WKXW

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WKXW
FCC
Facility ID53458
ClassB
ERP
  • 15,500 watts (analog)
  • 617 watts (digital)[2]
HAAT275 m (902 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
40°16′58.4″N 74°41′9.6″W / 40.282889°N 74.686000°W / 40.282889; -74.686000 (WKXW)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitenj1015.com

WKXW (101.5

radio station licensed to serve Trenton, New Jersey. The station is owned by Townsquare Media with studios and offices located in Ewing[3] and its transmitter facility, which is shared with WPRB, located near the Quaker Bridge Mall in Lawrence Township in Mercer County, New Jersey.[4]

History

The station went on the air on August 27, 1962, as WBUD-FM. Its

adult contemporary
format. Its weekend Saturday oldies show evolved into an all oldies format from the 1950s through early 70s on overnights and weekends before the change to its current weekday talk format, which came in 1990 when it was sold to Press Communications. The sale to Millennium Radio Group took place in 2001.

On March 1, 1990, at 5pm, "New Jersey 101.5", conceived by Sabo Media CEO, Walter Sabo, became the first full-time FM talk station in America targeted for a younger audience. Mark Sheppard, who later went to middays, kicked off the format playing Bill Haley & The Comets' "Rock Around The Clock".

Since the 1990s, the station has a

news format during the week, with oldies
music on the overnights and weekend. Initially, the oldies format was 1960s-based with a few pre-1964 oldies and a 1970s oldie or two each hour. By the early-to-mid-1990s, more 1970s music was added and by the early-2000s, 1980s music from 1980 to 1982 was added occasionally. Between 2000 and 2005, music from between 1986 and 1989 was added to the lineups. Gradually, at the same time, songs from 1964 and older were gradually reduced in the late-1990s and gone by 2000. In September 2007, 1960s music was removed from the "60s, 70s, and 80s" weekend music programming ID, and nearly all 1960s music had been removed from the playlist. However, in May 2012, "60s" was added back to the weekend music programming ID, coinciding with a limited but steady increase in music airplay focusing on select titles by well-known artists.

In the mid-to-late-1990s, music was ended on weekday overnights and now airs strictly on weekends and some holidays.

The station has, at times, provided a simulcast on various AM and FM stations in the

CN8
in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with cameras mounted in the radio studio showing the station's personalities on-camera.

In 2011, California-based

Oaktree Capital signed a deal to buy Millennium Radio Group; after taking over, Oaktree transferred the Millennium stations to Townsquare Media.[5]

Controversies

In 2008, the station's parent company

vacated the district court's judgment.[7]

On July 26, 2018, the station came under fire after hosts Judi Franco and Dennis Malloy referred to New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal as "turban man" while on air.[8] The hosts were suspended for 10 days.[9][10]

In December 2018, Judi Franco garnered controversy when called the state's "Move Over" law "silly" and unnecessary in an opinion piece she posted on the station's website under the headline "Dead cops make bad laws."[11]

Some of the station's personalities have garnered attention for their promotion of

anti-vaccination viewpoints (including opposition to COVID-19 vaccines and COVID-19 vaccine mandates), including morning host Bill Spadea, and host Dennis Malloy of the midday show The Dennis & Judi Show.[12][13][14][15] In September 2022, Spadea and station owner Townsquare Media were sued for defamation by Steven Tobias—a child psychologist who had made appearances on the station to discuss the impact of the pandemic on schools—after Spadea called for him to be "indicted for child abuse" for promoting the wearing of face masks in schools.[16]

New Jersey-centric branding

The station strongly brands its New Jersey-ness, with its announcers frequently self-identifying "New Jersey 101.5" and with its bumper message intoning "Not New York. Not Philadelphia. Proud to be New Jersey!", as well as its branded New Jersey Fast Traffic and New Jersey Instant Weather. The New Jersey-centric nature of the station is emphasized in the traffic reports, in that they refer to traffic direction on bridges and tunnels as "entering New Jersey" or "leaving New Jersey" instead of the more traditional designations of "into the city/inbound" or "out of the city/outbound". As well, current temperatures of different samples of towns in New Jersey are given after the weather reports. Despite the station's branding, the 101.5 signal does not reach the majority of Cape May, Salem and Sussex Counties while the signal's coverage of Atlantic, Bergen, Cumberland and Hudson Counties is poor at best, though digital streaming options do allow full-state and even out-of-state reach of the station through other means.

Townsquare News Network

The station is the flagship broadcasting arm of the Townsquare New Jersey News Network as heard on twelve radio stations throughout the state. The network consists of WPST in Trenton, WOBM-FM in Toms River, WJLK (AM) in Lakewood, WCHR-FM in Manahawkin, WJLK-FM in Asbury Park, WOBM (AM) in Asbury Park, WFPG in Atlantic City, WSJO in Egg Harbor City, WPUR in Atlantic City, and WENJ in Atlantic City. Various bureaus throughout the state share stories with the Ewing headquarters.

Point Pleasant Beach
, August 2008

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WKXW". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "FCC 335-FM Digital Notification [WKXW]". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. September 11, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
  3. ^ "N.J. 101.5FM studio is renamed after longtime radio personality Jim Gearhart". nj.com. November 2, 2010. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  4. ^ "FM Query Results for WKXW". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
  5. ^ "Oaktree closes on Millennium-NJ, files to transfer stations to Townsquare Media". Radio-Info.com. July 21, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  6. ^ Murphy v. Millennium Radio Group LLC, 08-1743 (US District Court, D. New Jersey 2010).
  7. ^ Murphy v. Millennium Radio Group LLC, 10-2163 (3rd Circuit 2011).
  8. ^ Lartey, Jamiles (July 26, 2018). "New Jersey radio hosts suspended for calling attorney general 'turban man'". The Guardian.
  9. AP NEWS
  10. ^ "NJ 101.5 suspends hosts after they called NJ Attorney General Gurbir Grewal 'turban man'".
  11. ^ Cervenka, Susanne (December 5, 2018). "NJ 101.5 host Judi Franco 'trampling on the graves' of police, trooper union says". Asbury Park Press. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  12. ^ Tully, Tracey; Otterman, Sharon; Hoffman, Jan (January 16, 2020). "How Anti-Vaccine Activists Doomed a Bill in New Jersey". The New York Times.
  13. ^ Diamond, Michael L. "No, the COVID vaccine doesn't have a microchip. How NJ doctors are fighting misinformation". Asbury Park Press. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  14. ^ "Cryan, slate win in District 20". New Jersey Globe. June 9, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  15. ^ Nelson, Blake (July 18, 2021). "Twitter suspends N.J. lawmaker for questioning vaccine mandates. He wants an apology". NJ.com. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
  16. ^ "Child Psychologist Sues 'NJ 101.5' And Host Bill Spadea". Insideradio.com. September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2022.

External links

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