Hagerstown-Chambersburg Area Radio Stations
| AM Radio:AM 800 WCHA , Chambersburg, PA Nostalgia www.800wcha.com“Music Of Your Life” Had a news/talk format as “NewsRadio 800” until May 1, 2003 when it flipped to standards along with co-owned WHAG (1410). Has the “Chambersburg Morning Show” and ABC news on the hour. WCHA carries Pittsburgh and Penn State sports. Runs 1,000 watts during the days, 196 watts nights. Owned by Dame Broadcasting along with WDLD, WIKZ, WQCM and WHAG. AM 1130 WEEO (dark) Waynesboro, PA AM 1240 WJEJ , Hagerstown, MD Easy Listening/Beautiful Music For those missing the easy listening music of 104.7 WWMD, WJEJ is the next best option. It is owned by Hagerstown Broadcasting who owned the old WWMD. Station has a “middle-of-the-road” sound playing a huge variety of music. This was Hagerstown first station coming on the air in 1932. WJEJ-FM (formerly WWMD) came on the air in 1946 as a simulcast. WJEJ has always had an adult leaning format, and was adult contemporary before going beautiful music. Lou Scally, who also does weather on NBC25, has been the morning host on WJEJ for more than 20 years and still hosts the “Phone Party” call in show every week day at 10:00 am. For many years, the WJEJ studios were on Franklin Court in downtown Hagerstown, later moving to their current location north of town where their transmitter is located. WJEJ hosted most of Hagerstown’s “legendary” broadcasters such as Bob Borngesser (NBC25), Ed Klitch, Bill Stoner, Bob Marrttt, and Sue Burns. AM 1240 is a local AM channel at 1,000 watts all the time. Good daytime signal all over central Maryland, but at night it’s signal is confined to Washington County. From the WJEJ web site:
AM 1380 WCBG , Waynesboro, PA ESPN Radio Day timer simulcasts WSRT “Star 92.1” covering holes where the FM signal misses with its 1,000 watts of power. This use to be the original country WAYZ but later just simulcast WAYZ-FM at 101.5. That was the case until mid 2000 when WAYZ was upgraded to 104.7. That’s when the “Star 92.1” simulcast began. Call sign used to be WAYZ but was changed to WHGT in the early 90’s because of a format change that never happened Owned by VerStandig. In early 2005, calls were changed to WCBG, since the original WCBG has been forced to go dark. Now broadcasts ESPN Radio. AM 1410 WHAG , Hagerstown, MD Music of Your Life “Music Of Your Life” This was Hagerstown News/Talk outlet until May 1, 2003. WHAG came on the air in 1962. Even during AM’s heyday of the 60’s and 70’s, WHAG was usually the third or fourth player in Hagerstown behind WEEO (1130), WJEJ, and WARK. Even with that, it gave the start to some long time personalities such as Pete Wilson and Stacy Drake (WLTF). It was recently sold along with sister rocker WQCM to Dame Broadcasting by Gemini Broadcasting. Has a 2 tower directional antenna system to protect WINC-AM at AM1400 in Winchester, Virginia. Runs 1,000 watts during the day and only 99 watts at night. Heard through out central Maryland and south-central Pennsylvania during the day, pretty much restrained to the city of Hagerstown at night. Home of Hagerstown Suns baseball. AM 1490 WARK , Hagerstown, MD Talk/Oldies “Hot Talk, Great Music” When not simulcasting it’s sister FM (Oldies 106.9) WARK has a talk format with Imus in the Morning, G. Gordon Liddy, and Michael Medved. Station carries Orioles and Redskins games. Broadcasts 1,000 watts non-directional all the time. I t’s coverage area is specifically Washington County. Came on the air in 1947. WARK was Hagerstown’s full service radio, playing a mix of MOR and Top 40. It hosted Dave Shepherd’s “Platter Party” focusing on Top 40 hits for a number of years in the 60’s and 70’s. In the late 70’s, WARK also experimented with a local news/talk format called “Skyline Radio”, it failed. WARK in the early 80’s spent time as adult rock “15ARK” along with a time of the “Music of Your Life” before it’s current hot talk/oldies format. Owned by Nassau Broadcasting. FM Radio: FM 89.1 WETH, Hagerstown, MD Classical/NPR A full power relay of WETA, a station in Washington DC. It’s signal covers central Maryland, south-central Pennsylvania, north-west Virginia, and north-east West Virginia. Has National Public Radio fare in the morning and evening hours with classical music the rest of the time. Shares a transmitter site on Quirauk mountain with 104.7 FM. FM 90.5 WCRH , Williamsport, MD Religious “Where Christ Reaches Hearts” Bible centered talk with variety instrumental and adult Christian contemporary music. Carries SRN news 5 minutes before every hour along with regional and local news coverage. Some of the more famous programs the station carries are “Focus on the Family”, “WCRH Prayer Line”, “Mid-Day Connection” and “Money Matters”. Came on the air in 1976 and serves western Maryland, south-central Pennsylvania, West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle and the northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Owned by Cedar Ridge Ministries as an extension of their Children’s Home & School. Full powered and has a transmitter site near Clear Springs, MD. FM 92.1 WSRT , Mercersburg, PA Classic Hits/Hot AC “Radio’s Rockin’ Hits, Star 92.1” Had a mostly classic hits format until September 2001 when the playlist was expanded to include more modern rock. Simulacast daytimes on WHGT 1380. 92.1 first hit the air on date March 6, 1976 as WRCV (We’re Radio Cumberland Valley) and used “Stereo 92” as a tag line. The original format was automated MOR (Middle of the Road) and was patterned after WASH in Washington. (we are talking the Bob Hughes programmed MOR version of the early 70’s when it was owned by MetroMedia). It was originally owned by some people that were affiliated with WASH although they were not Air Staff. The station had a nice sound when they came on the air. The studio was originally located at the transmitter site. (WSRT’s transmitter is still at the same location, about halfway between Mercersburg and Greencastle in Upton, PA). The signal is pretty good for a class “A” FM and it has a good signal in Hagerstown, Waynesboro and Chambersburg. Today owned by VerStandig along with WHGT, WCBG, WWMD, and WAYZ. FM 93.5 W228AB , Paramount, MD Religious “Family Radio” A low power FMer that carries WFSI 107.9 FM from Annapolis, MD. Relay is 163 watts, so it is pretty well heard around eastern Washington County. WFSI is owned by California Family Radio out of Oakland, CA. FM 94.3 WQCM , Greencastle, PA Modern/Classic Rock “943 QCM” Late August 2002 picked up the rock format of 96.7 WQCM and later assumed the format and calls. Before rock this station was spent many years as country western. From before 1997 this was WKSL with a traditional country/gospel format. The station went to WCHA-FM under Dame Broadcasting as “Kiss Country” with a hot country format. In 2001 the station revamped it’s image as “I-94.3” with a hot country/classic country format. Owned by Dame Broadcasting along with WDLD, WIKZ, WCHA, and WHAG. FM 95.1 WIKZ, Chambersburg, PA Hot Adult Contemporary FM 95.9 WKMZ , Williamsport, MD Classic Rock “95.9 WKMZ” In early September of 2001 95.9 went from adult contemporary WLTF “Lite 95.9” to the legendary classic rock format of WKMZ which use to reside at 97.5. WKMZ is also now home to “The Greaseman” who use to mornings at Washington DC’s WARW and Tom Lykes in afternoon drive. Came on the air in 1972. For a very long time 95.9 was dubbed “Valley Country” and “Y96” and had a long running country format (as WYII). Then went to a brief Christmas format in late 2000. 95.9 went to adult contemporary WLTF complete with “Delilah” evenings which started right after Christmas 2000 (along with WLTF calls). Signal mostly contained to Washington County. Owned by Prettyman Broadcasting along with adult contemporary WLTF “Lite 975”. FM 96.7 WDLD , Hagerstown, MD Urban Contemporary “Wild 96.7” Station plays “The most hip-hop and R&B” In August rocker WQCM moved from FM 96.7 to Greencastle’s 94.3, and in late August urban contemporary debuted here as WDLD “Wild 96.7” . WQCM first came on the air in 1965 as WHAG-FM, and simulcasting what was on WHAG-AM and classical music after the AM went off the air at sunset. WQCM’s transmitter is a antenna hanging off the WHAG-AM’s tower. The stations later split programming, with WHAG-FM changing to WQCM and taking on a country format (Queen of Country Music) followed by a Top-40 format as 97Q in 1976, then a rock format. WQCM was the dominant Top 40 station in the Hagerstown market through the late 70’s and early 80’s knocking off 1130WEEO (see above) who dominated in the mid-70’s as a daytime AM. Gary Michaels, Pete Wilson, and “Uncle Ed” Alexander were popular DJ’s on WQCM during its heyday. The signal is very contained to the Washington County area, and getting next to no signal east of South Mountain. This means WQCM is very hard to receive in the east. Owned by Dame Broadcasting along with WHAG, WCHA, WIKZ, and WQCM. FM 101.5 WWMD , Waynesboro, PA Contemporary Hit “Magic 101.5” Up until 2001 this was country WAYZ. In it’s early days, WAYZ was always the second country station in the Hagerstown market, generally dominated by Y96 (WYII). VerStandig bought powerhouse FM 104.7 from John Staub (Hagerstown Broadcasting) and moved the country format there. They were left with FM 101.5 and for 3 weeks it just simulcast co-owned AM 1590 with it’s CNN headline news format. Then hit music debuted as “Magic 101.5”. A top rated station in the Hagerstown market. Owned by VerStandig along with WAYZ, WCBG, WSRT, and WHGT. FM 103.7 WEEO-FM, Chambersburg, PA Alternative “The Revolution 103.7″ FM 104.7 WAYZ , Hagerstown, MD Country Up until 8/29/00 this was central Maryland’s last easy listening station WWMD. Formerly WJEJ-FM, it simulcast the AM until the early 70’s when it adopted an automated easy listening format. WWMD was doing the “all Christmas music” format the two to three weeks prior to December 25 for more than 20 years. It was operated by Hagerstown Broadcasting and was run by John Staub, one of the original owner of WMHI (1370). But in a sale to VerStanding Broadcasting 104.7 took on the WAYZ calls and now is country formatted. The WWMD calls moved to 101.5 which became contemporary “Magic 101.5”. Hagerstown Broadcasting still owns WJEJ, an AM at 1240 that now is easy listening. 104.7 has a massive signal that covers many markets including Frederick, Baltimore, Washington DC, and York. Broadcast TV: TV 25 WHAG , Hagerstown, MD NBC “NBC 25” This is the area’s NBC affiliate. Transmitter is located at WCRH’s site in western Washington County. Has the same problem in Frederick and Carroll Counties as most Hagerstown stations, mountains block the signal. Located on cable systems as channel 12. Came on the air in 1970. It’s HDTV channel is on channel 55. TV 31 WWPB , Hagerstown, MD PBS Another station in the area simulcasting Maryland Public Television. Signal covers Washington County and westwards. Came on the air in 1974. Channel 44 is it’s HDTV channel. Transmitter west of Hagerstown in Washington County. LP-TV 42 W42CK , Hagerstown, MD Religious Another Low-power television station relaying 3ABN (Three Angels Broadcast network). The current transmitter site is south of Hagerstown, very close to FM 95.9’s site. According to the 3ABN website the station may change soon. My assumption is to channel 51, where a application has been submitted to the FCC above Hagerstown. Updated: 05/15/2006 |