Washington DC Is Getting the WNEW Call Letters

[disney fanatic]

According to DCRTV today that 99.1 FM an all news station in Washington DC is getting the WNEW call letters. As you may know, the WNEW calls were parked in Jupiter, Florida back in 2007. If you have look at the history of the WNEW call letters, it was first used by Metromedia in NYC on TV channel 5 (which is now Fox's WNYW), and then as an AM station for playing standards at 1130 (which is now WBBR), and a FM rock station 102.7 (which is now WWFS).

Now that the WNEW calls will be moving from West Palm Beach, FL to Washington, DC, they will launch an all-news station in January with the new set of call letters. They will compete against WTOP and the other of the all-news station. Stay tuned.

 

[DToTheJ]

Something that I see others wondering about is what will become of wnew.com. I suppose CBS will hold onto the intellectual property if they're not going to continue that website.

 

[klutch00]

From what I've heard, the new COL will be Bowie MD.

 

[kevinsealy]

DisneyFanatic,

The WNEW call letters first started n February 13, 1934 in New York on 1250AM



Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

 

[jhguthlac]

Correct. The WNEW call sign goes way back. It is best remembered as one of the iconic AM stations. After the rule separating AM from FM, WNEW-FM became a leading "progressive rock" station, stealing a host of listeners from the great WABC.

 

[DToTheJ]

And as of yesterday, the WHFS call letters are now on that Jupiter, FL station where the WNEW calls are coming from for the new 99.1 FM.

 

[raccoonradio]

dcrtv.org says the 1580 might go to prog talk

>>Lefty Talk To 1580? - 12/2 - We're hearing some rumors that CBS Radio might just be thinking about putting lefty "progressive" talk on 1580 AM, recently rechristened WNEW-AM.

 

[recto101]

CBS in DC I say that is plausable for WNEW-FM to run over WTOP-AM since CBS does well in All- News formats in most markets. But that could be proven wrong like what happened in San Francisco in the 1990's with KPIX.

 

[Rusty Muck]

DisneyFanatic,

The WNEW call letters first started n February 13, 1934 in New York on 1250AM



Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

Actually, the WNEW calls were first used on August 8, 1928 on the 1310 kHz facility in Newport News, Virginia. That station took the WGH calls just eight weeks later.

The WNEW calls went to the 1250 kHz facility in Newark, New Jersey as a merger of three time-share stations. It also took the meaning, "the NEWest thing in Radio!"

 

[Rusty Muck]

CBS in DC I say that is plausable for WNEW-FM to run over WTOP-AM since CBS does well in All- News formats in most markets. But that could be proven wrong like what happened in San Francisco in the 1990's with KPIX.

KPIX-FM fell victim to several elements... most notably their round-the-clock coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial and KPIX-FM's then-owner Westinghouse buying out CBS.

 

[ddsparxx]

Right now I am hearing Christmas music and the WNEW calls on 99.1.

 

[erwin33]

Any stream address available yet?

 

[nd2023]

And as of yesterday, the WHFS call letters are now on that Jupiter, FL station where the WNEW calls are coming from for the new 99.1 FM.

Could there be a way for CBS to get the WHFS calls on 97.5?

 

[DToTheJ]

Probably not, since they're already being used on an FM station in a different state/market.

Of course, 97.5 can still say that they're "HFS" as long as they do their legal, non-WHFS ID.

 

[puddingpop]

Could there be a way for CBS to get the WHFS calls on 97.5?

Nope. 97.5 is a translator signal, and has a different type of callsign that can't be changed: W248AO.

That's why the company is "parking" the call letters on that Jacksonville-area station...so that they can be kept in the company until they can be used again (much like they did with WNEW, although those call letters are being brought back for a completely different format in a different market).