WWJZ

Infobox Radio station
name = WWJZ


city = Mount Holly, New Jersey
area = Greater Philadelphia (Delaware Valley)
branding = "Radio Disney AM 640"
slogan =
airdate =
frequency = 640 kHz HD Radio
format = Children's
power = 50,000 watts (day)
950 watts (night)
class = B
facility_id = 43904
coordinates = coord|39|59|49.00|N|74|43|11.00|W|region:GB_type:city
callsign_meaning = JZ (Play-on letters WJZ former call of WABC, 770 kHz New York and former WJJZ Mount Holly, NJ which was similarly after WJZ )
former_callsigns =
owner = Disney|ABC Radio
webcast =
website = [http://www.radiodisney.com radiodisney.com]
affiliations = Radio Disney

WWJZ (640 AM, "Radio Disney AM 640") is a Radio Disney branded radio station serving the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, market. The station is owned by The Walt Disney Company through its Disney-ABC Cable Networks division. WWJZ broadcasts with a power of 50,000 watts daytime (950 watts at night) with a 4-tower array and is licensed to Mount Holly, New Jersey. The transmitter is located near the intersection of US-206 & Cr-530 in Pemberton Township, New Jersey.

History

Prior to Radio Disney, WWJZ was owned by John Farina, the originator of the sound adopted by Al Ham's "Music of your Life" format. Farina's dream was to re-establish the signal he had on 1460 kHz in Mount Holly in the 1960s as WJJZ. With the help of his long time friend and engineer, Ted Schober, he got New Jersey its first 50 kilowatt AM radio station in many years and was able to put his beloved sound on the air again.

The sounds of Brook Benton, Tommy Dorsey, Margaret Whiting, Doris Day, Frankie Laine and many others covered the east coast from Cape Cod to Cape Hattaras from October 1992 into 1993, emanating from an ancient General Electric transmitter of the type used by the venerable WJZ in its days as flagship of the NBC Blue Network. Then a bitter dispute between Farina and his financier-landlord, Edgar Cramer, put WWJZ off the air in August 1993.

Not to be defeated, Farina reestablished the station on a 1700 watt temporary transmitter in Florence, New Jersey, with the help of Nick Grand and Schober. The sound was well received with thousands of letters and some modest Philadelphia ratings, but the weaker signal did not compare to the big transmitter. Heartbroken, Farina had a stroke and died. Nick Grand continued the temporary operation as executor through the end of 1999, unable to make peace with Cramer until Disney made its offer for the station.

From the 1950s through the inception of WWJZ operation in 1992, there were no broadcast stations on 640 on the East Coast. This allowed the frequency to be used by a number of "carrier current" college radio stations including La Salle University's student radio station, which would later become known as WEXP, Rutgers University's WRSU-FM, Drew University's WERD, Stevens Institute of Technology's WCPR, and others.

WWJZ's daytime local signal reaches from the New Jersey shore to Allentown, Pennsylvania and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to northern New Jersey. The daytime fringe signal reaches into the New York metropolitan area on the north and the Baltimore-Washington D.C. metropolitan area on the south.cite web|url=http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WWJZ&service=AM&status=L&hours=D|title=WWJZ-AM 640 kHz daytime coverage map|work=Radio Locator|accessdate=2008-05-05] The station fills a void left on the Delmarva Peninsula when the former Radio Disney station in Salisbury, Maryland broadcasting on 1470AM went dark in 2003.Fact|date=May 2008

References

External links

* [http://radio.disney.go.com/mystation/philadelphia/ Official website]
*AMQ|WWJZ
*AML|WWJZ
*AMARB|WWJZ