WWCO
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| City of license | Waterbury, Connecticut |
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| Broadcast area | Hartford, Connecticut |
| Branding | AM 1240 |
| Slogan | The Talk of Connecticut |
| Frequency | 1240 kHz |
| Format | News Talk Information |
| Power | 1,000 watts unlimited |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 40678 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°33′59.00″N 73°3′23.00″W / 41.56639°N 73.05639°W |
| Affiliations | AP Radio, Talk Radio Network, Westwood One |
| Owner | Buckley Broadcasting of Connecticut, LLC |
| Sister stations | WMMW, WSNG, WDRC |
| Website | Official website |
WWCO (1240 AM) is a radio station licensed in Waterbury, Connecticut, broadcasting a News Talk Information format. The station is currently owned by Buckley Broadcasting and features programming from AP Radio, Talk Radio Network and Westwood One.[1][2] The station provides a blend of issue-oriented talk, news and information as well as a small amount of music programming. It also broadcasts New York Yankees baseball games.
[edit] History
WWCO first went on the air in 1946 with a 250-watt signal. It was a Mutual Network affiliate with studios in the Mattatuck Historical Society Building at 119 West Main Street. In the 1950s their format was mostly pop music and they were the first station in Waterbury to play rock and roll records.
On-air personalities during this era included Bob "Records" Crager, Les Davis, Joe Mulhall (later known as Ken Griffin in Hartford and Los Angeles), Bob Rouge and "Wildman Steve" Gallon. Davis and WWCO were featured in an article in the April 25, 1995, edition of Life.
During the 1960s and the 1970s WWCO was owned by Merv Griffin and operated as "1240 Super Music C-O", a Top 40 station.
The station evolved from Top 40 to an adult contemporary format (called "All-Star Music WWCO") at about the same time as WKCI-FM switched to an adult contemporary top 40 as "KC-101." Many[who?] believe that WKCI's switch to the new format hastened WWCO's departure from top 40 with some WWCO personalities leaving to take jobs at KC-101. Around 1984 WWCO abandoned the "All-Star" format returning to its "Super Music C-O" format under the direction of Program Director Steve Skipp. Owned at the time by Westport resident Sam Brownstein's "Greater Radio" the station continued to alternate between top 40 and adult contemporary formats.
The station found success with a night–time Urban Contemporary format called "Nightflight" which it used from 1984 to 1989. Later[when?] financial issues caused WWCO to terminate some of its personalities and to carry Unistar's "Niche 29" Adult Oriented Rock (AOR) format.
Having been sold to Winthrop Broadcasting, whose relatives owned Waterbury's WQQW/1590, WWCO relocated from its longtime location on the Straits Turnpike in Middlebury to a brand new studio in Waterbury. By 1990 WWCO again returned to its Top 40 format as "1240 Super Music 'C-O." Steve Skipp returned for a short tenure as Program Director although Wally Mann succeeded him and continued in that position as the station switched to an oldies format.
General Manager Tom Coffey and former WWYZ-FM salesman Rob Johnson formed Mattatuck Communications and purchased the station moving it to a new location[when?]. WWCO was then[when?] sold to Buckley Broadcasting (parent of WDRC) and moved to WDRC's studios in Bloomfield. While most AM stations had already abandoned contemporary music WWCO, and its on-air talent, continued into the early 1990s with an adult contemporary format.
Buckley Broadcasting purchased WWCO in the late 1990s and it now broadcasts the same programming as WDRC-AM in Hartford.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WWCO
- Radio-Locator Information on WWCO
- Query Arbitron's AM station database for WWCO
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