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WATX

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Coordinates:41°22′38″N72°55′44″W/ 41.37722°N 72.92889°W/41.37722; -72.92889
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WATX
Broadcast areaNew Haven County, Connecticut
Frequency1220kHz(inC-QUAMAM stereo)
BrandingConnecticut Gold 1220 WATX
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatOldies
AffiliationsCBS News Radio
Ownership
Owner
  • Clark Smidt
  • (Clark Media, LLC)
History
First air date
1962;62 years ago(1962)
Former call signs
  • WDEE (1960–1967)
  • WCDQ (1967–1978)
  • WOMN (1978–1981)
  • WSCR (1981–1986)
  • WNNR (1986–1988)
  • WXCT (1988–1996)
  • WQUN (1996–2020)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID42658
ClassB
Power
  • 1,000 watts (day)
  • 305 watts (night)
[2]
Transmitter coordinates
41°22′38″N72°55′44″W/ 41.37722°N 72.92889°W/41.37722; -72.92889
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Website1220watx

WATX(1220AMStereo;"Connecticut Gold" ) is a radio stationlicensedtoHamden, Connecticut,the station is owned by Clark Smidt, and broadcasts anOldiesformat. Under its previous call sign WQUN, the station aired theadult standardsformatAmerica's Best MusicfromWestwood Onebefore goingsilenton May 31, 2019.[3]The station resumed broadcasting on May 28, 2020, to satisfy FCC requirements and retain the license for another six months until returning to the air with reduced power on May 8, 2021.[4][5]

History

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The beginning: WDEE

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WATX first signed on the air as WDEE. The WDEE call letters were assigned in 1959, and the license to broadcast was awarded in 1960.[6]There was also a license to build an FM sister station, to be known as WDEE-FM.[7]But delays in building both stations ensued, and neither station could get on the air for several years. When WDEE finally began to broadcast, in mid-1962, it had 1,000 watts of power and was only allowed to operatefrom sunrise to sunset.[8]By 1965, it had become one of the principal Top-40 rockers in the New Haven area. In the early hours of the morning of January 21, 1965, a fire broke out that destroyed the station's studios at 473 Denslow Hill Road in Hamden. The AM station returned to the air within a week, in new premises,[9]but the FM station was unable to return to the air. WDEE-FM remaineddarkfor more than fourteen months, at which time it was sold to new owners, New Haven-based Kops Communication. WDEE's ownership did not change at that time.[10]However, WDEE was sold in June 1967, to Noel Coté, Frank Delfino, and Ted Quale, the owners of Bridgeport radio station,WICC.[11]

WDEE becomes WCDQ

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The station changed format in 1967 fromtop 40to "Middle of the Road" (now "adult contemporary music"). With the change in ownership came a change in format, and an accompanying change incall letters:the new call letters were WCDQ, the initials of the station's new owners Cote, Delfino & Quayle. As WCDQ, the station switched to acountry musicformat in the early '70s, then tooldiesbefore returning to top 40 by the mid-1970s. Among the featured programming of the mid-'70s "1220 'CDQ", was "Ken Jordan's Jukebox" hosted by Ken Berger (on-air name of Ken Jordan). The show featureddoo-wopand pre-Beatlesrock and rollon Sunday afternoons until the station'ssign-offat sundown.[12]Other DJs during this era were Jerry Kristafer, Ken DeVoe and Jay McCormick.[citation needed]

Woman Radio and "PLR2"

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In 1978, Robert Herpe, owner ofWPLRin New Haven, purchased the station and adopted a format targeted specifically to women. Changing the call letters to WOMN, the new format debuted on August 28, 1978, with the moniker "WOMAN Radio". Although it gained national attention, the new format failed, as it was unable to attract enough advertiser support.[13]Scarcely more than a year after its debut, WOMN dropped the all-woman orientation and switched to a Top 40 format in September 1979, dropping all on-air references to WOMAN radio by February 1980.[14]Later in 1980, the station changed toalbum-oriented rock,seeking to ride the coattails of its sister FM station WPLR by calling itself "PLR2" on air.

1980s and '90s: from country to Spanish language (and several formats inbetween)

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The early 1980s saw another call letter switch, to WSCR, "Suburban Country Radio", in recognition of a new country format. In 1986, Pete Salant bought the station and changed it back to oldies as WNNR, "Winner Radio." Within months, Hartford'sWDRC-FMshifted to oldies and forced Hamden's 1220 AM into its next incarnation in 1988, as WXCT ( "Exciting 'XCT" ) with a locally produced adult contemporary format. In 1988 or '89, the station changed format to the Business Radio Network (now the Business Talk Radio Network). Around the spring of 1991, WXCT changed to all Spanish-language programming.

Quinnipiac buys 1220

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In September 1996,Quinnipiac Collegeacquired the Spanish-language WXCT. The station closed down as the college relocated the station's studios and offices to new facilities at 560 New Road in Hamden. The transmitter site remains at Denslow Hill Road. On February 7, 1997, following five months of silence as construction proceeded, WQUN signed on the air at 6:00 p.m. with theMusic Of Your Lifenetwork. In January 2019, Quinnipiac announced that WQUN would cease operations at the end of May, citing the AM station's decreasing relevance to the student population.[15]The license and transmitter was offered up for sale shortly thereafter.[16]The station signed off at 6:00 p.m. on May 31, 2019.

On May 27, 2020, the call letters were changed to WATX.[17]The station briefly returned to the air that May and June withNational Weather Serviceforecasts, allowing Quinnipiac to maintain thebroadcast licensewhile it sought a buyer for the station. In October 2020, the university agreed to sell WATX toNashua, New Hampshire-based Clark Media; the company's owner, Clark Smidt, had worked at WDEE during the summer of 1967.[18]The sale was consummated on December 7, 2020.

On May 8, 2021, WATX returned to the air with an oldies format, branded as "Connecticut Gold".[19]

References

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  1. ^"Facility Technical Data for WATX".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^"WATX".fcc.gov.Federal Communications Commission.RetrievedApril 11,2023.
  3. ^"EXTENSION OF REMAIN SILENT AUTHORITY".FCC.
  4. ^"Resumption of Operations".FCC.
  5. ^Turmelle, Luther (May 29, 2020)."Buyer possible for broadcast license of Quinnipiac University radio station WQUN in Hamden".New Haven Register.RetrievedJune 2,2020.
  6. ^"Transactions." Broadcasting, November 28, 1960, p. 93.
  7. ^"New FM Stations." Broadcasting, October 10, 1960, p. 110.
  8. ^"Changing Hands." Broadcasting, March 11, 1963, p. 46.
  9. ^"Hamden's Third Major Fire in Two Months Silenced a Local Radio Station".Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc.
  10. ^"Kops is Acquiring Hamden's WDEE-FM." Bridgeport (CT) Post, April 14, 1966, p. 64.
  11. ^"Local Radio Executives Purchase Hamden Station." Bridgeport (CT) Sunday Post, June 18, 1967, p. 23.
  12. ^"RADIO GREATS".home.eznet.net.
  13. ^Colin McEnroe. "Woman-Oriented Format Phased Out." Hartford Courant, April 6, 1980, p. 36S.
  14. ^"HARTFORD RADIO HISTORY".
  15. ^"NorthEast Radio Watch 1/14/19: Silence for Connecticut AM".January 14, 2019.
  16. ^"WQUN, Hamden, CT – Station Sale".May 6, 2019. Archived fromthe originalon May 6, 2019.
  17. ^"Call Sign History".licensing.fcc.gov.
  18. ^Turmelle, Luther (October 14, 2020)."Qunnipiac University sells WQUN broadcast license to Boston radio veteran".New Haven Register.RetrievedOctober 14,2020.
  19. ^Connecticut Gold 1220 WATX Debuts In New HavenRadioinsight - May 13, 2021
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