WOLF (AM)
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WOLF (1490
kHz 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 uni ...
) is a commercial
sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...
formatted broadcast AM radio station licensed to
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...
, serving the
Syracuse metropolitan area The Syracuse Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area comprising three counties in central New York, with the city of Syracuse as its core. The three counties are Onondaga, Madison, and Oswego ...
. The station is owned by Craig Fox, who also owns several other radio and low-power TV stations in the
state of New York New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...
. The WOLF
broadcast license A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which va ...
is held by WOLF Radio, Inc. The station is also simulcast on FM
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
W223CP at 92.5 FM, on the FM6 service of WVOA-LD at 87.75 FM, and in Fulton, New York, on WOSW 1300 AM and its FM translator, W253BZ at 98.5 FM.


History

WOLF first signed on in Syracuse shortly after the start of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Like all local-channel AMs, it was initially limited to only 250 watts of power. During the early 1960s it was permitted to raise daytime power to 1,000 watts, and increased night power to 1,000 watts a decade later along with nearly all other local-channel (Class C) AM stations in the United States. It long programmed a personality
popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
format, and for many years was highly competitive within its signal area with stronger regional (Class B) signals from similarly formatted stations including WNDR and WFBL, although it was unable to achieve full metropolitan coverage especially after sunset. In 1984, WOLF began broadcasting in
AM stereo AM stereo is a term given to a series of mutually incompatible techniques for radio broadcasting stereo audio in the AM band in a manner that is compatible with standard AM receivers. There are two main classes of systems: independent sideban ...
using the Kahn-Hazeltine
C-QUAM C-QUAM (Compatible QUadrature Amplitude Modulation) is the method of AM stereo broadcasting used in Canada, the United States and most other countries. It was invented in 1977 by Norman Parker, Francis Hilbert, and Yoshio Sakaie, and published in ...
system. In the 1990s, WOLF stopped broadcasting in AM stereo. Past radio personalities at WOLF include: *
Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American television and radio personality and television producer who hosted ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid (game show), ...
* Jim Sims * Fred Winston (Chicago) *
Bud Ballou Dudley "Bud" Ballou (December 11, 1942 – April 15, 1977) was an American disc jockey and radio personality active for fifteen years on several commercial radio stations during the 1960s and 1970s. Ballou was born and raised in Liverpool, New York ...
and
Dale Dorman Dale Dorman (September 2, 1943 – October 21, 2014) was an American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame radio disc jockey on WODS in Boston. Until September 15, 2008, he hosted ''The Breakfast Club with Dale Dorman'' weekday mornings from 5:30-9 AM. Dorm ...
(Buffalo,
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
) *
Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American former sportscaster. Honored for his work by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he was also know ...
and Don Bombard (New York City) * Wendell "Windy" Craig (
CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featu ...
) The call sign was changed to WAQX in 1984. It became WNYR on October 4, 1988; WNNR on April 1, 1989; and returned to WOLF on October 23, 1989. On May 3, 1999, WOLF (alongside
WOLF-FM WOLF-FM (92.1 Hertz, MHz) is a radio station serving the community of Baldwinsville, New York, in the Syracuse metropolitan area. The station is owned by Craig Fox (radio host), Craig Fox and Sam Furco, through licensee FoxFur Communications, LL ...
and WKGJ) became the
Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...
affiliates in the
Syracuse metropolitan area The Syracuse Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area comprising three counties in central New York, with the city of Syracuse as its core. The three counties are Onondaga, Madison, and Oswego ...
, and the station switched back using the AM stereo system, this time with a
Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...
C-QUAM system. Two weeks later, WOLF stopped broadcasting in AM stereo again. In June 2001, WBGJ started the simulcast of WOLF. On November 25, 2006, WAMF also started the simulcast of WOLF as result of the sale of the station to Craig Fox; although in October, the WAMF callsign was heard in the ID of Radio Disney stations in Syracuse. In December 2006, the FM stations split off and flipped to the
MOViN “Movin'” (capitalized as “MOViN'”) is a brand name used for a variety of rhythmic AC and top 40 radio stations in numerous broadcast markets in the United States. The name is a registered trademark of Alan Burns & Associates, a radio cons ...
format. In September 2012, WAMF (now WOSW) dropped Radio Disney and flipped to Country. In December 2013, WMBO dropped the WOLF simulcast and flipped to 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 ...
programming. On February 1, 2014, Radio Disney (as part of its phaseout of terrestrial broadcasting) canceled its affiliation with WOLF. WOLF was the last Radio Disney station not owned by the ABC, Inc. subsidiary of
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
. This resulted in the station going
off-the-air In broadcasting, a dark television station or silent radio station is one that has gone off the air for an indefinite period of time. Usually unlike dead air (broadcasting only silence), a station that is dark or silent does not even transmit a ...
as it transitioned to a new format, originally slated according to FCC filings to happen in August 2014. At the time, a construction permit was filed for a new FM translator at 93.9 FM by Pathway Community Radio, Inc. to simulcast WOLF. However, this was never completed. WOLF was still silent in January 2015. As a result, the station temporarily signed on with a simulcast of WNDR-FM to keep the station's license active. On July 20, 2015, the station flipped to sports as the
Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports ...
affiliate on the area. The station broadcasts the national network lineup.WOLF-AM 1490 Relaunches as FOX Sports 1490AM in Syracuse - iHeart Oswego
/ref> Fox Sports Radio had previously been heard in the area on network owned-and-operated WHEN until late 2010. In May 2017, the station began simulcasting on FM
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
W223CP at 92.5 FM. On December 18, 2023, the station began simulcasting at 87.75
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 ...
as an ancillary or supplementary analog service of WVOA-LD, one of only fourteen such FM6 stations licensed in the United States.


Translator


References


External links

*
The WOLF 1490 Tribute Site
* *
FCC History Cards for WOLF
{{Fox Sports Radio stations 1940 establishments in New York (state) Fox Sports Radio stations Radio stations established in 1940 OLF Sports radio stations in the United States