WRCH (100.5
FM; "Lite 100.5") 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
New Britain, Connecticut
New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol ...
, and serving the
Greater Hartford
Greater Hartford is a region located in the U.S. state of Connecticut, centered on the state's capital of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. It represents the only combined statistical area in Connecticut defined by a city within the state, being b ...
and
New Haven
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...
areas. It is owned by
Audacy, Inc.
Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...
and airs an
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
radio format.
WRCH's
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 atop
Rattlesnake Mountain, and transmits from the
WTIC-TV
WTIC-TV (channel 61) is a television station in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Waterbury-licensed CW affiliate WCCT-TV ( ...
tower off
U.S. Route 6 (Colt Highway) in
Farmington. A backup transmitter is in "Radio Park" behind the
Connecticut School of Broadcasting, its former studio location. The station's studios and offices are located on Executive Drive, also in Farmington. WRCH broadcasts in the
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...
hybrid format. It offered smooth jazz programming on its formerly HD2 sub-channel. The HD3 sub-channel formerly carried 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
sports talk
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
WEEI-FM
WEEI-FM (93.7 Hertz, MHz) – branded SportsRadio 93.7 WEEI-FM – is a commercial Sports radio, sports Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to Lawrence, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned b ...
in
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 ...
.
History
Beautiful music
On July 1, 1968, WRCH-FM
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. It was the FM counterpart of WRCH (910 AM, now
WLAT). Both were owned by Central Connecticut Broadcasting, itself owned by Aldo DeDominicis.
While the AM station aired a
full service,
middle of the road format, WRCH-FM carried a
beautiful music format. It played quarter-hour sweeps of mostly instrumental
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of pop songs and
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
and
Broadway showtunes
A show tune is a popular song, song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a Standard (music), standard, more or less detached in most people's minds ...
.
Easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...
was a popular format in that era, with several stations in the Hartford area also playing beautiful music, including
WKSS,
WWYZ
WWYZ (92.5 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Waterbury, Connecticut, and serving the Waterbury, Hartford and New Haven areas. It is owned by iHeartMedia, and airs a country music radio format.
WWYZ's ...
,
WKCI and
WTIC-FM. Over time, as those stations switched to other formats, WRCH continued its easy listening sound.
In 1977, WRCH-FM and its AM
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 ...
WRCQ, were acquired by the Radio Corporation of Hartford, controlled by Enzo DeDominicis (nephew of Aldo DeDominicis) and
Connecticut School of Broadcasting owner Nicholas Robinson, for $3 million;
Robinson sold his stake to DeDominicis in 1979.
Soft AC
In the 1980s, WRCH gradually increased the number of soft vocals and decreased the instrumentals, to the point where it became a
soft adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
station. The transition was gradual. Many of its listeners stuck with WRCH as a companion in the office and at home, and it remained one of the top rated stations in
Greater Hartford
Greater Hartford is a region located in the U.S. state of Connecticut, centered on the state's capital of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. It represents the only combined statistical area in Connecticut defined by a city within the state, being b ...
.
Enzo DeDominicis sold WRCH, along with AM sister station WNEZ, to
American Radio Systems (ARS) in December 1993.
The $15 million acquisition,
completed in July 1994,
was the first made by ARS following its formation a month earlier. It placed WRCH under the same ownership as
WZMX, which offered a "
bright adult contemporary" format.
Ahead of the sale, DeDominicis relocated to South Carolina to oversee his two radio stations there,
which he had acquired in 1989.
CBS and Entercom
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...
, then-parent company of
CBS Radio, announced its acquisition of ARS in September 1997,
a deal completed in June 1998. By this time, the company's holdings in the market, in addition to WRCH and WZMX, included
WTIC (AM)
WTIC (1080 kHz; "WTIC NewsTalk 1080") is a commercial radio, commercial AM broadcasting, AM radio station in Hartford, Connecticut. It airs a news/talk radio format, format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios and offices are on Exe ...
and WTIC-FM;
WNEZ had been sold to Mega Broadcasting in 1996.
WRCH continued its soft AC format, although picking up the tempo a bit into the 2000s, shifting to mainstream adult contemporary music.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with
Entercom
Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...
. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17.
The only noticeable effect from the merger for listeners was the switch of Boston sports stations on WRCH's HD3 subchannel, as the simulcast changed from the now-
Beasley-owned
WBZ-FM
WBZ-FM (98.5 FM) is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, WBZ-FM is the Boston affiliate for Fox Sports Radio; t ...
to Entercom-owned
WEEI-FM
WEEI-FM (93.7 Hertz, MHz) – branded SportsRadio 93.7 WEEI-FM – is a commercial Sports radio, sports Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to Lawrence, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned b ...
.
In 2021, Entercom changed its name to Audacy, Inc. Audacy discontinued WRCH's HD subchannels in 2022.
References
External links
*
*
{{Entercom
1968 establishments in the United States
Audacy, Inc. radio stations
Farmington, Connecticut
Mainstream adult contemporary radio stations in the United States
Mass media in Hartford County, Connecticut
New Britain, Connecticut
Radio stations established in 1968
RCH