🚀 go-pugleaf

On 6/10/13 12:02 PM, Phil Kane wrote:
> On Sun, 9 Jun 2013 20:48:06 -0700 (PDT), spamtrap1888
> <spamtrap1888@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ... The article went on to say that the Forward had
>> always been interested in new technologies, back to WEVD days. Not
>> sure if they still had a radio station or not.
>
> IIRC the WEVD of old is long gone...
>
Back in my younger days, WEVD was an AM/FM simulcast of Yiddish- and 
English-language Jewish programming with some brokered-time programs 
thrown in the mix. In 1967, the Jewish Daily Forward (the licensee) 
split the programming for the minimum necessary number of hours after 
the FCC's non-simulcast rule went into effect.

In 1988, WEVD was part of a three-way license swap that moved WFAN, the 
original all-sports station, from 1050 to 660 (the frequency of legacy 
clear channel WNBC after GE bailed out of the radio business), Spanish 
Broadcasting bought 97.9 (the former WEVD-FM) as WSKQ, and WEVD-AM moved 
from 1330 (a weak shared-time frequency) to 1050 (a class 1-B 50Kw 
directional signal aimed towards the new Jewish population centers on 
Long Island and in Westchester County, north of NYC). I don't recall who 
came away with the 1330 license when the music finally stopped, but in 
this game of broadcast license musical chairs, the Forward came away 
with a stronger AM stick and a major amount of cash for the FM license, 
which was intended to guarantee the finances and the mission of the 
newspaper far into the future.

Didn't quite work out that way, and about a decade ago, the Forward sold 
the 1050 license and facility to Disney so its ESPN radio service had a 
NYC affiliate (WEPN). Again, with the goal of insuring the survival of 
the Forward newspaper, which today serves a rapidly diminishing 
population of Yiddish-speakers, though as a national newspaper.

Today, WEPN is on FM at 98.7, originally the frequency of WOR-FM (the 
progenitor of free-form rock stations), and for the last 32 years home 
to WRKS, "98-7 KISS-FM". 1050 is now used to air the Spanish language 
"ESPN Deportes" service.