KYW (AM)
Jenkintown) | |
Links | |
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Public license information | |
Webcast | Listen live (via Audacy) |
Website | www |
KYW (1060
KYW is a 50,000–watt
History
Origin in Chicago (1921)
In November 1920, the
The Westinghouse station was first licensed on November 15, 1921, as Chicago's first broadcasting outlet, with the randomly assigned call letters of KYW.
In 1927, Westinghouse affiliated its four radio stations (KYW, KDKA in Pittsburgh, WBZ in Springfield and WBZA in Boston) with the
In 1923, Westinghouse established a station, KFKX in Hastings, Nebraska, located near the center of the country. The station was designed to serve a dual purpose, of providing an agricultural service, and for testing the practicality of using shortwave transmitters to link together radio networks, with KFKX receiving much of its programming by shortwave from KDKA in Pittsburgh. In 1927 the project was abandoned, although it was announced that the KFKX programming was being consolidated with KYW. Westinghouse now controlled two stations in addition to KYW in the Chicago area: KFKX and WEBH. On September 1, 1928, the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) ordered that their operations should be consolidated.[8] WEBH was deleted,[9] and the other two stations were merged, with a dual call letter assignment of KYW-KFKX, although the latter call sign would be rarely if ever used after 1930.
In 1929, KYW's transmitter was moved from the top of Chicago's Congress Hotel to west suburban Bloomingdale Township.[10]
On May 15, 1933, after the FRC requested that stations using only one of their assigned call letters drop those that were no longer in regular use, KFKX was eliminated and the station reverted to just KYW.[11]
Move to Philadelphia (1934)
Under the provisions of the FRC's
Westinghouse fought a long legal battle, attempting to keep KYW operating as a clear channel station on 1020 in Chicago. Finally it proposed moving the station to a Region 2 location, settling on Philadelphia.[13] However, numerous other stations made alternative proposals to be assigned this allocation, and the matter was placed in the hands of an FRC examiner, who held hearings in July 1932 to sort through 23 conflicting applications from 16 stations. Examiner Pratt's recommendation concluded that KYW's willingness to move to Philadelphia was the best possible outcome.[14]
After broadcasting its last program in Chicago on December 2, 1934, KYW aired its debut Philadelphia program the next day.
On March 29, 1941, KYW's clear channel assignment was shifted from 1020 to 1060 kHz, its current frequency, as part of a nationwide adjustment of assignments engineered by the
KYW acquired a television counterpart in late February 1953, when Westinghouse bought WPTZ (channel 3), the nation's third commercial television station and NBC's second television affiliate, from Philco.[22]
KYW Cleveland/WRCV Philadelphia (1956–1965)
In June 1955 Westinghouse agreed to trade KYW and WPTZ to NBC in exchange for NBC's
On February 13, NBC changed KYW's call letters in Philadelphia to WRCV (for the
Based on its responsibilities as an NBC-owned outlet, WRCV carried all of NBC's network programming, such as the weekend
Return to Philadelphia (1965)
Almost immediately after the NBC-Westinghouse trade was finalized, Westinghouse complained to the FCC and the
All-news format
On September 21, 1965, shortly after Westinghouse regained control of 1060 AM, the newly revived KYW dropped its NBC radio affiliation. It became one of the first radio stations in the country to switch to an
In 1972, KYW moved to new studios in
KYW has long been a leader in the Philadelphia radio market, although its audience had naturally reduced due to the decline of AM as a whole. KYW-TV took advantage of the radio station's popularity by incorporating a version of KYW's musical sounder into its news themes from 1991 to 2003. In addition, KYW Newsradio This Morning aired on co-owned WPSG (channel 57) in the early 2000s, adapting KYW's "news blocks" to television (though it was not a simulcast of KYW itself). KYW anchors and reporters were seen on morning television delivering the news.
Changes in ownership
In 1995, Westinghouse Electric announced its purchase of CBS. Upon its completion KYW became a sister station to its long-time rival, CBS-owned WGMP (1210 AM, now WPHT).[38] That station, under its original WCAU call letters, had attempted during the late 1970s to compete with KYW with all-news programming. The effort failed, with WCAU switching to a talk format after a three-year effort.
From 1986 to 1998, KYW used the
In March 2007, the studios moved one half-block to 400 Market Street in
In November 2017, CBS Radio merged with
KYW radio ended its longtime partnership with KYW-TV on February 10, 2020, and began broadcasting traffic, news, and weather information from NBC-owned WCAU (channel 10). The change coincided with KYW radio's move from the CBS Broadcast Center (which continues to house KYW-TV) to 2400 Market Street, along with Entercom's other Philadelphia radio stations and its corporate headquarters.[45]
KYW broke from its all-news format on November 3, 2022, to simulcast Game 5 of the 2022 World Series, which involved the Philadelphia Phillies, with WPHT. The Phillies' flagship station, WIP-FM (94.1), could not air the game because of a conflict with the Philadelphia Eagles, who were playing a Thursday Night Football game at the same time.[46]
Notable on-air staff
- Andrea Mitchell
- Larry Kane: Special Contributor
- Wally Kennedy: Anchor
Notable alumni
- Rich Gunning: Traffic and Transit
Stations
One full-power station simulcasts the programming of KYW:
Call sign | Frequency | City of license | Facility ID | ERP W |
Height m (ft) |
Class | Transmitter coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WPHI-FM | 103.9 FM | Jenkintown, Pennsylvania | 30572 | 270 watts | 338 meters (1,109 ft) | A | 40°02′30.0″N 75°14′10.0″W / 40.041667°N 75.236111°W |
KYW programming is also available via a simulcast on the HD2 subchannel of sister station 94.1 WIP-FM.
References
- ^ United States Callsign Policies, United States Early Radio History.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KYW". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ https://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=16 Archived January 11, 2017, at the Wayback Machine HD Radio Guide for Philadelphia
- ^ Radio: Miracle of the 20th century by Frederick E. Drinker and James G. Lewis, M. E., 1922, page 10.
- ^ Limited Commercial license, serial No. 241, call letters KYW, issued November 15, 1921, to the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in Chicago, for a one year period.
- ^ A Tower in Babel by Eric Barnouw, 1966, pages 88-89.
- ^ "Radio Has Gripped Chicago" by George P. Stone, Radio Broadcast, October 1922, pages 503-511.
- ^ Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission For the Year Ended June 30, 1928, page 162.
- ^ "Strike out all particulars" Radio Service Bulletin, November 30, 1928, page 12.
- ^ History Cards for KYW, fcc.gov. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
- ^ "Double Call Letters Are Being Eliminated", Washington (D.C.) Evening Star, June 25, 1933, Part 4, page 6.
- ^ "KYW Philadelphia" (advertisement), Broadcasting, December 1, 1934, page 19.
- ^ "The KYW Story" (talk given September 24, 1975, by Joseph Baudino to the Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneers).
- ^ "Removal of KYW to Philadelphia Urged by Pratt as Solution to 1020 kc. Mixup", Broadcasting, November 15, 1932, page 12.
- ^ "New KYW Opens December 3rd" (PDF). The Microphone. November 24, 1934. p. 4. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
- ^ KYW is currently one of three "K" stations in Pennsylvania on the AM band, in addition to KDKA and KQV, both in Pittsburgh. There does not appear to be any reason why KYW and KQV were assigned "K" call letters. At the time both were first licensed, the Department of Commerce had a standard policy for broadcast stations of "K's in the west, W's in the east" that dated back to the start of licensing in late 1912, and has been generally followed ever since. KDKA was first licensed during a short anomaly when new land stations briefly shared a block of call letters that were normally reserved for ship stations.
- ^ "Beginning Tomorrow, 6:45 AM." Philadelphia Inquirer, December 2, 1934, p. 11.
- ^ "Comparison of New and Old Rate Schedules of NBC." Broadcasting, January 15, 1935, p. 6.
- ^ "Special Programs Mark Opening of New KYW Studios." Camden (New Jersey) Courier-Post, May 19, 1938, p. 6.
- ^ "Directory of U.S. Commercial FM Stations", Broadcasting Yearbook (1942 edition), page 326.
- ^ "Schools to Pay $25,000 in Deal for FM Rights," Philadelphia Inquirer, June 3, 1954, p. 21.
- ^ "Westinghouse buys WPTZ (TV) for record $8.5 million", Broadcasting - Telecasting, February 23, 1953, page 27.
- ^ "NBC, WBC trade properties in Cleveland, Philadelphia", Broadcasting - Telecasting, May 23, 1955, pages 65-66, 68.
- ^ "NBC, Westinghouse complete exchange", Broadcasting - Telecasting, January 30, 1956, page 59.
- ^ Ibid. "Mr. Sarnoff noted that NBC's parent, RCA, and RCA Victor 'have been closely identified with the Philadelphia-Camden area for many years. It is for this reason that NBC has chosen WRCV and WRCV-TV as the call letters for its Philadelphia stations.'"
- ^ "NBC, WBC outlets change calls today", Broadcasting - Telecasting, February 13, 1956, page 98.
- ^ "The History of KYW Newsradio", which details the evolution of the station from Chicago, to Philadelphia, to Cleveland and back to Philadelphia (philadelphia.cbslocal.com)
- ^ "NBC-Westinghouse swap approved; FCC stirs Justice Dept. interest", Broadcasting - Telecasting, January 2, 1956, page 58.
- ^ "Justice Dept. hauls NBC into court", Broadcasting - Telecasting, December 10, 1956, pages 27-32.
- ^ "Now TV has a consent decree" and "What RCA-NBC consented to", Broadcasting, September 28, 1959, pages 35-36, 38, 40.
- ^ "NBC swap with RKO taking shape", Broadcasting, January 25, 1960, page 52.
- ^ "Philadelphia circle is complete", and "Nine-year history of that trade in Philadelphia", Broadcasting, August 3, 1964, pages 23-25.
- ^ "RKO gives up on Philadelphia", Broadcasting, June 7, 1965, pages 78-79.
- ^ "The great swap takes place June 19; Westinghouse, NBC return to original properties", Broadcasting, June 14, 1965, page 83.
- ^ "WBC turning KYW into all-news plant", Broadcasting, June 21, 1965, page 9.
- ^ "The toughest test of all-news format", Broadcasting, April 19, 1965, page 76.
- ^ "Dry run precedes KFWB's switch to all news", Broadcasting, March 11, 1968, page 66.
- ^ "Philadelphia", Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook (1996 edition), page B-361.
- ^ "Offenders of The Faith" (Former C-QUAM stereo stations)
- ^ McLarnon, Barry (July 27, 2016). "AM IBOC Stations on the Air". Retrieved March 21, 2018.
- ^ "End Of An Era As Industry Bids Goodbye to CBS Radio". Inside Radio. November 17, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
- ^ Cynthia Littleton (February 2, 2017). "CBS Sets Radio Division Merger With Entercom". Variety. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
- ^ "CBS and Entercom Are Merging Their Radio Stations". Fortune. Reuters. February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
- ^ Venta, Lance (November 17, 2017). "Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger". Radio Insight. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- ^ "CBS3 introduces new meteorologist as KYW Newsradio switches to NBC10's First Alert weather team". MICHAEL TANENBAUM. February 10, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
- ^ Tornoe, Rob (November 1, 2022). "Delayed World Series bumps Eagles-Texans off Fox 29". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
External links
- Official website
- KYW in the FCC AM station database
- KYW in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- FCC History Cards for KYW (covering 1927-1981)
- RecNet query for KYW
- "History of KYW", talk by Joseph Baudino, September 24, 1975 (broadcastpioneers.com)