City Burlington, Vermont First air date April 1954 (as WDOT) | Frequency 1390 kHz Format Business News | |
Broadcast area Burlington-Plattsburgh area Translator(s) 98.3 W252CJ (Burlington) | ||
WCAT (1390 kHz) is an AM radio station licensed to Burlington, Vermont, United States, and serving the Burlington-Plattsburgh area. The station is owned by Radio Broadcasting Services, Inc. According to FCC records, WCAT's tower #1 is the tallest man-made structure in the state of Vermont.
WCAT broadcasts at 5,000 watts around the clock, with a non-directional signal by day. But to protect other stations on AM 1390 at night when AM radio waves travel farther, it uses a directional antenna after sunset. WCAT's transmitter is located off Intervale Road in Burlington.
WCAT also airs on an FM translator, W252CJ, at 98.3 MHz, to give listeners the option to hear the station in FM stereo.
History
The station first signed on as WDOT on April 19, 1954 on the AM 1400 frequency at 1,000 watts of power. WDOT was Burlington's top-40 radio station for years and also an affiliate of the ABC Contemporary Radio Network. The station later moved to its current frequency, AM 1390, and was allowed to broadcast with 5,000 watts of power both daytme and nighttime. The station uses a three-tower directional antenna at night to protect 1390 co-channels in Syracuse, New York (WFBL), Presque Isle, Maine (WEGP), and Plymouth, Massachusetts (WPLM).
The station changed its call sign to WKDR on June 1, 1993. The WKDR calls originated on the AM 1070 frequency, licensed to Plattsburgh, New York (which now operates as WPLB), and the move benefited WKDR, since its previous position operates only in the daytime, protecting the former 50,000-watt clear channel (1-B) station, CBA in Moncton, New Brunswick.
The station changed its call letters to WVAA on September 24, 2002, and to the current WCAT on August 21, 2006.
WCAT, as a sports radio station, switched affiliations from ESPN Radio to Fox Sports Radio on January 1, 2011; the ESPN affiliation has moved to 101.3 WCPV. Through much of 2011, WCAT broadcast a sports talk format in simulcast with sister stations WRSA (1420 AM) and WFAD (1490 AM) as "Fox Sports Vermont". By the end of the year, it had switched to an oldies music format in simulcast with WIFY as "Cruisin' 93.7".
On September 1, 2014 WCAT (with sister station WRSA) dropped the simulcast with WIFY and switched to an all-comedy format. The two stations switched back to oldies in July 2015. In January 2017 WCAT and WRSA both went silent; the oldies format relocated to WPLB, which several months earlier had been sold by WCAT owner Northeast Broadcasting. On January 9, 2017 WCAT launched a business news format.