WLLH

Infobox Radio station
name = WLLH


city = Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts
area = Merrimack Valley
branding = "1400 ESPN"
slogan =
frequency = 1400 (kHz)
repeater =
airdate = 1927 (as WBET)
share =
share as of =
share source =
format = Sports radio
power = 1,000 watts
erp =
haat =
class = C
facility_id = 24971
coordinates = coord|42|39|29.0|N|71|19|4.0|W|type:landmark (Lowell)
coord|42|42|27.0|N|71|9|41.0|W|type:landmark (Lawrence)
callsign_meaning = Lowell/Lawrence/Haverhill
former_callsigns = WBET (1927-29)
WLEY (1929-34)
affiliations = ESPN Radio
owner = J Sports
licensee =
sister_stations = WAMG
webcast = [http://www.890espn.com/listen_live/espn.html Listen Live]
website = http://www.890espn.com/

WLLH is a radio station in the Merrimack Valley region of Massachusetts, licensed to Lowell, Massachusetts. The station is owned by J Sports, simulcasting the ESPN Radio programming of WAMG. In addition to a transmitter in Lowell, there is a synchronous transmitter in Lawrence, together forming the two Ls in the callsign. (There were once plans for a Haverhill transmitter, -- the H -- but this fell through.) Both WLLH transmitters operate on 1400 kHz.

History

WLLH dates back to 1927 and WBET, the "Boston Evening Transcript" station. The station began official operations in April, after a debut in February that suffered from technical problems and led to an apology on the front page of the next day's paper. WBET was relocated to Lexington, Massachusetts in 1929 after further technical issues and expenses led to the "Transcript" shutting down the operation. The new ownership -- the Lexington Air Stations -- also owned WLEX (now WVEI Worcester), and as such renamed the station WLEY. However, this duopoly arrangement, combined with a television experiment and the Great Depression, led to the owners losing money. As such, Alfred Mofat purchased the station in 1933, and moved the station to Lowell, changing the call letters to WLLH (the Lawrence transmitter did not exist until later). The career of Ed McMahon began at WLLH. In addition, the station began an FM sister station in 1947.

By the 1990s, WLLH, under Arnold Lerner's Merrimack Valley Wireless Talking Machine Company, had adopted an adult standards format, and was the radio affiliate of the Lowell Spinners minor league baseball team. However, the station was sold to Mega Communications in 1999, and switched to a simulcast of WAMG, then at 1150. When WAMG moved to 890 in 2003, WLLH switched the simulcast accordingly, and the two stations switched to ESPN Radio in 2005.

See also

*WAMG

References

*cite web
url=http://www.bostonradio.org/timeline-20s.html
title = The Boston Radio Timeline: The First Ten Years
work = Archives @ BostonRadio.org
date = 2001-01-02
accessdate=2005-12-29
*cite web
url=http://www.bostonradio.org/timeline.html
title = The Boston Radio Timeline
work = Archives @ BostonRadio.org
date = 2002-04-04
accessdate=2005-12-29

External links

* [http://www.890espn.com Official website] (WAMG)
*AMQ|WLLH
*AML|WLLH
*AMARB|WLLH