WNTP

WNTP (990

By day, WNTP is powered at 50,000 watts, the maximum for U.S. commercial AM stations. To protect other stations at night, WNTP reduces power to 10,000 watts at sunset. It uses a directional antenna with a four-tower array. The station's studios and transmitter facilities are shared with co-owned WFIL on Ridge Pike in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania.^[2]

History

Early years

The station first

With the enactment of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) in 1941, WIBG moved to its present frequency on 990 AM. It increased its power to 1,000 watts, its city of license was moved to Philadelphia, and it was given permission to broadcast around the clock at 10,000 watts, by installing a directional antenna.^[4]

In the 1940s, the Morning Cheer program presented by George A. Palmer was a weekday Christian broadcast between 7:00am – 8:00am.^[5] Beginning in 1945, a Wanamaker Organ concert was broadcast live from Wanamaker's Philadelphia department store each Monday through Saturday from 10:05 to 10:30 am.

Top 40

In the 1960s, WIBG became a Top 40 radio station. "Wibbage" had great success playing contemporary hits with popular hosts including Joe "The Rockin' Bird" Niagara, Hy Lit, Billy Wright Sr., Frank X. Feller, and others.

In September 1966, rival station 560

WIBG and overnight talk show host Don Cannon were featured in the famous "egg yolk drinking" scene in the 1976 film Rocky, playing in the background while the Philadelphia fighter (played by Sylvester Stallone) cracks six raw eggs into a glass and chugs them down.^[6]

WZZD

In 1977, management decided that the WIBG image and call sign were no longer an asset. After a highly publicized final week featuring many of the personalities from the station's peak years, the call letters were changed to WZZD.

The station began to call itself "The All New Wizzard 100", and adopted a heavily researched Top 40 format. Listeners did not respond, and the format was changed to

The WZZD antenna was redesigned in 1986 to reduce the number of towers.[a] It improved coverage to the north and west, a change that if it had been made in the 1960s may have improved the success of WIBG in its battle with WFIL.

In 1994, Communicom sold WZZD to Salem Media. Under Salem, WZZD kept the Christian music and teaching format initially. But by the late 1990s, music was cut back to a couple of hours a day. By 2002, WZZD ran nearly all teaching and almost no music at all.

WNTP

In 2004, WZZD and WFIL's features and programs were merged onto WFIL as WZZD dropped the Christian format in favor of conservative talk. It changed its call letters to WNTP, to stand for "News Talk Philadelphia". Beginning in 2006, WNTP became the flagship station for the

On November 4, 2019, WNTP rebranded as "Philadelphia's AM 990 The Answer".[7] Most Salem talk stations, including WNYM in New York (the former WWDJ) and KRLA in Los Angeles, call themselves "The Answer".

Notes

References

External links

• Official website
• WNTP in the FCC AM station database
• WNTP in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• FCC History Cards for WNTP