WUBG (1570

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

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Latin pop Latin pop () is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. It originates with List of countries where Spanish is an official language, Spanish-speaking ...

and

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, and

regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...

station licensed to serve

Methuen, Massachusetts Methuen () is a 23-square-mile (60 km2) city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 53,059 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Methuen lies along the northwestern edge of Essex County, just east of Midd ...

. It has an FM translator, W287CW, at 105.3 MHz. The station is called "". The WUBG transmitter is located in

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, while W287CW's transmitter is in Medford. The station is owned by Costa-Eagle Radio Ventures Limited Partnership—a partnership between Pat Costa and ''

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''. Under a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

, WUBG is programmed by Costa Media Boston LLC, a similarly-named but separate company controlled by Jose Villafañe.

History

The station signed on the air as WMLO, a 500-watt radio station originally licensed to

Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Sho ...

, on December 22, 1963. It changed its call sign to WBVD on December 5, 1979, and to WNSH on July 1, 1984. Its studios have been located in Danvers, in Salem (at Pickering Wharf), in two different buildings at Endicott College in Beverly, and on the second floor of a hardware warehouse in

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. In 2011, Willow Farm, Inc. sold WNSH for $400,000 to Costa-Eagle Broadcasting. In March 2011, Costa-Eagle changed the station to "Viva 1570". The format changed from

tropical music Tropical music () is a term in the Latin music industry that refers to music genres deriving from or influenced by the Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean. It includes the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean ...

, simulcasting Costa-Eagle sister station WNNW, to Spanish

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 ...

. On November 26, 2012, the call letters were changed to WMVX, after the rights to the WNSH call sign were acquired by

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for use on one of its stations in the New York City market. WMVX switched to a

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music and talk format in July 2014. On October 8, 2014, the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

soccer team announced that WMVX would become its Portuguese-language

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. In January 2013, WMVX was granted a

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(FCC)

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to increase daytime power to 50,000 watts. Even with the anticipated increase to 50,000 watts, the maximum AM power allowed by the FCC, the permit required the station to reduce power at night to 85 watts because 1570 kHz is a Mexican clear channel frequency and WMVX must protect

XERF XHRF-FM () and XERF-AM () are radio stations in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. Originally only on the AM band, XERF is a Mexican Class A clear-channel station transmitting with of power. Now branded as ''La Poderosa'', XHRF-FM and XERF-AM ...

in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, the Class A station on 1570. In 2016, the station switched its

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from Beverly to Methuen with its transmitter in

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. The station changed its call sign to WCCM on April 1, 2017. It swapped call letters with its

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 ...

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. Also in 2017, the Brazilian Portuguese programming, branded "Nossa Radio", was dropped from the station. Its programmer, the International Church of the Grace of God, bought

WBIX WBIX (1260 kHz) branded ''Nossa Rádio USA'' is a commercial Brazilian Portuguese AM radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, and serving Greater Boston. Owned by the International Church of the Grace of God, the WBIX studios are locat ...

the following year, to air programming for the Boston area's Brazilian and Portuguese listeners. WCCM then returned to simulcasting WNNW, and briefly ran a separate Spanish-language music format branded "Galaxia". In March 2018, the station was heard simulcasting sister station WMVX (with an

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 ...

at 98.9 MHz), running classic hits as "Valley 98.9". On April 2, 2018, 1570 AM started broadcasting a classic hits format separate from WMVX as "Big 105.3", in reflection of its own FM translator. On April 3, the call sign was changed to WUBG. On July 1, 2019, WUBG's classic hits format went online-only as "Boston's Big-FM", while 1570 AM and the 105.3 translator switched to the

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest contempor ...

(EMF)'s "

K-Love K-Love (stylized as K-LOVE) is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry, it primarily broadcasts contemporary Christian music. As of June 2019, the network's progr ...

contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

format. At the time, K-Love only had a limited presence in the Boston market via W260AS (99.9) in Lawrence and

rimshot A rimshot is a percussion technique used to produce an Accent (music), accented snare drum backbeat. The sound is produced by simultaneously hitting the Drum hardware#Rim, rim and Drumhead, head of the drum with a drum stick. The sound and var ...

reception of WLVO in

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; the affiliation with WUBG predated EMF's 2020 acquisition of WAAF. On May 29, 2022, the station dropped K-Love programming for a simulcast of the "LatinX"

Spanish CHR 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine ** Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

programming of sister station WCCM, which is programmed by Jose Villafañe's Costa Media (a separate company from Costa-Eagle).https://www.fybush.com/nerw-20220530/ NorthEast Radio Watch May 30, 2022: Q107 Suspends Derringer In January 2024, the stations rebranded to "", with no change in format.

Translator

In addition to the main station, WUBG is relayed by an FM translator.

References

External links

* * * {{Spanish Radio Stations in Massachusetts 1963 establishments in Massachusetts Beverly, Massachusetts Mass media in Essex County, Massachusetts Methuen, Massachusetts Radio stations established in 1963 UBG (AM) UBG Regional Mexican radio stations in the United States