WWSW-FM

Infobox Radio Station


name = WWSW-FM
airdate =
frequency = 94.5 MHz HD Radio
94.5 HD-2 for Jammin' Oldies
city = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
area = Pittsburgh metropolitan area
format = Classic Hits
owner = Clear Channel
erp = 50,000 Watts
haat = 247 meters
branding = "3WS"
slogan = "Life's Good, Sing Along"
class = B
facility_id = 59968
webcast = [http://www.3wsradio.com/cc-common/streaming_new/ Listen Live]
website = [http://www.3wsradio.com/ www.3wsradio.com]
callsign_meaning =

WWSW-FM (3WS), is an Classic Hits radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Clear Channel Communications station broadcasts at 94.5 MHz with an ERP of 50 kW. Its transmitter is located in Pittsburgh.

History

The station signed on as WMOT in the late 1940s, but eventually changed its call letters to match its AM sister station, WWSW. The station became WPEZ in 1973 and was a successful top 40 station for the next seven years. On Labor Day, 1980, the station gave up top 40 for an adult contemporary format, changing its identity at that time to "3WS." The AM and FM stations both flipped to oldies in 1988, simulcast for much of the time. The AM split from the FM in 2000 and adopted a sports radio format as WBGG. In 2006, it was announced that Pitt Panthers football and basketball games would be aired on WWSW-FM.

Like many oldies stations, WWSW-FM recently had been de-emphasizing music of the 1950s and 1960s in favor of more songs from the 1970s (and even a few from the 1980s), while declining to use the word "oldies" on the air. In 2006, the music was abruptly adjusted forward with more emphasis on the '70s and even more from the '80s. The station started to play artists it had ignored before, like Styx, Huey Lewis and the News, Supertramp and Bruce Springsteen, while dropping long-time staples of an earlier vintage like the Dave Clark Five, Gary Lewis and the Playboys and Herman's Hermits. (However, The Beatles continue to be a staple of the station's on air playlist.)

For more than a month prior to Christmas, WWSW switches to a holiday music format.

Programming

* Merkel in the Morning
* Sheryl Van Dyke and the 3WS Lunch Hour
* Mike Fraiser and the 3WS Drive at 5
* Marty Thompson

WWSW HD2

On April 25, 2006, Clear Channel announced that WWSW's HD2 subchannel will carry a format focusing on Rhythmic Oldies, which was originally on its sister station WPGB (when it was WJJJ).

External links

* [http://www.3wsradio.com/ WWSW-FM official website]
*FMQ|WWSW
*FML|WWSW
*FMARB|WWSW
* [http://www.w9wi.com/articles/grand_fm.htm List of "grandfathered" FM radio stations in the U.S.]