City Eatontown, New Jersey Frequency 1410 kHz Format Oldies | Branding Great Gold 1410 First air date 1957 | |
Broadcast area Monmouth County, New Jersey Ocean County, New Jersey | ||
WHTG (1410 AM) is a radio station broadcasting an oldies format. Licensed to Eatontown, New Jersey, the station serves the Monmouth County area. The station is currently owned by Press Communications, LLC and features programing from AP Radio.
The station simulcast the programming offerings of its co-owned station WHTG-FM until 1984, when the AM station began playing a big-band standards format while the FM station began featuring alternative rock. Eventually the station gravitated toward an oldies format, called "Great Gold", which it retains today.
Until its purchase in 2000 by Press Communications, the station was privately owned by the Gade family, the station's founders. While the station maintains its original AM tower and transmitter site in Tinton Falls, the studios are now located in nearby Neptune. During the decade of the sixties Wally Dow announced,sold time and otherwise performed all general duties at the station. He was general manager of the station from 1968 until September 1970, when he and his family moved to Florida.
For much of its history WHTG was a daytime only radio station. The station's traditional signoff was Perry Como's recording of "The Lord's Prayer", used every day except for Yom Kippur when a different signoff was used. Relaxing of FCC rules allowed the station to broadcast for two hours after local sunset and now broadcasts around the clock on 500 watts daytime and 126 watts nighttime. Once the station changes over to 126 watts the listening radius is severely diminished.
On Saturdays from 12 noon to 4 PM the "Mr. Wilson's Ice Cream Show" tightens the "Great Gold" format to strictly 1955 to 1964 songs (or as Mr. Wilson puts it: Sounds like 55 to 64").