City Salem, New Hampshire First air date January 10, 1977 | Broadcast area Merrimack Valley | |
Branding Eagle News Radio 1110 AM Slogan The Merrimack Valley's News Station Frequency 1110 kHz 102.9-2 FM W275BH HD2 (HD Radio) | ||
WCCM (1110 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Salem, New Hampshire, USA, the station is currently owned by Costa-Eagle Radio Ventures Limited Partnership, a partnership between Pat Costa and his chief investor, The Eagle-Tribune.
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History
The 1110 frequency in Salem first signed on January 10, 1977 as WVNH, a middle-of-the-road station owned by Salem Broadcasters. The station was sold in 1980 and under General Manager Dick Lange shifted to a nostalgia format. Unfortunately, just a month or so before the new ownership returned WVNH to the air a fire struck and destroyed Rockingham Park. Without its anchor draw, the business climate in Salem withered and WVNH failed to generate enough revenue to sustain its original staff. In late 1981, however, under Program Director Russ Mottla (the station's morning man, who was retained) the station shifted to a Big Band/Middle-of-the-Road format which dramatically improved ratings. Despite the obvious drawback AM radio was by this time facing from FM, the Hughes family, which bought the station in 1984, restored the previous format; four years later, Costa Communications purchased the station, changed the call letters to WNNW, and implemented a talk format. Initially run more-or-less as a hobby, Costa soon discovered that the bulk of the station's profits came from its leased-time Spanish language programs, leading WNNW to a full-time Spanish tropical format in 1990. The station came under the operation of the Costa-Eagle partnership in 1996.
The station changed its call letters to WCCM on August 29, 2002 as part of a larger shuffle that resulted in WNNW moving to WCCM's former frequency, 800 AM (where the WCCM intellectual property originated in August 1947); that station then moved to 1490 AM, taking WHAV off-the-air in favor of WCEC, which took over 1110 AM with WHAV's former Spanish-language talk programming. The changes formally took effect on-air that September; on September 6, the WCEC callsign was formally implemented. The WCCM callsign returned on a permanent basis, accompanied by that station's English-language talk format, on August 1, 2007, following a format swap with 1490.
WCCM, along with sister stations WNNW and WCEC are carried on FM translator W275BH in a novel arrangement where three AM stations are carried on the same FM frequency through the use of HD Radio technology. The station simulcasts on a translator at 98.9 MHz.
Programming
Most of WCCM's programming is syndicated, including America's Radio News Network and Don Imus. Spanish-language programming is aired on weekends, with the exception of Music and Memories (an adult standards show) and The Italian Show. WCCM is only licensed to operate from local sunrise until 30 minutes after local sunset (the latter with reduced power); this is to protect WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina. However, in the fall and winter months, it is not unusual for WCCM to be heard before sunrise. On election day, November 6, 2012, WCCM stayed on the air well past local sunset to broadcast election results in the Merrimack Valley areas of New Hampshire and Massachusetts.