WSAN

Infobox Radio station
name = WSAN


city = Allentown, Pennsylvania
area = Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
branding = "Sports Radio AM1470 - The Fox"
slogan =
frequency = 1470 kHz
repeater =
airdate = 1923
format = Sports talk radio
power = 5,000 watts
erp =
haat =
class = B
facility_id = 18233
coordinates = coord|40|38|10|N|75|29|06|W
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns = WYHM (9/11/06-4/02/07)
WKAP (3/25/95-9/11/06)
WXKW (4/15/85-3/25/95)
WSAN (??-4/15/85)
affiliations = Fox Sports Radio
owner = Clear Channel Communications
licensee =
sister_stations =
webcast =
website = [http://fox1470.com/main.html WSAN Official Web Site]

WSAN is an AM radio station located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, United States. The station broadcasts on 1470 AM. The station is best known as the Lehigh Valley affiliate for Philadelphia Phillies radio broadcasts. The station also features Lafayette College and Moravian College college football. It is owned by Clear Channel Communications.

The station now offers a Sports Talk format from Fox Sports Radio as well as Philadelphia Phillies baseball. The station offers mostly satellite programming, but features two local shows, both during drive time slots, as Nick Kayal and Joe Ameruoso host "The Leadoff Spot" weekdays from 6-8 AM. FOX 1470 also features local programming during afternoon drive as Bob Holder and Eric Chase host "After Further Review" weekdays from 5-7 PM. The station switched to a sports format on March 5, 2007. The station was previously known as WYHM and had Christian radio format since September 11, 2006.

The station was previously known as WKAP and played oldies until September 11, 2006, at which time the station turned to mostly paid Christian programming. Unlike most format changes this one was announced publicly in advance on August 13, 2006. AM 1470 operated with the WKAP call letters since 1996 and before that the call letters were on 1320 AM.

History

AM 1470 history

AM 1470 began operation in 1923 with the FCC assigned call letters WCBA. Over the years, they employed a popular music format. In the 1970s, they switched from a progressive rock format to pop and disco, and toward the end of the decade to a country music format, until about 1980. At that time, they switched to a big band music/adult standards format called "Unforgettable". Initially, the station played the hits of the 1940s, early 1950s, and non-rock songs of the 1950s and 1960s with a small amount of soft rock cuts from the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1983, operating with the call letters WSAN, the station evolved into more of a popular music format using "Unforgettable II" and playing soft hits of the 1950s through the 1980s. By 1984, the station had become a soft adult contemporary station. The station had been family-owned for decades.

In Spring 1985, WXKW 104.1 dropped country music for a soft adult contemporary format. The station then became known as WAEB-FM. At the same time, WSAN dropped its adult contemporary format for country music and became 1470 WXKW.

In 1992, Holt Broadcasting, which owned the local stations WZZO and 1320 WKAP, purchased the station. It maintained its country music format for a few more years. In 1996, Holt Broadcasting sold both WZZO, and 1470 WXKW to Capstar, which already owned WAEB-AM and WAEB-FM. Holt kept 1320 AM and switched the station to a sports format and changed the call letters to WTKZ.

WKAP history

WKAP began operation on 1320 AM in 1948. The station employed a popular music format for many years. They were owned by Rahall Communications. In the 1950s, they opted to play mostly non rock music and some softer songs by rock and roll artists. This format was known as MOR. Throughout the 1960s, they had a top-40 format, combined with relatively apolitical call-in shows. By 1970, the station evolved to more of an adult contemporary format. In 1972, WKAP decided to compete with the two Top 40 stations in the Lehigh Valley, WAEB 790, which was very current music based, and WEEX 1230, which played more oldies music, based as an Adult Top 40 station. WKAP's Top 40 format emulated West Coast giant KCBQ in San Diego. Some of the original WKAP DJs were Kevin Fennessy, Walt Brown, Shotgun Steve Kelly, Mark Stewart , Kris Bailey, Billy Sheridan and J. Robert Taylor. The station was known as WKAP Radio 13 (rounded off to the nearest hundredth). The station was sold to Gulf Broadcasting in the late 1970s.In Sept of 1978, a local club DJ by the name of Mike Jacobs came up with an idea to broadcast live an entire evening of music commercial-free-at a local niteclub. At the time the station was an independent local AM station. The PD, Chris Bailey, Station Mgr Jerry Duckett and the staff were very interested in the project that could help them in competition with their cross-town nemesis WAEB 790AM and add a possible ratings boost to the TOP40 outlet.

The facility to be used was "The Castle Garden Ballroom" located in Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown. The parks owners, Robert Plarr and Robert Ott were also on board for this project. After extensive renovations, Castle Garden was opened for business in the late fall of 78. Crowds averaged about 300-450 per night and the owners and mgmt were looking for a spark to drive this to bigger and better crowds. The ballroom had a capacity of approx 2000 people and 300-450 looked pretty thin at the time.

FCC warning

The idea was refined and in Jan of 79, Studio 13 debuted with a bang. It was broadcast Saturday's from 9:00 PM - 2:00 AM with DJ Mike Jacobs as the DJ/Host/MC. Bill Sheridan (now employed by Nassau Broadcasting) and Shotgun Steve Kelly were the board techs. Sponsorship for the show was secured and Pepsi-Cola came on board as the primary sponsor. Commercials were inserted by Bill & Steve by having Mike Jacobs backtime the breaks in the music and then the station inserting voice-only commercials over the breaks in the music while the music played the instrumental break without interruption. The show opened with the Parliament's "Shit, Goddamn, Get Off Your Ass & Jam," followed by Bell & James' "Livin It Up". This resulted in an FCC Warning to the station and made the local news. The first night the crowd was 600 people. After the news coverage and word of mouth, Studio 13 averaged 2,000 people per night and could have done more had there not been a Fire Marshall's limit on the amount of people.

WKAP realized a ratings jump from 3.8 to 23.4, Saturday evenings from 9:00PM to 12 Midnight in a 1 month period and maintained this throughout the summer till the shows conclusion on Labor Day of 1979 at the park's request.

The management of Castle Garden also invested in and shot a 1-hour video pilot entitled "Castle Garden" that it attempted unsuccessfully to syndicate.

The one bright spot was in the fall of 1979 in New York City at the Annual Billboard Disco Forum & Convention. Mike Jacobs received an honorable mention as "DJ of the Year" for the Philadelphia region and was invited to spin at the Roseland Ballroom during the convention. WKAP also fared well at this convention being nominated for "Most Innovative Breakout Radio Show" for the year 1979, but lost out to WCAU in Philadelphia.

Mike Jacobs continued in radio and clubs in the area working at Sunny 1100 WGPA and 96 WLEV-FM until 1997 and then retired. Some of the other WKAP Air-Personalities moved on to other outlets, such as Bill Sheridan to WKRZ in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania and 99 "The Hawk" in Easton, Pennsylvania and Kris Bailey to AM 790 WAEB.

By 1980, WKAP evolved into more of an adult contemporary music format. At the end of the Summer 1982, WKAP dropped the adult contemporary format for an adult standards format, which was known as "Music Of Your Life". The station featured easy listening vocalists from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as big band music from the 1930s and 1940s. The station also played a limited amount of non-rock songs from the 1970s.

The station stayed with this format through the 1980s. In 1984, Gulf Broadcasting sold WKAP to Holt Broadcasting, which at the time also owned WZZO. WKAP stayed with its standards music format, but added a bit more baby boomer pop (songs by artists like Elvis Presley and The Beatles). In 1990, though, WKAP switched to a satellite-delivered oldies music format, playing mostly songs from 1964-1969 with some 1955-64 songs, with some 1970-73 songs mixed in. They continued with this format until 1992, at which time they returned to adult standards' Westwood One's AM-only format. This featured non-rock music as well as some soft rock music of the 1950s and 1960s, along with a small amount of 1940s hits and some soft hits form the 1970ss. It was more of an easy listening based format than "Music Of Your Life". Their decision to abandon oldies music in 1992 was due to 99.9 FM WODE's adopting the format in late 1991.

In 1992, Holt Broadcasting also bought 1470 WXKW, which remained a country music station for several more years. Then, in 1996, Holt Broadcasting sold all of their stations except for AM 1320. They kept 1320 and made it a sports station. Capstar, which already owned WAEB-AM and WAEB-FM then purchased both 1470 AM and WZZO. The WKAP intellectual unit then moved from AM 1320 to AM 1470.

1470 WKAP continued with the Westwood One easy listening format, playing a blend of standards and soft oldies/adult contemporary songs. Capstar merged with Chancellor Media in 1999, making WKAP 1470 an AM/FM station. At the beginning of 2001, Clear Channel Communications merged with AM/FM. Clear Channel, however, was limited by federal regulations to the number of Lehigh Valley stations they could own. They then opted to sell WEEX and WODE to Nassau Broadcasting Partners, while opting to keep WAEB, WAEB-FM, WZZO, and WKAP.

In November 2001, a few days after Oldies 99.9 FM WODE stopped playing oldies music in favor of classic rock music hits, WKAP switched back to playing oldies songs from 1955 to 1973. Many of the air staff on WKAP came from WODE after WODE switched from oldies to classic hits.

The station was very popular, featuring the only "oldies music" station in the Lehigh Valley, with music from the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. This format aired very successfully for almost five years and its cessation has left a huge programming gap in Lehigh Valley radio.

The WKAP call sign was used from 2006-2007 at an AM station in Reading, Pennsylvania but were dropped for the previous call sign and format WRAW.

WYHM

On August 13, 2006, Clear Channel Communications announced that, beginning September 11, 2006, WKAP was to end its oldies format and adopt a Christian teaching and preaching format. The station will be assigned the WYHM call letters. The switch was carried out as planned on September 11.

The station was still a commercial radio station rather than non commercial like many Christian outlets. Though owned by Clear Channel, the station was run similar to the way well known Christian Broadcaster Salem Media runs their many Christian stations. Commercial blocks of time were sold to various Christian organizations. Morning and afternoon drive times were occupied by a blend of soft adult contemporary Christian songs, Gospel music, and Rhythmic Praise and Worship music.

Some of the Christian programming included "Focus On The Family", "Insight For Living", "Janet Parshall's America", "Adventures In Odyssey", "Money Matters", "Turning Point", "Back To The Bible", and other programming. Mornings were hosted by "Doug & Kim".

Recent changes

In March, the short-lived experiment with the Christian Talk format ended. The call letters are now WSAN and the station has adopted a sports-talk format and is affiliated with FOX Sports Radio. WSAN still carries Phillies baseball nearly every evening from the beginning of April through the end of September.

In a bow to its former existence as an oldies station, in the winter of 2007 WSAN dropped one of FOX Sports Radio's weekday morning programs in favor of a three-hour oldies music show.

External links

* [http://fox1470.com/main.html WSAN Official Web Site]
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