Jump to content

WELI

Add links
Coordinates:41°22′14.35″N72°56′13.37″W/ 41.3706528°N 72.9370472°W/41.3706528; -72.9370472
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused withWeli.

WELI
Frequency960kHz
BrandingWELI 960 AM and 96.9 FM
Programming
FormatNews/talk
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WAVZ,WKCI-FM
History
First air date
October 1935;88 years ago(1935-10)
Call signmeaning
Yale University's popular nickname "The Eli", the station being in the university's home city.
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID11933
ClassB
Power5,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
41°22′14.35″N72°56′13.37″W/ 41.3706528°N 72.9370472°W/41.3706528; -72.9370472
Translator(s)96.9W245DK (New Haven)
Repeater(s)101.3WKCI-FM HD3(Hamden)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live(viaiHeartRadio)
Website960weli.iheart

WELI(960kHz) is anAMcommercial radiostationlicensedtoNew Haven, Connecticut,and serving the New Haven andBridgeportareas. It broadcasts anews/talkradio formatand is owned byiHeartMedia, Inc.WELI's studios are in Radio Towers Park on Benham Street inHamden,where it shares facilities with sister stationsWKCI-FMandWAVZ.Transmitting towersfor WELI are also at this location.

WELI is powered at 5,000 watts,non-directionalby day. To protect other stations on or near960 AMfrom interference, at night it uses adirectional antennawith a four-tower array.[2]Programming is also heard on 215 wattFM translatorW245DK at 96.9MHz.[3]

Programming

[edit]

Weekdays begin with a news and interview show, "The Vinnie Penn Project",simulcaston co-ownedWPOPinHartford.The rest of the weekday schedule includesnationally syndicatedtalk shows, mostly fromPremiere Networks:The Glenn Beck Program,The Sean Hannity Show,The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,The Jesse Kelly Show,Coast to Coast AMwithGeorge NooryandThis Morning, America's First News with Gordon DealfromCompass Media Networks.[4]World and national news comes fromFox News Radiowith WELI newscasters supplying Connecticut news for both WELI and WPOP.

On weekends, WELI airs syndicated shows includingAt Home with Gary Sullivan,Sunday Night Live with Bill CunninghamandSomewhere in Time with Art Bell,as well as repeats of weekday shows. WELI Sports Director George DeMaio Jr. hosts a Saturday morning show.

History

[edit]

Early years

[edit]

WELIsigned onthe air in October 1935 as adaytimeron 900 kHz, powered at 500 watts and required to go off the air at night. The station was owned by the City Broadcasting Corporation, with studios at 221 Orange Street in New Haven.[5]With the station located in the same city asYale University,whose sports teams are nicknamed "The Elis", the station chose WELI for itscall sign.Over the years, the station broadcast liveYale Bulldogsor Elis sports, since many of its listeners have been Yale students, faculty and alumni.

With the enactment of theNorth American Regional Broadcasting Agreement(NARBA) in 1941, WELI and most other radio stations, were required to move to a different frequency. It switched to 960 kHz, getting night time authorization. It was powered at 1,000 watts by day, 500 watts at night. WELI was anetwork affiliateof theMutual Broadcasting System,carrying its dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio".[6]

Shows in the 1930s, 40s and 50s

[edit]

In its early decades, WELI had local musicians play live music. A weekly programPoetry and an Organ,broadcast in the late 1930s, starred organist Don Raphael.[7][8]Other musicians heard regularly on WELI in the 1930s and 1940s included organist Marion J. Reynolds, who was the station's musical director since its first day, pianist Margaret Shepard, the Esther String Trio, the Continental Trio directed by violinist Sy Byer, Ray Block's Swing Fourteen, andCharles Magnante's accordion quartet.[9]ThePolish Eagles Radio Show,featuringPolish languageand Polish instrumental music and hosted by Victor Zembruski, aired every Sunday on WELI during the 1950s.[10]The station's singers included Millicent Scott, Edith Jolson, and Louise DeMars. Dick Carlson hosted the record request and dedication showDanceland Ballroom.

WELI also had Italian language shows. George Mazzacane's 2-hour-longL'Ora Italiana,aired on WELI for seven years until his death in 1943, included Italian opera records and news about Italy and Italians relevant to the local Italian American community.[11][12]George Padovini and Luigi diFant presented news in Italian.[9]

Other local shows regularly heard on WELI in its early years includedWhat Are You Reading?with Elida Sterling, about novels,Stories of the Starswith Lewis Doolittle, aboutastronomy,andTheater News on the Airabout live performances. WELI also aired many local sports games and tournaments, including tennis, golf, basketball, and baseball.Meet the Eagleswas hosted by Will Cude, the goalie of the local professionalice hockeyteam, theNew Haven Eagles.

Clear Channel ownership

[edit]

In 1984,Clear Channel Communications,the forerunner of iHeartMedia, acquired WELI.[13]For much of the 1960s and 1970s, WELI had afull service,middle of the roadformat of popular adult music, news, talk and sports. But with Clear Channel ownership, the station scaled back its music programming, adding more talk shows. By the 1990s, WELI had made the transition to an all-talk station.

Jerry Kristafer was the host forThe WELI Morning Showfrom 1998 until 2008 when he moved toWDRC-FMin Hartford.[14]The show was replaced by the syndicatedImus in the Morningshow fromWABCin New York City.[15]In 1998, WELI again began broadcastcollege footballgames of the Yale Bulldogs.[16]

WELI had carriedThe Rush Limbaugh Showfrom noon to 3 p.m. for many years. Limbaugh died in February 2021 and WELI aired repeats of Limbaugh's show for several months. When it was discontinued in June 2021, the station replaced it withThe Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.Other national shows formerly heard on WELI includeThe Mark Levin Show,The Savage NationwithMichael Savage,The Laura Ingraham Show,Kim KomandoComputer Show,Dr.Dean Edell,andJim Cramer's Real Money Talk.[17][18][19]

Translator

[edit]
Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP(W) Class Transmitter coordinates FCC info
W245DK 96.9 FM New Haven, Connecticut 202570 215 D 42°25′22.2″N71°57′4.9″W/ 42.422833°N 71.951361°W/42.422833; -71.951361(W245DK) LMS

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Facility Technical Data for WELI".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^"WELI-AM 960 kHz - New Haven, CT".radio-locator.
  3. ^"W245DK-FM 96.9 MHz - New Haven, CT".radio-locator.
  4. ^"960 WELI - New Haven's News, Weather & Traffic Station".
  5. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1937page 58,Broadcasting & Cable
  6. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1942page 114,Broadcasting & Cable
  7. ^"New Haven"(PDF).Radio Daily.December 2, 1937. p. 6.RetrievedFebruary 24,2022– via World Radio History.
  8. ^"New Haven"(PDF).Radio Daily.February 11, 1938. p. 3.RetrievedFebruary 24,2022– via World Radio History.
  9. ^ab"WELI: New Haven's Own Station"(PDF).WELI promotional booklet.RetrievedFebruary 24,2022– via World Radio History.
  10. ^"Polish Eagles Show"(PDF).Broadcasting, Telecasting.March 29, 1954. p. 86.RetrievedMarch 2,2021.
  11. ^Trotta, Liz (1994).Fighting for Air: In the Trenches with Television News.Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. p. 37.ISBN9780826209528.
  12. ^"George Mazzacane"(PDF).Broadcasting.February 15, 1943. p. 45.RetrievedFebruary 24,2022.
  13. ^Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1987 page B-53
  14. ^Maryellen Fillo (December 22, 2007)."Change at the Morning Mike at WDRC-FM".Hartford Courant.RetrievedJanuary 26,2022.
  15. ^"WELI Adds Imus".All Access.RetrievedJanuary 4,2008.
  16. ^Rubin, Sam (2006).Yale Football.Arcadia Publishing. p. 120.ISBN9780738545325.
  17. ^"NEWS/TALK 960 WELI ON-AIR SCHEDULE".Archived fromthe originalon August 13, 2002.
  18. ^"NEWS/TALK 960 WELI ON-AIR SCHEDULE!".Archived fromthe originalon March 12, 2005.
  19. ^"960 WELI".Archived fromthe originalon February 13, 2009.
[edit]
FM translator
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WELI&oldid=1234374199"