WCCC (AM)

Infobox Radio station
name = WCCC


city = West Hartford, Connecticut
area = Hartford, Connecticut
branding =
slogan =
airdate =
frequency = 1290 kHz HD Radio
format = Classical
power = 490 watts day
11 watts night
erp =
haat =
class = D
facility_id = 25073
coordinates =
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns =
owner = Marlin Broadcasting Of Hartford
licensee =
sister_stations =
webcast = [http://go.eonstreams.com/?u=122 Listen Live]
website = [http://www.beethoven.com beethoven.com]
affiliations =

WCCC (AM) (previously WTMI) is a classical music station branded as Radio Beethoven at AM 1290 in West Hartford, Connecticut. The station is owned by "Marlin Broadcasting of Hartford", LLC operating as a class D AM station operating with 490 watts during the day and reducing power at night per FCC rules. WCCC is one of the few remaining commercial classical music stations in the US. One of the things that makes WCCC notable is that is carries the programming of its co-owned webcast station, beethoven.com. While many radio stations in the US stream their audio on the web, this is one of the few cases, and perhaps the first, where a stand-alone webcaster had a full time radio station carrying its programming. WCCC is owned by Marlin Broadcasting, llc, is the only commercial station licensed to West Hartford, CT (USA) and was the first station in the state to adopt HD radio digital technology in April 2005.

History of WCCC

AM 1290 in West Hartford, CT USA dates back to 1948 when the station first went on the air with studios at the transmitter site on South Quaker Lane in West Hartford, CT. Shortly thereafter, the studio were moved to the "lower street level" of the well known Hotel Bond in Hartford, CT. Owned by colorful jeweler Bill Savitt (of "POMG" fame), the call letters at that point were WCCC which stood for "We Cover Connecticut's Capitol". Early programming consisted of popular music of the day, news, sports and farm and agricultural reports. 23,000 watt WCCC-FM was licensed on 106.9 in 1959 with a transmitter site a top Avon Mountain in West Hartford. In the late sixties WCCC moved its studios and offices to 11 Asylum Street in Hartford and changed to a hugely popular "All Request" format which was simulcast in part on WCCC-FM. AM 1290 was one of the only stations in the country ever owned by a record label, in this case Elektra (1960s). Sy Dresner purchased the station in the early Seventies and by the mid-Seventies the station had switched to a rock music format. National commentator Paul Harvey was heard on WCCC for close to two decades. In 1980, the station was moved to 243 South Whitney Street in Hartford. For a brief time in the early eighties WCCC ran a talk format. In 1998 Marlin Broadcasting purchased the station from Sy Dresner's Greater Hartford Communications Corporation and moved the station to 1039 Asylum Avenue in Hartford with an Active Rock format.

In 1990 the station lost its lease on the AM tower site on S. Quaker Lane in West Hartford and constructed a new tower at its FM site on Avon Mountain in West Hartford to allow both AM and FM stations to utilize the site. This necessitated the change in city of license from Hartford to West Hartford.

Howard Stern started his talk radio career at WCCC in the late seventies. He returned to WCCC in 1995 before leaving radio for satellite broadcasting in 2004. Other notable hosts over the years were Bob Crane, Fred Norris, Ivor Hugh, Rusty Pots, Stoneman, The Ozzman, The Lich, Sebastian, Picozzi and the Horn and Country Paul Payton.

In 2002 WCCC stopped simulcasting its sister FM station and started an all classical format originated by beethoven.com, a Marlin Broadcasting subsidary co-located at the Asylum Avenue studios.

WCCC used the call letters WTMI between 2002 and February 1, 2007. Formerly those call letters belonged to an FM station in Miami, Florida, USA. Beethoven.com originated as a part of that Miami classical FM station on 93.1.

For six months in 2005 WCCC-AM originated programming each Saturday morning from West Hartford center.

In 2005 WCCC-AM started carrying various West Hartford sporting events live on the air, including hockey, softball, basketball and football from both Conard and Hall High Schools.

In April 2007 the programming of WCCC-AM was added to the HD-2 channel of sister station, WCCC-FM (106.9 MHz). This was possible using the new HD Radio technology which allows a properly equipped FM station to transmit three or more separate audio programs on a single frequency. In this case WCCC-FM will continue with its Active Rock format on its main channel, and will carry Beethoven Radio on its HD-2 channel.

References

* [http://www.beethoven.com/ beethoven.com website]
* [http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/special-report/beethoven.shtml Articles and letters about the station at Radio World On Line]
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