WWLE (1170 AM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

broadcasting a

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 ...

format. Licensed to

Cornwall, New York Cornwall is a Town (New York), town in Orange County, New York, United States, approximately north of New York City on the western shore of the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was at 12,884. Cornwall has become a Commuter t ...

, United States, the station serves the Newburgh-Middletown area. 1170 AM is a United States

clear-channel A clear-channel station is a North American AM broadcasting, AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classifi ...

frequency, on which WWVA and

KOTV KOTV-DT (channel 6) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Griffin Media alongside Muskogee, Oklahoma, Muskogee-licensed The CW, CW affiliate KQCW-DT (channel 19) and radio stations KOTV ...

share Class A status. WWLE must leave the air during the sunset to sunrise period to protect the nighttime

skywave In radio communication, skywave or skip refers to the propagation of radio waves reflected or refracted back toward Earth from the ionosphere, an electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere. Since it is not limited by the curvatur ...

signals of the Class A stations.

History

WWLE has existed in two incarnations. The original WWLE came to air on November 22, 1969, as the dream of the late

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

radio newscaster William L. Edmonds; the call letters are his initials. Edmonds' widow Adeline served as WWLE's president, while their son Bill ran the news department. The station aired a big band/standards format with country programs on the weekends, broadcasting from the village of Cornwall-on-Hudson. After several years, the station faced financial troubles and was eventually bought out by investors including Angelo Martinelli, the mayor of

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

. By 1981, the station had changed its call letters to WCRR and eventually went dark for several years. The old WWLE returned as WNBW on February 19, 1990, changing later in the year to WARW, then finally bringing back the old WWLE call letters in 1996. By the late 1990s, the station had moved out of the village of Cornwall to a facility on New York State Route 299 near

New Paltz, New York New Paltz () is an incorporated U.S. town in Ulster County, New York. The population was 14,407 at the 2020 census. The town is located in the southeastern part of the county and is south of Kingston. New Paltz contains a village, also with ...

, airing an automated Big Band format. Later, the station was bought by 1170 Broadcast Radio, Inc. and flipped to

News Talk Information Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews wi ...

format, featuring programming from

CNN Radio Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news ...

. In 2010, WWLE filed a petition to move to 1150 AM and increase its power (not possible on 1170 because of interference by WWVA in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...

); no action has been taken by the FCC. In 2014, WWLE changed again, this time to a Regional Mexican format under the name ''El Poder'' ("The Power") Effective March 18, 2019, 1170 Broadcast Radio sold the station to WWLE Radio LLC.

References

External links

WLE Radio stations established in 1969 1969 establishments in New York (state) WLE {{NewYork-radio-station-stub