Branding Amor 1230 Frequency 1230 kHz | Slogan Latina Romantica First air date 1958 | |
City Manchester, Connecticut Broadcast area Hartford-New Britain-Middletown | ||
WNEZ (1230 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish Variety format. Licensed to Manchester, Connecticut, USA, the station serves the Hartford-New Britain-Middletown area. The station is currently owned by Gois Broadcasting of Connecticut, LLC and features programming from ABC Radio .
Frequency History
The 1200 frequency first came on the air on August 12, 1936 as WTHT, owned by the Hartford Times newspaper. Studios, offices and transmitter were in the Industrial Building, 983 Main Street, Hartford, Ct.. The station's first frequency was 1200 kHz with 100 watts of power. Initially, the station was on a daytime schedule. In 1938, it acquired the operating hours of a Rhode Island station that never signed on. WTHT moved to 1230 on March 29, 1941, in accordance with the NARBA. By this time the power had increased to 250 watts full-time.
Originally an affiliate of the Colonial and Mutual Networks, it later affiliated with the Yankee Network. On December 1, 1945, the facilities were moved to 555 Asylum Avenue, just beyond the railroad overpass near the corner of Hopkins Street. Simultaneously, WTHT affiliated with the American Broadcasting Company, which lasted until the station went silent. The Yankee-Mutual affiliation passed to WHTD, later WONS. That station was owned by The Yankee Network.
When WTHT merged with WONS (on Pratt Street) on February 14, 1954, it morphed into WGTH (General Tire, Hartford). The ABC affiliation went to the new station. Still later, in 1956, WGTH became WPOP. WTHT's studios and control room were converted for television use for the new WGTH-TV, Channel 18, which began operations in the summer of 1954.
The frequency was dormant until 1958, when a new station, WINF, took to the air. Studios were located in Manchester, Ct., which was also the City Of License. There is no relationship between the two stations except for the frequency.
In the '80s the studios were moved to Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford. In 1994 the studios were moved to the 4th floor of a building on Cedar Street in Hartford and the station operated with a Spanish language format under new ownership. In 1999 Alfredo Alonso Mega Broadcasting purchased the station for $575,000 from Jeffrey Dressler. The station moved again in 2000, this time to 330 Main Street where they joined station WLAT/910. In 2002 Freedom Communications purchased both stations. Ownership changed again in 2007 and the studios moved to East Hartford.