WLAM
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| City of license | Lewiston, Maine |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Lewiston-Auburn area |
| Branding | The Oldies Channel |
| Frequency | 1470 kHz |
| First air date | September 4, 1947 |
| Format | Oldies, talk, sports |
| Power | 5,000 watts unlimited |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 64434 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 44°3′47.00″N 70°15′0.00″W / 44.06306°N 70.25°W |
| Callsign meaning | Lewiston Auburn Maine |
| Former callsigns | WLAM (1947–1990) WKZN (1990–1993) WZOU (1993–2001) |
| Affiliations | The True Oldies Channel (Cumulus), WCSH |
| Owner | Nassau Broadcasting (Nassau Broadcasting III, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WBQW, WFNK, WLVP, WHXR, WTHT |
WLAM (1470 AM) is a radio station broadcasting oldies, news/talk, and sports programming. Licensed to Lewiston, Maine, USA, the station serves the Lewiston-Auburn area. The station is currently owned by Nassau Broadcasting and simulcasts with WLVP (870 AM).
[edit] History
WLAM first went on the air September 4, 1947.[1] The station initially aired various programs, including ABC Radio programming, music, and local sports coverage.[2] An FM sister station on 100.1, WWAV (now WTHT on 99.9) was launched in 1975.[3] The station became WKZN on December 26, 1990,[4] swapping call letters with its sister station in Gorham on 870;[3] the two stations eventually began simulcasting a standards format.[5] On July 19, 1993, WKZN changed its call sign to WZOU.[4]
Wireless Talking Machine Company sold WZOU, WLAM, and WLAM-FM (106.7 FM, which had launched in 1996 as an FM simulcast of the stations;[5] it is now WXTP), along with 99.9 (by then WMWX) and WTHT (107.5 FM; now WFNK) to Harron Communications, then-owner of WMTW-TV, in 1999.[6] On May 21, 2001, Harron restored the WLAM call letters to the station;[4] two weeks prior to this, 870 and 106.7 were converted to news/talk as WMTW.[7] While WLAM initially retained the standards format, on November 26, the station was switched to a simulcast of WMTW;[8] shortly afterwards, talk programming was removed from the stations in favor of an all-news format, mainly from the Associated Press's All-News Radio service.[9]
After Harron sold its Maine radio stations to Nassau Broadcasting in 2004, Newsradio WMTW was discontinued. Nassau also introduced three separate formats to the stations,[10] with WLAM reverting back to standards.[11] This incarnation of the format would prove short-lived; in late 2005, the station switched to ESPN Radio.[12]
One of WLAM's personalities during its standards incarnations was Bud Sawyer, a longtime staple of Portland-area radio stations such as WPOR, who was the station's morning host from 1998[13] until the 2001 switch to news/talk,[8] and again during the mid-2000s restoration of the standards format.[12]
WLAM had planned to drop ESPN Radio in favor of programming from Boston's WEEI in January 2008,[14] but the deal between Nassau and Entercom ended up collapsing.[15] The ESPN Radio format would remain until February 2, 2009, when WLAM and WLVP switched to the current oldies format.[16] In conjunction with the change, the stations began simulcasting WCSH's morning and early evening newscasts, a move made to continue the newscasts' availability via radio even after the station's own 87.7 MHz audio is discontinued following the shutdown of analog television signals.[16][17]
Initially locally programmed, in early 2010 WLAM and WLVP became affiliates of The True Oldies Channel.[18] Additionally, on August 2, the station added The Jeff Santos Show from WWZN in Boston;[19] this in effect took WLAM's morning drive programming back to a news/talk format, as Santos' program immediately follows the simulcast of WCSH's morning newscast. The stations' format was modified once more on August 6, 2011, when sports talk was re-added to the schedule 7 days a week via locally-produced shows and high school football and basketball from the Maine Sports Network (which previously provided some weekend programming to WJJB-FM).[20]
[edit] References
- ^ (PDF) Broadcasting/Cable Yearbook 1989. 1989. p. B-133. http://www.davidgleason.com/Archive%20BC-YB/1989/B-1%20Radio%20Ala%20to%20Mont%201989-5.pdf. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
- ^ Sargent, Dave (March 25, 2008). "L-A's radio days recalled". Lewiston Sun Journal. http://www.sunjournal.com/story/257846-3/LewistonAuburn/LAs_radio_days_recalled/. Retrieved January 27, 2009.[dead link]
- ^ a b Fybush, Scott (1996). "Maine Radio History, 1971–1996". The Archives @ BostonRadio.org. http://www.bostonradio.org/essays/maine-hist. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ a b c "WLAM Call Sign History". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division. http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=64434&Callsign=WLAM.
- ^ a b Fybush, Scott (June 18, 1996). "Portland Consolidates". New England RadioWatch. http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-960618.html. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ Fybush, Scott (November 19, 1999). "TV Duopoly Arrives in N.Y.". North East RadioWatch. http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-991119.html. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ Fybush, Scott (May 7, 2001). "Farewell, Old CHUM". North East RadioWatch. http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-010507.html. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ a b Fybush, Scott (November 11, 2001). "Cumulus Buys Aurora". North East RadioWatch. http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-011119.html. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ Fybush, Scott (December 31, 2001). "2001: The Year in Review". NorthEast Radio Watch. http://www.fybush.com/nerw-yir2001.html. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ Fybush, Scott (April 12, 2004). "Nassau Shakeup in Maine". NorthEast Radio Watch. http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2004/040412/nerw.html. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ Fybush, Scott (2004). "2004: The Year in Review". NorthEast Radio Watch. http://www.fybush.com/nerw-yir2004.html. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ a b "Newton Poised to Approve New Towers". NorthEast Radio Watch. November 14, 2005. http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2005/051114/nerw.html. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ Fybush, Scott (June 4, 1998). "Tornado Topples WIVT". North East RadioWatch. http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-980604.html. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ Whitehouse, Randy (October 23, 2007). "Boston's WEEI coming to Maine". Lewiston Sun Journal. http://www.sunjournal.com/story/235226-3/LocalSports/Bostons_WEEI_coming_to_Maine/. Retrieved October 27, 2007.[dead link]
- ^ "Entercom-Nassau Deal Falls Through". Radio Ink. January 4, 2008. http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=140600&pt=todaysnews. Retrieved January 7, 2008.
- ^ a b Routhier, Ray (January 27, 2009). "Portland to get new oldies station". Portland Press Herald. http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/038883.html. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
- ^ O'Brien, Maureen (January 26, 2009). "WCSH Strikes Deal To Simulcast Newscasts On Radio". WCSH6.com. http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=99602&catid=2. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
- ^ Fybush, Scott (March 8, 2010). "It's Go Time for "Rush Radio 1200"". NorthEast Radio Watch. http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2010/100308/nerw.html. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
- ^ "Jeff Santos Show expands again!". Revolution Boston. http://www.revolutionboston.com/news/jeff-santos-show-expands-again. Retrieved August 2, 2010.
- ^ Whitehouse, Randy (August 6, 2011). "Local duo making sports talk splash". Sun Journal. http://www.sunjournal.com/local-sports/story/1069392. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
[edit] External links
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WLAM
- Radio-Locator Information on WLAM
- Query Arbitron's AM station database for WLAM
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