WROL

Infobox Radio Station
name = WROL


area =
city = Boston, Massachusetts
branding =
slogan =
airdate = 1948
frequency = 950 (kHz)
format = Religious, Spanish, etc.
power = 5,000 watts (day)
90 watts (night)
class = D
owner = Salem Communications
website = [http://www.wrolradio.com www.wrolradio.com]
callsign_meaning = Similar to former WORL calls (which were taken by an Orlando station)

WROL is a radio station in the Boston, Massachusetts radio market. The station is currently owned by Salem Communications, and is located on 950 kHz on the AM dial. The station airs a variety of formats, primarily religious programming and Spanish music. In addition, the station is the Spanish flagship for the Boston Red Sox and features an enormously popular Irish music block including the Irish Hit Parade and A Feast Of Irish Music.

History

WROL's history dates back to 1927 ref|wbsostart and WBSO, owned by Babson College. The station moved to Boston in 1935 after a sale and became WORL. In 1945, the then-owners (Harold Lafount and Arde Bulova) were declared unfit to be licensees, and were forced to divest the station, sending it off the air in 1949. During the 1940's, WORL was the first station in Boston to adopt a popular-music format ("The 920 Club", named after the station's former frequency) with disc jockies spinning the tunes. Although only a daytimer then, WORL built up a following as an entertaining alternative to the daytime programming elsewhere on the Boston radio dial.

Pilgrim Broadcasting purchased the license and returned the station to the air in 1950. Later sales led to the station becoming WRYT. with WORL being taken by a station near Orlando, Florida. Carter Broadcasting took over in 1977, and after failing to be able to return the WORL call letters to Boston, settled on WROL. Carter immediately established a religious network with WROL as its flagship, with relays throughout New England. While mostly religious, WROL featured two popular programs during the 1970s and 1980s, a weekday cooking show with longtime Boston radio/TV personality Gus Saunders, and a Saturday-afternoon block of Irish music featuring John Latchford and then later Paul Sullivan and Matt O'Donnell which became quite popular among the region's large Irish-American population.

In 2001, as part of Carter dismantling this network and focusing its attention to WCRN in Worcester, the station was sold to Salem Communications.

References

* cite web
url = http://www.bostonradio.org/timeline-20s.html
title = The Boston Radio Timeline: The First Ten Years
work = The Archives at BostonRadio.org
author = Halper, Donna L.
year = 2005-01-02
accessdate = January 22
accessyear = 2006
*cite web
url = http://www.bostonradio.org/stations/9139.html
title = The Boston Radio Dial: WROL(AM)
work = The Archives at BostonRadio.org
year = 2005-03-27
accessdate = January 22
accessyear = 2006

External links

* [http://www.wrolradio.com Official website]
*amq|WROL
*aml|WROL