WXBK: Difference between revisions

WRXP (94.7 FM) is a radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey and serving the New York City metropolitan area. The station airs a country music format as "94.7 Nash FM," and transmits from a tower located in West Orange, New Jersey. WRXP is owned by Cumulus Media, and has its studio co-located with sister stations WABC (770 AM) and WPLJ (95.5 FM) in New York City; Cumulus purchased the station in January 2013 from its previous owner, Family Radio, which aired religious programming on the station as WFME.^[1][2]

The 94.7 FM frequency signed on in 1947 as WAAT-FM, and was owned by the Bremer Broadcasting Company along with sister station WAAT (970 AM, now WNYM). The following year Bremer launched a television station, WATV on channel 13, New Jersey's first TV outlet. In 1957 the three stations were sold by Bremer to National Telefilm Associates, who changed the operation's call letters to WNTA-FM.^[3][4] During this period the station had diversified programming such as jazz, classical music, and easy listening music.

National Telefilm split up its holdings in 1961, with WNTA-TV (now WNET) being sold to a New York City-based nonprofit educational group, and the WNTA radio stations going to Communications Industries Broadcasting.^[5] The new owners changed the calls to WJRZ-FM^[6] and initially retained the station's previous format, but in 1963 began leasing airtime to Family Radio.^[7] In 1964 the station was renamed WFME, and in early 1966 Family Radio bought 94.7 FM outright and began airing its religious programming around-the-clock.^[8]

WFME's local programming consisted of community announcements; weekend public affairs; and weather and traffic inserts during Family Radio's Rise and Rejoice morning show. WFME originated a portion of the network's overnight program Nightwatch, hosted by station manager/chief engineer Charlie Menut. The rest of the station's schedule originated from Family Radio headquarters in Oakland, California.^[9]

WFME's programming was also heard on two translator stations: W213AC (90.5 FM) in Hyde Park, New York; and W247AE (97.3 FM) in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. As a result of the license status change, the translators can no longer legally rebroadcast WFME's broadcast signal and as a result both translator stations are currently silent as of February 2012.

On January 21, 2013 WRXP goes country bringing back country music after 13 years to New York City.

On January 6, 2012, Family Radio applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to change the license of WFME from noncommercial to commercial. This move followed the sales by Family Radio of stations in the Philadelphia (WKDN-FM, now WWIQ) and Washington-Baltimore (WFSI, now WLZL) markets, and quickly prompted conjecture from radio industry monitors that WFME would be sold next.^[10][11][12] The application was approved on February 7, 2012.^[13]

The sale rumors were confirmed on October 16, 2012, when Family Radio announced that it would sell WFME to Atlanta-based Cumulus Media for what was then an undisclosed price. The sale price was confirmed a few days later to be $40 million, which will be incremented, should Cumulus relocate the station's transmitter to New York City. In addition, Family Radio acquired WDVY (106.3 FM) in Mount Kisco, New York from Cumulus.^[14] The FCC approved the sale January 4, 2013, making 94.7 FM a sister station to Cumulus' two existing New York market stations, WABC and WPLJ. Four days later, on January 8, 2013, Cumulus completed the purchase of WFME. Family Radio programming on 94.7 FM ended on January 11, 2013; prior to signing off of the frequency, station manager Charlie Menut stated that the network's programming would be transferred to 106.3 FM, which became the new WFME on January 15, and that efforts to acquire an AM frequency that would cover the New York City area were being made.^[15][16]

On January 14, WFME adopted the WRXP call sign, which was used on 101.9 FM (the present WFAN-FM) under two different owners and two different stints as an alternative rock station. Three days earlier, on January 11, the 94.7 FM signal began a simulcast of its new sister station, WPLJ; the simulcast ended on January 18 in favor of stunting with a self-described "Wheel of Formats." The stunting continued until 9:47 AM the following Monday (January 21), when WRXP adopted a new country music format branded as "94.7 Nash FM," leading off the new format with Randy Houser's "How Country Feels" and Alan Jackson's "Gone Country."^[17] The launch of "94.7 Nash FM" gave the New York City radio market its first full-time country station since February 5, 1996, when WYNY flipped to Rhythmic AC.^[18] The launch is also Cumulus' first step in establishing "Nash FM" (the name alludes to the country music mecca of Nashville) as a nationwide multimedia brand for country music, with the brand eventually appearing on other Cumulus-owned stations as well as syndicated and online content and possibly cable television.^[19][20]

• Official website
• Cumulus Media corporate website
• Nash FM 94.7 on Facebook
• Nash FM 94.7 on Twitter
• Facility details for Facility ID WRXP ({{{2}}}) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• {{{2}}} in Nielsen Audio's FM station database