WROL
- WROL is also an acronym, meaning without rule of law.
| File:WROL950.png | |
| City of license | Boston, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Branding | AM 950 WROL |
| Slogan | The Spirit of Boston |
| Frequency | 950 kHz |
| First air date | January 29, 1927[1] (current license dates to October 8, 1950)[2] |
| Format | Religion, talk, Irish music |
| Power | 5,000 watts daytime 90 watts nighttime |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 9139 |
| Transmitter coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Callsign meaning | Similar to former WORL calls (which were taken by an Orlando station) |
| Former callsigns | WBSO (1927–1935) WORL (1935–1949; 1950–1966) WRYT (1966–1978) |
| Former frequencies | 1240 kHz (1927) 780 kHz (1927–1929) 920 kHz (1929–1941)[1] |
| Affiliations | Salem Radio Network |
| Owner | Salem Communications (Salem Media Group, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WEZE, WWDJ |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www |
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. Most of WROL's programming is religious in nature, but it also airs several Irish music blocks on weekends, including the Irish Hit Parade on Saturdays and A Feast of Irish Music on Sundays.
History
WROL's history dates back to 1927[1] and WBSO, owned by Babson College. The station moved to Boston in 1935 after a sale and became WORL.[3] During the late 1930s, WORL was the first station in Boston to adopt a popular-music format ("The 920 Club", named after the station's former frequency; the title remained even after the move to 950 on March 29, 1941) with disc jockeys 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.
The owners, Harold A. Lafount and two others (operating for the interests of Arde Bulova) became embroiled in a long-running dispute with the FCC for having filed false reports regarding ownership and financial structure, and in 1947 their license renewal was rejected.[4][5][6] After an appeals process that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, the rejection was upheld.[5] The station, which had stayed on the air via temporary licenses,[6] went off the air on May 30, 1949.[7]
Pilgrim Broadcasting purchased the license and returned the station to the air in October 1950.[8][3] 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 block of Irish music featuring John Latchford, and later Paul Sullivan and Matt O'Donnell (among others) which became quite popular among the region's large Irish-American population. In recent years, WROL has expanded Irish music to Sunday afternoons as well.
In 2001, as part of Carter Broadcasting dismantling this network and focusing its attention to WCRN in Worcester, the station was sold to Salem Communications.
History of call letters
The call letters WROL were previously assigned to an AM station in Knoxville, Tennessee.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
