WSPR (1490
AM) is a
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
West Springfield, Massachusetts
West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 28,835 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is also known as "West ...
, and serving the
Springfield metropolitan area. The station is owned by John Fuller, through licensee Red Wolf Broadcasting Corporation. It airs a
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
and
contemporary hit
Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is ...
radio format
A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...
known as Bomba FM.
WSPR programming is also heard on 250-
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
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 tra ...
station 104.5 W283CK, West Springfield.
Radio-Locator.com/W283CK
/ref> Much of the programming originates at WMRQ
WMRQ-FM (104.1 MHz) is an alternative rock radio station licensed to Waterbury, Connecticut, and serving the Greater Hartford media market. WMRQ-FM is owned by Red Wolf Broadcasting and has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 14,000 watts. Its ...
-HD2
HD1 is a proposed Redshift#Extragalactic observations, high-redshift galaxy, and is considered, as of April 2022, to be one of the earliest and most List of the most distant astronomical objects, distant known galaxies yet identified in the ob ...
in Hartford, Connecticut, which also feeds a network of FM translator stations around Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
.
History
The station first signed on
Signing may refer to:
* Using sign language
* Signature, placing one's name on a document
* Signature (disambiguation)
* Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice
* Digital signature
A dig ...
the air on August 28, 1949. 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 assig ...
was originally WTXL.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, WTXL aired a Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "conte ...
format. Although it was programmed well, it never achieved rating success due to the heavy competition from crosstown WHYN WHYN can refer to:
* WHYN (AM), a radio station at 560 AM located in Springfield, Massachusetts
* WHYN-FM, a radio station at 93.1 FM located in Springfield, Massachusetts
* WGGB-TV
WGGB-TV (channel 40) is a television station in Springfield, ...
(560 AM). With a 5,000-watt signal and much lower on the AM dial, WHYN could easily be heard around Western Massachusetts
Western Massachusetts, known colloquially as “Western Mass,” is a region in Massachusetts, one of the six U.S. states that make up the New England region of the United States. Western Massachusetts has diverse topography; 22 colleges and u ...
and northern Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
. WTXL's signal, at the time 1,000 watts by day, 250 watts at night, was harder to pick up.
In 1974, WTXL transitioned to a progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
format. A year later, the station was sold to a group headed by Boston radio host Jerry Williams. WTXL then went off the air for two months before returning under the new ownership as WNUS, running NBC Radio
The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...
's News and Information Service (NIS), a 24-hour all news radio
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news.
All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...
service.
The station was assigned the call letters WACM by the Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...
on September 15, 1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
.
On July 3, 2015, WACM changed its format from Spanish Tropical music to oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as wel ...
, along with WXCT
WXCT (1370 AM, "Alt 98-7") is a commercial radio station in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The station is owned by Bahakel Communications along with WDEF-FM, WDOD-FM, and WUUQ. WXCT has an adult album alternative radio format. The studios are locat ...
(990 AM). On November 22, 2015, WACM rebranded as "Kool Radio Good Times... Great Oldies".
On April 1, 2016, WACM changed back to Spanish tropical, simulcasting WSPR (1270 AM). On April 13, 2016, WACM changed its call sign to WSPR, swapping call letters with 1270 AM.
On May 1, 2016, WSPR split from its simulcast with WACM (which flipped to oldies) and rebranded as "Bomba 1490".
Previous logo
File:KoolRadioGTGO.jpg
References
External links
*
*
*
SPR (AM)
Mass media in Hampden County, Massachusetts
West Springfield, Massachusetts
Radio stations established in 1949
1949 establishments in Massachusetts
SPR
Tropical music radio stations
{{Massachusetts-radio-station-stub