was then leased to broadcast

China Radio International China Radio International (CRI) is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of China. It is currently headquartered in Babaoshan, Shijingshan, Beijing. It was founded on December 3, 1941, as Radio Peking. It later adopted the pinyin fo ...

. Several years later, WNWR 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 ...

to stay on the air around the clock with low power at night. WNWR went off the air and was listed as silent since June 14, 2018. As of Saturday November 17, 2018, WNWR returned on the air broadcasting a

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

format. On December 8, 2019, however, it was on the FCC's Silent AM Stations List. As of April 27, 2021, WNWR returned to the airwaves with 1,000 watts of power during the day and 7 watts at night according to station engineer Dana Puopolo. By then, the station was owned by Aztec Capital Partners and was

simulcasting 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) ...

WHAT What or WHAT may refer to: * What, an English interrogative word * "What?", one of the Five Ws used in journalism Film and television * ''What!'' (film), also known as ''The Whip and the Body'', a 1963 Italian film directed by Mario Bava * ...

1340 AM, airing Latin hit music.

Return to religion

In 2023, the station was sold to Wilkins Broadcasting LLC, which owns dozens of

stations around the U.S. WNWR returned to its beginning roots with a religious format, broadcasting as "1540 The Word". The call sign's meaning was repurposed as "New Word Radio", with "Word" as a synonym for "

The Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writte ...

Translator

References

External links

FCC History Cards for WNWR
{{Religious Radio Stations in Pennsylvania NWR Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Pennsylvania NWR