WHIC

Infobox Radio Station
name = WHIC


area = Rochester, New York
branding = The Station of the Cross
slogan =
airdate =
frequency = 1460 kHz
format = Religious (Catholic)
power = 5,000 watts day
5,400 watts night
class = B
owner = Holy Family Communications
website = [http://www.thestationofthecross.com/ www.thestationofthecross.com]
callsign_meaning = Holy and Immaculate Conception
former_callsigns = WHEC (1925-1972)
WAXC (1972-late 1970s)
WWWG (late 1970s-2003)

WHIC is a Catholic radio station broadcasting from Rochester, New York. WHIC is located at 1460 on the AM dial. Referred to as "The Station of the Cross", WHIC is owned and operated by Holy Family Communications. The station began broadcasting Catholic programming on July 1, 2003. Broadcasting at 5000 watts in the daytime and 5400 watts at night, WHIC's calls represent The Holy and Immaculate Conception, to whom this station is dedicated.

History

WHIC enjoys a legacy in Rochester's broadcast history. The station became Rochester's second radio operation in 1925 when the Hickson Electric Company launched the station as WHEC. Until 1941 the station used a number of broadcast frequencies, but had settled on 1430 kHz by the early 1930s. Following the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) in 1941, WHEC was reassigned to 1460 kHz. In the 1950s and 1960s WHEC broadcast popular music along with local and CBS news.

In 1972, new owners rebranded the station WAXC ("Waxy"), and changed format to compete with the top station in the market WBBF by playing Top 40 hits. Through much of the decade of the 1970s WAXC was successful both financially and in popularity (as measured by Arbitron ratings). But after 7 years of competition, toward the end of which FM stations started to cut into the audiences of both WAXC and WBBF, the callsign WAXC was retired and the station sold to American General Media, beginning the era of WWWG ("3WG").

American General Media named the station WWWG for "Where We Worship God" and, in so doing, earned the distinction of being Rochester's first religious radio station. WWWG offered a mix of religious programming among other brokered shows. [http://www.bostonradio.org/stations/6641 Boston Radio]

In the summer of 2003 WWWG was purchased by Buffalo based Holy Family Communications to become the network's fourth Catholic radio venture. Holy Family created The Station of the Cross as a network name and rebranded 1460 as WHIC, for the "Holy and Immaculate Conception". The similarity of the new name to the original WHEC (whose calls carry on by the local television station, WHEC-TV), may certainly also be a nod to the historic roots of the station. WHIC began carrying Catholic programming 24 hours a day, with much of the content provided by the EWTN Catholic Radio Network.

References

External References

*official|http://www.thestationofthecross.com/
*AMQ|WHIC
*AML|WHIC