WNTY

For the Estero, Florida radio station that held the call sign WNTY at 92.5 FM from 2008 to 2009, see WFSX-FM.
WNTY
City Southington, Connecticut
Broadcast area Central Connecticut
Branding Kool Radio
Slogan Good Times Great Oldies
Frequency 990 kHz
Translator(s) 96.1 W241CG (Southington)
First air date September 2, 1969
Format Oldies
Power 2,500 watts daytime
80 watts nighttime
Class D
Facility ID 73352
Former callsigns WNTY (1969-2003)
WXCT (2003-2016)
Owner John Fuller
(Red Wolf Broadcasting Corporation)
Sister stations WSPR, WSKP, WBMW
Webcast Listen Live
Website koololdiesradio.net

WNTY is an oldies radio station licensed to Southington, Connecticut and serving the Hartford, Connecticut area. The station is owned by John Fuller, through licensee Red Wolf Broadcasting Corporation, and broadcasts at 990 kHz with 2.5 kilowatts daytime and 80 watts nighttime from studio and tower site at 440 Old Turnpike Road in Southington.[1]

History (to 1999)

The 990 frequency signed on in 1969 as WNTY, a daytime-only station that targeted Southington and nearby Bristol. The station was engineered by Hillis Holt, and owned by the Nutmeg Broadcasting Company. Like many other similar daytime-only stations that signed on in suburban areas, WNTY's original format would last for many years past its launch and built a name in their community with programming such as high school sports. The station would add a small amount of nighttime power, enough to cover the developed portion of Southington, in 1988.

WNTY's original format would continue in some form until early 1999 when the death of then-owner Donato F. Sarapo, who had purchased the station from the original owners, led to WNTY being sold to ADD Radio Group for $850,000.[2] Upon ADD Radio's taking ownership of the station, the station would turn its focus from Southington and Bristol and instead to the larger cities of Hartford and New Britain though some Southington/Bristol programming would remain including high school sports and Sunday programming including a Catholic mass service, a Polka show, and ethnic programming.

History (since 1999)

La Brava 990

In April 1999, WNTY was leased by Hartford-based El Principe Communications, a Hispanic group that previously had owned WMMW in Meriden prior to that station becoming a satellite of WDRC. The format they had operated on WMMW, a Spanish-language format targeted towards younger audiences called La Brava, was installed on WNTY.

La Brava would last until September 15, 2000 when ADD Radio terminated El Principe's lease for reasons including non-payment of rent. In retaliation, El Principe vandalized WNTY's studios and transmitter which kept the station off the air for two weeks. The station would return to the air that October with an automated variety of music plus high school football and the Sunday brokered programming, as well as a Christian music program "Play it Again God" targeted at Christian youth and young adults.[3]

Blaze 990

On October 24, 2000, WNTY fully returned to the air with a hip hop/reggae hybrid format called Blaze 990, the result of the station entering a brokering deal with Blaze Communications, a company operated by former WNEZ program director "Dr. Phillip Duncan". Blaze Communications leased the station Monday-Saturday 6:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. with ADD Radio brokering the balance.

Handicapped against the larger signaled WNEZ, WNTY's hip-hop format became doomed when FM station WZMX flipped to a hip-hop heavy format. After terminating Duncan's contract in August 2001, the station would dump the reggae half of the format while picking up assorted sports coverage on the weekends alongside Fox News audio on unsold periods (a result of WNTY's patched-together coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks). Blaze 990 would end with no warning on November 22, 2001 when a board operator deserted the station while attending to a high school football game.

Notty 99

After the end of Blaze 990, new general manager Charlie Profit kept the Fox News programming on the station as a time filler while new formats were considered. In February 2002, WNTY would relaunch as a talk radio/Fox News hybrid as Notty 99 (pronounced "Naughty"), a play on the WNTY calls. The station would not rate in the Hartford/New Britain ratings and never gained traction during Profit's tenure.

In November 2002, WNTY made broadcast history, when the station served as the master control home station for a live broadcast from a moving train, as the nationally syndicated Travel World Radio Show with hosts Stephen Pickford and Willem Bagchus did their show live from Via Rail's world-famous transcontinental Train No.1, "The Canadian," westbound between Edmonton and Hinton, AB. The broadcast was written up in the September 2004 edition of Radio World magazine.

Xact Radio, 990 The X

In April 2003, the 990 frequency would see a big change on paper as the WNTY calls were cast aside after 34 years and replaced by new calls of WXCT,[4] chosen for the new slogan of Xact Radio, 990 The X. This move was undertaken to make the station, beset by being seen as a Southington-only station and its past format difficulties, appear to have re-energized itself. With no advertising budget, sales or community outreach staff, the changes fell on deaf ears.

Supermax 990/Power 990

In April 2004, ADD Radio would sell WXCT to the Davidson Media Group, a group which specializes mostly in leased-time ethnic programming. Though some protest to the sale was given, Davidson would flip WXCT from its talk format to a Spanish-language format on May 4, 2004. The new format, Supermax 990, was programmed by the hosts of the WPRX morning program "Anda Pa'l Cara" who moved their show from WPRX to WXCT. The station would expand to 24-hour programming that summer and would enter a resource agreement with CBS affiliate WFSB which included WXCT being simulcasted on WFSB's SAP channel and WXCT housing its studios alongside WFSB's.

The brokering contract with the Supermax group would be terminated in 2005, at which point WXCT would take the format in-house as Power 990."

Talkradio 990

In October 2005, Davidson Media would rehire former general manager Charlie Profit in an effort to restore the station's former talk format. With several programs from the station broadcast by other outlets in the market, Profit decided to relaunch the station with a female-targeted talk format. WXCT's programming during this time included Profit's own daily show, Wild Women Entrepreneurs (Wild WE), Dr. Laura, Bruce Williams, and Rollye James.

The End of Talkradio 990

On Tuesday May 8, 2007 it was announced that WXCT would be dropping its all-talk format and flipping to a foreign language format on Friday, May 11. WXCT officially switched to Spanish-language religious programming at 3:30 PM on Thursday, May 10, 2007.[5]

Oldies format

On July 3, 2015, WXCT changed its format from Spanish religious to oldies, simulcasting WACM out of Massachusetts, which airs music primarily from the 1950s to the early '70s around the clock. There is no original content exclusive to WXCT and advertising and promotions heard on the air relate to the greater Springfield area. On November 22, 2015, WXCT rebranded as "Kool Radio". The station changed its call sign back to the original WNTY on February 11, 2016.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProEngine.php?sCurrentService=AM&tabSearchType=Appl&sAppIDNumber=220940&sHours=D
  2. ↑ "North East RadioWatch: February 12, 1999". Bostonradio.org. 1999-02-12. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  3. ↑ http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=918086&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=10110&rfi=8. Retrieved November 2, 2006. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ FCC Internet Services Staff. "Call Sign History". Licensing.fcc.gov. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  5. ↑ Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.

Coordinates: 41°34′59″N 72°53′01″W / 41.58306°N 72.88361°W / 41.58306; -72.88361

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