Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |
---|---|
Frequency | 990 kHz |
Branding | AM 990 The Answer |
Programming | |
Format | Conservative talk radio |
Affiliations | Salem Radio Network |
Ownership | |
Owner | Salem Media Group (Salem Communications Holding Corporation) |
WFIL | |
History | |
First air date | 1925 (as WIBG) |
Former call signs | WIBG (1925–1977) WZZD (1977–2004) |
Call sign meaning | W News Talk Philadelphia |
Technical information | |
Facility ID | 52194 |
Class | B |
Power | 50,000 watts day 10,000 watts night |
Transmitter coordinates | 40°05′43″N 75°16′37″W / 40.09528°N 75.27694°W |
Links | |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | 990theanswer |
WNTP (990 kHz) is an AM radio station located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. WNTP is owned by Salem Media Group and broadcasts a conservative talk radio format. The station's studios and transmitter facilities are shared with co-owned WFIL (560 AM) in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania. If began airing in 1925 as WIBG.
History
For many years, 990's original call letters were WIBG, which stood for "I Believe in God", when it was founded in the 1920s by St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Originally, the station had a religious format. In the 1940s, the Morning Cheer program presented by George A. Palmer was a daily Christian broadcast between 7:00am – 8:00am.[1] Beginning in 1945, the Wanamaker Organ was broadcast live from the Philadelphia department store each Monday through Saturday from 10:05 to 10:30 am.
When WIBG changed formats to rock 'n' roll programming, "Wibbage" had great success in the ratings playing Top 40 music in the 1950s and early 1960s with popular hosts including Joe "The Rockin' Bird" Niagara, Hy Lit, Billy Wright Sr., Frank X. Feller, and others.
In September 1966, WFIL moved to a Top 40 format and before long passed WIBG (hampered by a poor suburban nighttime signal) in the ratings. WIBG soldiered on as a Top 40 station through most of the first half of the 1970s, including radio greats John Records Landecker, and Johnny "Long John" Wade, although they tried progressive rock for a time early in the decade. At mid-decade, the station tried a more adult contemporary approach, with sports talk at night for a time and even one year (1976) as the flagship station for Philadelphia Phillies baseball. In 1977, management decided that the WIBG image was no longer an asset; after a highly publicized final week featuring many of the personalities from the station's peak years, the call letters were changed to WZZD.
WIBG and overnight talk show host Don Cannon were featured in the famous "egg yolk drinking" scene in the movie Rocky playing in the background while the Philadelphia fighter played by Sylvester Stallone cracks 6 raw eggs into a glass and chugs them down.[2]
The station began to call itself "The All New Wizzard 100", and adopted a heavily researched Top 40 format. Listeners did not respond, and the format was changed to disco, which did not fare much better. In 1980, the station was sold to Christian broadcaster Communicom, which began airing contemporary Christian music and Christian teaching and features similar to sister station (and another former top 40 station) 970 WWDJ in Hackensack, New Jersey. But by then, the call letters WIBG had already been reassigned and the WZZD calls was retained. WZZD played music about half the day and Christian programs and features during the other half of the day.
The WZZD antenna was redesigned in 1986 to reduce the number of towers[3] and greatly improve coverage to the north and west, a change that if it had been made in the 1960s may have improved the success of WIBG in its battle with WFIL.
In 1994, Communicom sold WZZD to Salem Media. Under Salem, WZZD kept the Christian music and teaching format initially. But by the late 1990s, music was cut back to a couple of hours a day. By 2002, WZZD ran nearly all teaching and almost no music at all.
In 2004, WZZD and WFIL's features and programs were merged onto WFIL as WZZD dropped the Christian format in favor of conservative news-talk, changing its call letters to WNTP. Beginning in 2006, WNTP became the flagship station for the Saint Joseph's University Hawks college basketball radio network, as well as airing college sports of Penn State University, Drexel University, and the University of Pennsylvania for the Philadelphia audience.
In 2007,WNTP again redesigned and modified its daytime antenna, which has even further improved its signal in the suburban counties of Pennsylvania.
On November 4, 2019, WNTP rebranded as "Philadelphia's AM 990 The Answer".[4]
Previous logo
References
- ^ "Sunday Sermon Themes and Hours of Service". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. January 6, 1940. p. 2.
- ^ "Don Cannon, Philadelphia Radio Legend, Has Passed". 22 August 2014.
- ^ From 5 to 4; the 5th tower's footing, which is northwest of the present Tower 1, can be seen on aerial views.
- ^ Salem Has an Answer For Philadelphia Rdaioinsight - November 4, 2019
External links
- FCC History Cards for WNTP
- Official website
- WNTP in the FCC AM station database
- WNTP on Radio-Locator
- WNTP in Nielsen Audio's AM station database